Hi all,
I was wondering if other people can confirm this. I have been trying to find windsurf mags in the local new agents here in Sydney but it seems no one is actually stocking any. I have tried both Borders Bondi Junction and CBD, Broadway Shopping Centre, a few places around the Inner West but not a single one of these stores seems to stock windsurfing magazines. Especially Borders always used to have a good selection of overseas mags.
Is this the end of windsurfing as a known sport here in Australia? What's it like in your area?
try the news agencies near wynyard and St Leonards train station, from memory they stocked some.
I was searching in the Newsagents the other day and couldn't find any, just one kite surfing mag.
I think our sport is on the endangered species list.
> I think our sport is on the endangered species list
Probably true, but on top of which the Internet makes those things a bit 'passé'. Same with computer magazines, etc. Between information sites, Tubes and fora, everything is online and virtually free.
Yup, I don't think this Internet fad is going away...
eZines like OzWindsurf are the way of the future. I haven't seen windsurfing magazines in NSW but in WA I saw a few newsagents selling them. I never really made it a mission to find a magazine either. I think the traditional pommy and yank magazines let you order them in PDF format now.
My local newsagent didnt carry any but I asked them to get them in for me and it wasnt a problem. Both 'Windsurf' and 'Boards' come from the UK so they arent cheap.
I was in Borders at Bondi Junction yesterday and they had both UK mags: Boards and Windsurf as well as the US mag.
I don't mind the e-zines and such and it's a lot cheaper to produce than traditional magazines, especially for sports like ours where there is not the same level of participation, but there's nothing like lying on the couch and having a flick through your favorite mag.
By the way, most newsagents on the Sydney Northern Beaches stock the UK Boards and Windsurf and the US Windsurfing, and my local one in Mona Vale also stocks an Italian language mag called Funboard. Now if that's not niche marketing, I don't know what is!
Hey stehsegler,
Try contacting Gordon & Gotch as they are the oz distributors for most mags brought into the country, or search for local retailers at: http://www.gordongotch.com.au/ggweb/FastFind/SearchTitles/tabid/98/Default.aspx
I live on the south coast of WA, around 5 hrs drive from Perth, and have noticed that the local newsagents always stock lots of kitesurfing mags and very few windsurfing mags. I've asked why they don't stock the windsurfing mags anymore and they tell me it's to do with demand coz the public are not buying them (why should the retailer continue to stock them when they end up sending most of the copies back to the oz distributor?).
I've resorted to getting my windsurfing mags online via Zinio (www.zinio.com), works out a lot cheaper too!
You can still get UK 'Windsurf' and 'Boards' in the Brisbane Borders and there's one in the Myers Centre that carries these and the yankee one. IMHO they are a bit expensive that they dont sell much, I only buy an edition that has an article or gear review that I really want.
It's a bit weird that you can't get them in Syd, I can get Boards and Windsurf in Armidale (Northern Tablelands, NSW)! Maybe a town being off the pulse in the 'cool stakes' for watersports is better in the long run for windsurf mags.
Just picked up the July Windsurf the other day, so way behind in issues and sometimes they only have one brand or none on shelves, but check back later and there is a few, noticed the kiting mags are making inroads into the windsurf allocated mini-section but.
Btw Windsurf got bumped up a dollar to $15.70 here, what's everyone else paying around the traps? Same price normally as Boards.
I purchased the last "Windsurf", as it had an article on Tassie. It contained some gems of advice, such as if you sailed out to sea from Marrawah the next land would be Argentina, that the ferry goes to Launceston, and that we all drink "Boag's Head" beer down here. But hey, any publicity is good.
Boards seems to have the best content for my money the US one is ok but I don't think there's any Aussie mag anymore.
