How would you market windsurfing?

Only you could get away with saying that....smarty!

Windsurfing marketing - guys & gals windsurfing
Surfing marketing - guys & gals surfing
Porn marketing - guys & gals naked

Get my drift here..... there's a place for everything.

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K Dog said..

lotofwind said..

This topic comes up every few months on here and everyone says what needs to be done to make windsurfing popular again.



But no one does anything about it except for telling everyone else what needs to be done??



If you want to polish a turd, someone has to get their hands dirty.



Time to man-up turd polishers and put words into action before windsurfing is only seen on old VHS videos that no one has a machine to watch. The local breaks around here its already all but extinct.

Agree. I'm looking into some article submissions to popular men's magazines. Might fact find in the general forums to see what people read.....

And no, not People Magazine....

Who still reads magazines these days?

"Marketing" is kind of useless anyway. There's little to no schools anyway. If everyone actually cared they could grab a friend or a kid and teach them, them, instantly doubling the sailing population.

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dan berry said..

There's little to no schools anyway. If everyone actually cared they could grab a friend or a kid and teach them, them, instantly doubling the sailing population.

True. Other activities grow because people teach friends, and that's how windsurfing exploded long time ago.
People don't have time for that anymore it seems, so the sport is where it's at - floundering.
No biggie..

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dan berry said..
Windsurfing can't be that hard if a 7 yo girl can master it.

Yeah, exactly, its pretty easy to pick up. We use to do windsurfing at school for a friday arvo sport and after a couple of weeks even the unko kids were up and away.
I think some on here just find it "hard and a challenge" because of their age and fatness...oopps,I mean,,fitness factor.

The NP/JP trailer was on the right track...The problem is it's loaded with gear that suits the beginner/intermediate to advanced sailor. If companies are serious about getting people involved in windsurfing they would load a trailer with beginners gear and make it available to all shops and clubs in Australia...All year round, A true learn to windsurf program and not just flogging the latest kit. We all know how addictive this sport is, get a taste and your hooked....The problem is disposable cash. If each of the big companies donated a rig and board to each distributor for the sole purpose of attracting new commers to the sport and getting people to the level of purchasing their first intermediate kit then I think we'd have a much bigger uptake in the sport. I don't think it's such a big commitment from them to cement the longevity of our great sport. Another option could be that individual people offer via club websites to give free lessons...obviously the issue of insurance comes into play but if they could be covered under the clubs insurance then it might be possible. I'd personally offer my time and kit to anyone that wanted to try...Sail at your own risk type of thing. I think the use of the JP trailer wasn't used to its full potential, I love windsurfing and only saw the trailer once this year. I think it's a great start and if all the manufactures had trailers going around then I think it would contribute towards marketing and growing our great sport.

I don't know what the answer is but putting it in front of people's faces is a start......

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dinsdale said..

lotofwind said..

I think some on here just find it "hard and a challenge" because of their age and fatness...oopps,I mean,,fitness factor.

Yep, that's definitely my problem. You been stalking me?

Look out your window,,,,,behind the tree...Hello.....Oh, and your nearly out of milk in the fridge.

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Mark _australia said..

lotofwind said..

dan berry said..



Windsurfing can't be that hard if a 7 yo girl can master it.

Yeah, exactly, its pretty easy to pick up. We use to do windsurfing at school for a friday arvo sport and after a couple of weeks even the unko kids were up and away.



I think some on here just find it "hard and a challenge" because of their age and fatness...oopps,I mean,,fitness factor.

So after a couple of weeks you were planing on a shortboard, planing gybe and return?

Yeah, thought not.

But your little story fits in nicely with how you wanted to post to stir up the windsurfers - again. Yawn.

I dont think I said any of that....shortboards? gybe?? Are you making up storys again??.. but
we were all sailing across to a sand bank, jumping off, turning the bulky gear around, then heading back to where we started.
I dont know why you want to rave on about how hard it is to all the public that are reading/thinking of learning, then wonder why no-one is getting into it and all the windsurfing schools have gone bankrupt??
For a young bloke/chick, its really not hard at all to get up and riding, you should be promoting that fact instead of "Oh its REALLY hard and challenging and takes a life time to be able to gybe" And then bag the new generation for having no commitment or willing to have a go bla bla bla... No wonder they read these types of posts and think....Na stuff getting into this sport.

Back to the original question......

For NSW/Sydney windsurfers, a big chance for a day of fun sailing & a show of numbers.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Winter-Solstice-Windsurfing-Fun-Race/?page=-2#lastpost

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mineral1 said..

Not sure but outlets, nor suppliers here in WA do no favours in regards to try for a day type sales pitch. Women only days. After 9am weekdays even when the kids are in school.
You want to sell the product then it needs to get on the bloody front foot and stop sitting on its coit. There are minimal product exposure days here in one of the most available locations for windsurfing each year.
The outlets and the suppliers do very little in that aspect.
At least NSW has the windsurf van travelling with alerts well in advance for prospective try for a day.
WA we have??? zilch
Finn Kayaks, they have a number of try days. So if they can and local, then our side are either lazy or tight arses

Stick it up your arse mineral. Find out the truth before you pull that BS out.
The outlet I work for has full groups EVERY week of the summer for lessons and almost every week it is 50% females learning.
Instead of useless try - for ten minutes then give up cause it's too hard - days, we give proper lessons for very minimal costs and no purchase of gear necessary. Unlike Kayaks where you simply sit in it and paddle "oh yes that's nice", you do need to have a bit of instruction if you are to get anything out of the experience.
Did I mention our classes are FULL every week of the summer - for those that think the industry is doing nothing!

I know that windforce would love to do more, but struggle to find anyone willing to give up their time to work the lessons centre as much as they would like.

Regards to "Minimal product exposure days" if it is good gear you want to try then every shop in Perth has demo stuff for you to try. It may not be at the beach all at once, but it is available for you try when every you would like.

If you mean beginner gear, then the problem is giving out good gear to new people who have no idea how to rig it, use it or protect it from damage. So why don't we have some 2nd hand gear to "give out for a try" - because there is not enough of it out there to hold in reserve. Every good beginner board in any store in Perth can be sold 5 times over. All the other good boards are sitting in people's sheds just in case they might teach a friend one day.

Ian Grose the old Starboard imported busted a gut over the years planning have ago days, trial options and attempting to maximise exposure ie boat shows, mag adverts etc. The take up and introduction of new sailors is not from lack of trying.

Why are the Sup womens groups successful - because all the ladies need do is turn up to the river with a board and paddle, paddle for 30 minutes at any location desired, stop and have a coffee and chat with friends then get on home all before lunch time.

The NSW windsurf van was a good idea, but how did you know about it? from Seabreeze? well that is just advertising to the converted. I don't know what they did elsewise to advertise nor how successful they were. So it comes back to the original post of how to get the message out to non sailors.

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jermaldan said..

Who still reads magazines these days?

Lots of people:

Hmm, not quite what I expected from this thread.

I just wanted to see what images captured your idea of windsurfing.

I guess that the good thing is we're all (apart from lotofwind ) passionate about it!

Happy sailing!

I remember when I started it was often in light winds and I had a big board about 350 by 65cm. I did things like sail inside the boom, sail 360's, head dips, back to sail, holding the boom behind my back, nose sinks. And rail rides until my feet slipped down opposite sides of the board. I don't do any of those now, but it maybe is still a guide to what beginners might enjoy doing.

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sboardcrazy said..

Kazza said..

Muzza12 said..

For women who think they're too busy...

waveslave said..



If only you could duck dive a poleboard under a wave. ^^^

What a great marketing image that would make.

[It's odd that she's not wearing a leggie.]

And this is why women don't take up windsurfing, because it always comes down to the crap images of women....I rest my case!!!
Get into the real world guys!!

Yep..

wishful thinking in 15-20 years this will be the image of the current crop of windsurfers

Hey paddymac, great thread you started..there are some great ideas coming out of it!
This topic is something I am really passionate abut and I know it is top of the agenda for Windsurfing Western Australia. As a new WWA Committee member I have been doing some very low-key investigation into how we can prepare for the next wave of growth for our sport, amongst a plethora of existing and growing alternative and equally radical sports.
Rather than hijack your thread(an apologies for not posting images as requested..(I'll have a shot at that a bit later!) I'm going to knock together a new topic for discussion about marketing windsurfing. I want to(on behalf of WWA and all their members) collect as many of these inspirational ideas as soon as possible so we work up a working brief for a 5-10yr development plan..so I hope you don't mind me inviting your audience over?!
Cheers and catch you soon!
Adam