I have a dream where I rock up to any beach and see a family playing with a windsurfer. Any beach that I go to I see families with windsurf sups, with sails having a ball. Not for sport of performance or to race, but just enjoying a summers day at the beach with friends windsurfing for fun.
I have a dream where every family owns a Winsurf Sup (ultimate flexibility). And windsurfing is not just about going out in extreme conditions and busting your chops attempting moves.
Seems like a flashback to the 70's and 80's before the sport became overly specialised and expensive with carbon this and that... and lost its purity and simlicity.
Have we ruined it? Can we fix it? can the resurgence of the sup be the best opportunity to do this?
Who shares the same vision and what do you think can be done to help encourage the "family weekend windsurfer" and regain the innocence that we lost some 20 years ago?
Saw a bloke widsurfing a SUP the other day, he was having a ball in very light wind 
Amen to that. WindSUP is growing cause its bloody fun one board where you can either surf (no wind) or sail (lightish to medium wind) in the heavy stuff you will be sitting on the beach like 99% of people anyway. I have just got rid of all my dedicated sailboards and just using SUPs this year.
I agree with what you are saying, windsurfing is WAY too complicated, but let's be clear you are talking about non-planing windsurfing.
Yeah modern boards and sails are so fun and easy to sail.
However having something like a SUP to sail in lighter winds attractive. I'm considering this. However I'm attracted to the original windsurfer.
Jermaldan, your dream is not dissimilar to the original idea of windsurfing. Something that is simple and fun for young and old. The original windsurfer did the job very well.
non planning yes in the most, but I have just bought a 9-5 Starboard wide point SUP with foot straps for some planning. Lets be honest it will never beat an Isonic or Futura but it will do the job and provide enough options to have a blast all summer
I bought the JP SUP with the centreboard traded in a starboard go on it. No regrets kids love it with or without a sail. It sails well, very stable and now all my kids want to go windsurfing cause its very easy and fun to learn on.
that is the answer at the merimbula the winner of the open womans made an impassioned plea to get more girls into the sport. I reckon we just need more people full stop (this opens a can of worms no doubt).
Not everyone can or perhaps wants to go fast. Its great to have specialist gear for us that do, bit the vast majority of people and their families are just happy to putt around a lake on summers day. The reason that sup is so popular is because anyone and everyone can do it. Same with windsurfing, but we dont do as good a job promoting the more relaxing and family friendly aspects like sup sailing. Eventually a sup sailer may move on to shortboards if he is so inclined but by then its a very organic upgrade.
If the stores catch on to this then we may just have a 70's style windsurfing resurgence on our hands! Buy a Sup get a quiver for a few hundred extra.
I've got a Fanatic Allwave 9'2 and it rocks as a light wind windsurfing board with a 6m2 sail, easy to tack, goes well on a wave, can go over shallow reef. Awesome!
But it will never replace my real windsurfing boards...
mine have cause I SUP most of the time now. I will only buy an SUP with a mast base in it.
I've posted this video before but here it is again, A SUP with a sail on it is a lot of fun and anyone can use it. I've had people catching waves within minutes with no windsurfing experience at all......But as fun as it is it will never replace the feeling you get when fully lit on a windsurfer.
and nothing beats the feeling of being barrelled on your backhand on your SUP Jas lol
It really does look fun in the waves and a great intro to waveriding.
Definitely want to take a sup to the surf next time I go!!!
Your on the money with this topic,
Its the link between those that don't get it and those of us that do, its what a soft board is to surfing, the surf schools are always busy here...thats more punters on the same amount of already overcrowded waves, Yuk!
You can paddle to the shops to get the Mrs some wine...paddle to the river mouth catch some waves then do breaky at the cafe, Mrs picks you up in the van to save the paddle home (cant paddle on a full stomach!)...
Best of Plug a kids rig in and get them feeling the buzz of sailing...I often sit down on the board hold the sail from the bottom and my 6yr stands up sailing, thinks she has full total control! loves it...
And I have plugged my wave sail in, and semi planned and zipped past many a person with a big fat wide board giant fin no skill and a $3.5k + debt on their credit card..and I'm doing this on a $600 Mistral $75 kids rig
Yes they are a bit harder to sail than a Go/Start etc, but they are a lot more versitile... if the Wind Kicks in then I get to be selfish and take out my go fast gear or even kite....
Best of all the overall core body work out (if you have a fair crack at some distance or in the ocean) is great, keeps me on the water in a part of the world that is CRAP for windsurfing and when I travel gives me another option, I SUPPED Maui this year, in amongst whales, turtles, great reef breaks, awesome, guess what there was no wind to sail, in Maui for an entire week!
IMO once the sport started getting massive wide boards, giant fins and Sails, it lost many, because thats simply an Arms race , fattest wallet wins...Anything wider than 70cm and carrying any bigger than 8.5m (tops 7.5 really) is bordering on Skiff Sailing, kiting went down the giant kite, plane in next to no wind thing also, now you can buy a 14+m kite for a $100!...I notice that the 9-10M 2nd hand sales are cheap also!
The SUP/SAIL links 0-12knts to what we all really love which is +12kts, have no doubt it will convert more to our prefered wind range +20knts
I havent got a sup yet, but its my next purchase. I basically live on the beach and when I take the dog for a walk in the mornings the water is like glasss. Probably not good for windsurfing but it would be nice to get out there in any conditions. And getting out on a sup would be great.
When there is a little more wind go out and do some light wind practice. I definitely think its the way to go.
My son has a kids JP Young Gun Sup Windsurfer and swears by it as a kids board and a sup. (I get a little jealous somtimes)
I have been SUPing now for over a year from a background in surfing and some sailing. SUP has made me like a kid again and I can throw a sail onto it and muck about and go out in the surf as well. I absolutely know its not going to turn like a full on wave board, but when you are just paddling they can turn like a short performance surfboard. Im loving the change and its just so simple grab your paddle and board and walk out the door, no rigging and then derigging.
There is merit to what Jermalden is saying.
I got hooked on windsurfing around 1980 after we spontaneously hired a few Wallys while passing through Mandurah. It was blowing around 10knots max, the guy showed us what to do, we hopped on and off we went.
If we had done the same on a "modern board" I think I would have spent most of the time swimming, and left it at that.
I really see this as one of the best ways to make the windsurfing industry much more sustainable.
Major producers pushing this line. 1K boards and $500 quiver packages is the way that we can get more people into it.
Not only is it much cheaper than regular gear for learners, it also goes back to the roots of where the sport started with longer wally like boards.
Gathering by lack of criticism most of you agree?
This isn't quite on topic as my friends aren't learners but it does point out how hard it is to get into the sport.
I have 2 friends..One wants to get back into it after sailing a Hi Fly 300 in all winds back in the 90's another wants to go from his 1970s wally to a shortboard.
We've been to a few windsurfnsnow demo days and they are great.They have them enthused.
The problem is there is nowhere they can try different boards locally and demo days often dont' coincide with enough wind to try shortboards.They could try & go to Sydney but they'd be lucky to get a windy day & access to equipment.
The guy who wants to go to a shortboard has had a few goes on my Tabou 125 & 95 & loves it but wants to try other brands.
Now Boardcrazy has gone to the other side there is nowhere locally he can try boards.So unless he just bites the bullet and decided he' ll go with what he's tried ( Rockets) he has to just get advice and hope he'll like the choice.
Same with my other friend.
We don't have enough people sailing locally to let them try other boards + who would let an unknown inexperienced sailor use their board & risk it getting damaged ( other than me but I know them .
).
It's all a bit in the too hard basket.I suppose its always been abit like that but in the 80's there were heaps of people and the boards weren't as fragile so maybe more would have given them a go.
I imagine its even harder further away from sailing areas.
There are so many positives with the SUP +sail thing. For a start it means that windsurfing becomes a more visible sport on those light wind days when there are more people at the beach not just the howling days when only the die hard dog walkers are at the beach.
The other huge bonus is that its a family toy and modern light weight rigs are much more fun to use than the old eighties "funboard rigs" (.......OK OK the OG windsurfer rig was always pretty light)
There are a few kids trying the sport around here and they are having a great time.
