why do you windsurf?

Ive done a bit of kiting and enjoyed it but you just cant beat the feeling of planing on a windsurfer!!!!

Aside from that you can sail in gusty cross-off conditions and get really clean waverides, where the sail gives you power to slash the waves.

I envy how you guys can pack your car though...

I have no idea but I figure that there is a surfer out there somewhere who has put a bit of thought into it....tried to put into words what most of us cant be bothered articulating...."I don't need to understand"....

because you dont get thousands of other clueless windsurfers choking up every break and smooth water spot you can find

... and yet I could come up with dozens of reasons why I choose not to kite.

Don't feed the trolls, it makes them come back.

If you were in Perth last Saturday you would know

Because it's fun? After 27 years I still want to go every chance I get. I thought about trying kiting 10 years ago but I would have had to not go windsurfing so I never got around to it. Well, that and I have too strong a gag reflex.

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barri said..
...you just cant beat the feeling of planing on a windsurfer!!!!

I think this is it though. The essence of it all. The main reason.
It tastes like flying.

Fishermen can be odd. I asked one once if he had any sticky tape for a quick repair.

"What's sticky tape?" he asked.

"It's ...um ...tape that's ...sticky. I don't know how else to describe it"

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Gorgo said..

I was going to say that the reason windsurfers do it is the same as why kitesurfers do. Because they love it. The last couple of posts sort of beat me to it.

It's kind of sad that most of the answers are just attempts to knock kitesurfing instead of building up windsurfing. I guess that's what you get when you ask stupid questions ... especially on the internet.

I agree with you but I dont think its a stupid question. there are heaps of people who want to get into a wind sport but dont know what to try and so go with kiting because they know the advantages of kiting.

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PhilSWR said..

vwpete said..

Hi, I had a dream and wished I went gnaraloo last week. In my dream I was chatting up a chap. He wasn't intetrest as he was with his family. Anyways after talking about the techniques of kiting etc, he then punched me in the head, and said, F#%$ kiter, go back to Oxford Street. But next no word of a lie, he snapped my board over my head and asked why do I like kiting??? So why do these chaps keep flogging me? I didn't have a good answer.

Any one care to fill me in, so I am better prepared if I get rejected again?

???

Phew, all fixed for ya.

Brilliant!
I know I do sound a bit of a troll and in a way I am,

But maybe to put a different slant on my 1st initial question. If you have a chap/ bloke who has not windsurfed or kited, and is looking into getting into one or the other. How would you sell the benefit???s of windsurfing over kiting.

All i have is:
you can go out in offshore wind
No kitemares
you can wear speedo's and listen to music on your tape cassette recorder...

Personally I used to windsurf, but I was not really that good, I could never have gone out at tombies, so for me getting into kiting was easy, mind you at the time I did not think I would stop windsurfing completely, but it happened.

For what it???s worth I did say that windsurfing feels easier to learn at the start, but to be good at windsurfing is much harder and takes way more skill than kiting. Which again is not really a positive for someone wanting to get into a sport

As I work in a shop that sells both kiting and windsurfing equipment I get asked this question all the time, "why do you windsurf instead of kiting" so I have given it a fair bit of thought. When I started work at the shop I thought I would give kiting a go so I could give kiters first hand advice, but then I realised I was going to have to give up valuable windsurfing time to learn kiting, and I wasn't prepared to do that.
so - kiting looks like great fun BUT,
1. I love windsurfing. No other sport for me has come close to being such fun. In fact very few other activities come close to being as exciting. I just love that feeling when the wind catches the sail and slings you up onto the plane
2. I don't want to have to give up valuable windsurfing time to learn kiting (Kiting wasn't invented when I started windsurfing)
3. I am in the top 10 in ladies GPS windsurfing so why would I want to start a new sport where I am just a beginner again?
4. I love the windsurfing community. They are a really decent, kind and friendly bunch who always look out for each other and encourage learners and improvers (and that's most of us).
5. I already have thousands of dollars worth of good windsurfing gear and I don't want to invest more in kiting
6. Windsurfing is MUCH safer than kiting, especially for learners. Nurses in emergency wards tell me they see injured kiters all the time.
7. It is comforting to have something beneath you which can actually float and support you if necessary
8. I have a big enough car to transport my W/S gear
9. I don't need to be trendy
10. Untangling kite lines seems too fussy
11. Even after 20 years windsurfing continues to be challenging and rewarding and I am still improving

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vwpete said..
Personally I used to windsurf, but I was not really that good, I could never have gone out at tombies, so for me getting into kiting was easy, mind you at the time I did not think I would stop windsurfing completely, but it happened.

For what it???s worth I did say that windsurfing feels easier to learn at the start, but to be good at windsurfing is much harder and takes way more skill than kiting. Which again is not really a positive for someone wanting to get into a sport

So what you should have said is that Kiting is for lazy bastards who need to know nothing about sailing
and Windsurfing is technical and requires commitment and dedication to master.

I agree with Barri. This is a good question. When people ask me what I did on the weekend, and I say: I windsurfed, those old enough to "try" old gear recount their nightmare and swear to their family never to attempt it again. Those too young do kiting because it's trendy and Windsurfing is something their parents did when they were younger. I think Windsurfing has a bad rep based on these two things.

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vwpete said..
Personally I used to windsurf, but I was not really that good, I could never have gone out at tombies, so for me getting into kiting was easy,

That says a lot.