hey all, read on a post here a while ago that there is no winsurf mags available here, i have looked in a few stores now and cant spot any, is this true and if so does anyone know of/ buy/ subscribe to any overseas. cheers
I have seen the British Windsurf magazine in a newsagent. It was about $15 though. I reckon the British mags are the best, better than Freesail and the American Windsurfer. However I really liked Sailboard Extra when it was around.
I used to buy both Boards and Windsurf every month.
There's at least one you can buy online. Ok if you don't mind sitting at the PC to read. The only others I know of are Boards, Windsurfing and Windsurf.
You can order the US Windsurfing magazine online and download an electronic copy that yours to keep. Read it on the computer or print it out. Get 6 issues for $19.97 USD . The 1st issue is out now Feb-Mar 08
If you prefer. Its possible to order just a single issue at a time for $4.99 USD. . The UK Boards magazine is also available at 10 issues for $55.80 USD or single issue is $5.80 USD . I usually buy a single issue of "Boards" when the board reviews are on. Certainly a lot cheaper way of viewing these two magazines.
http://www.zinio.com/category?cat=114624131&rf=zsports&ns=zno
I reckon the best way to get a windsurfing magazine in print is to support Oz Windsurf. We could support them by at least reading it:http://www.ozwindsurf.com.au/
Then we could click on their sponsors. I did and purchased some lockable roofrack straps through the website.
We could also support them by sending articles to them. I am sure they would love to get articles. Ozwindsurf seems to like publishing stuff about local spots and the people who sail there. They also like articles on food and vehicles we use. As the zine seems to be published in Queensland it would be great to get features from other states, just like Sailboard Extra seemed to concentrate on Victoria it was always good to read about stuff in NSW.
I may as well get the ball rolling. I wrote a review of the roofrack straps I bought. However the computer with the article was zapped in an electrical storm. The assessor still has it. Once I get it back I will try and recover it and send it to them.
Perhaps if Ozwindsurf got to a critical mass of revenue they would consider putting it out in printed form.
However its probable the age of the printed magazine is over and ezines are the way to go. Whats the point of paying for all the printing and distribution costs when you can view it at minimal cost on your computer?
cause who wants to sit on the crappa with a laptop..
and magazines are way better you feel you get something for your money..
some places like board seeker give you text for free and you have to pay for video.. well that doesn't seem to work.. as it's gone **** house now
yeh uk windsurf goes well...heaps of tips, usually a story on aus or somewhere else in the workd...good sail/board reviews
its funny as they do rider profiles and alot of them say they want to move to wa
thanx everyone for the suggestions, ill check them out. looks like im not the only one who would be interested in a local mag. i remember reading in a motorbike mag once that (for memory) they needed sales of about 36000 copies per fortnightly issue to break even, i guess most mags would be similar depending on there costs/ overheads and all the other variables, tho it was a flash, full colour and fairly comprehensive mag with over 100 pages, but i figure even if winsurfing could be done cheaper thats still a lot of windsurfers they would have to get interested in buying..... unless we all wanted to buy multiple copies out of pure enthusiasm
I really do not know the way print makes its money, whether its from advertising or from circulation.
It would be the question of the carrot or the stick. Without decent circulation you do not get advertising. If you raise your cover price, circulation goes down, advertising revenue drops. If you raise your cover price you can circulate your publication in newsagents as they get a bigger cut and you make more money from sales.
The guy that does Ozwindsurf, Kirk, is a good bloke. Located on the Goldy and they have done a few issues now. They are always after content and its very well put together.
Quite awhile ago I looked at re-birthing the old Sailwind Quarterly glossy mag but its just not cost effective these days. Years ago when we had heaps of shops and even more windsurfers the mags did OK but now??????????????
I mean we have ONE shop in the whole of Sydney when we used to have truckloads.
Im not complaining though, its 2 minutes from me
Hey boys .. we're hungry for content here.
All you need to do is click here
www.seabreeze.com.au/Members/Content/Contribute.aspx & start typing.
Articles & News items welcome!
www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Windsurfing/Summary.aspx
No worries.
Would be great to just write stories about local places or places going visited.
Wow I remember Sailwind Quarterly. It was a beautiful mag, stunning pictures. The only problem with it, the magazine had a propensity for pages to fall out.
Good memory, they changed printers after that episode.
The name still exists but is just languishing in windsurfing hyperspace!!
Lets start posting to Laurie's suggestion, with all the characters on here it could be fun.
Alright,
I have a few ideas for some stories:
One is to do a few comparisons between older and newer gear, get an older sail and compare it to the new one. See which one is faster & better overall. This could be an ongoing idea. It would be good to compare an older board to its newer counterpart.
Second idea is talk about what windsurfers who live in apartments do to store their gear. What are their arrangements for keeping their bulky gear. As more Aussies live in apartments this is bound to be an issue.
Third idea is examining what needs to be done to revive windsurfing as a sport.
Fourth idea is to look at the wind and wave records and see how the El Nino - La Nina weather patterns affect our sport. Would be good to establish some longer term forcasts. Of course we could always ask the Moonman to do this for us.
The people who put those old multi-coloured sails in their graphic designs have spent years studying design and years practising in making ads that work. We should be learning from them and realising that colourful sails look better to the average person out there.
As for the beginner's board; we have about 99% rate, or more, in getting people going on their first day on a Wally. It's more stable in some ways than a Start, and it goes a lot faster in light winds or under a small sail.
The reason people find old boards hard is that they normally use a cruddy old rig on them. With a small rig - and you can use a very small rig since a longboard needs much less power - they are dead easy for most people. We had a 14 year old out on a Wally on Sunday, despite being a non sailor he was happily sailing around and tacking on his first ever day.....just like almost everyone else who tries it.
Starts are great in some places but other boards can be better in other areas (ie light winds and flat water where you need to be able to stay upwind).
it's very hard to find a newsagent that sells "boards" or similar
does anyone know a newsagent the sydney cbd that sells windsurf mags?
Not exactly CBD, but the newsagent at Royal Randwick stocks both Boards and Windsurf. They only get 2 or so in every month though and are often gone by the week after they come in.
my 5 cents...
1) Windsurf mags (like most speciality magazines) make their money from advertising. the money they make from magazine sales barely pays for printing. You need a circulation of at least 15k to really attract advertisers. I believe Freesail isn't published any longer because they couldn't attract enough advertising.
2) The better mags in Europe (eg. Surf Magazine and Surfers Magazine both in German) have a circulation of around 45k to 100k. Most of their production budget goes into paying for articles and photography followed by printing.
3) Good articles and photos cost good money. Period! There is a reason why John Charter is now working as a full time staff with Boards UK. My guess it's mainly to save money.
4) The Australian market is probably to small to really sustain a frequently published windsurf magazine... sadly. But it's quite simple really: there aren't enough people interested in windsurfing in this country.
Btw. Borders (both Sydney CBD and Bondi Junction) usually has Boarders UK and the US mag Windsurfing on their shelves. They are usually a couple of months old.
The glossy magazines in every sport have an important function - SELL STUFF. They whip up your enthusiasm, show the good stuff, get the reader past whatever the last good thing they bought to buying the next. They also get you more committed to the sport, if the articles are good and oriented right.
Its very good for everyone, but obviously glossy mags need to have a minimum base to pay for distribution and they COST if you keep buying them.
Now, for those of us who get our kit off the verge rubbish collections, do we really need to spend our few dollars on mags?
It's probably fair to say that Windsurfing in Australia is too small to support an Australian magazine.
Maybe there could be a mag that covers Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia. Not only do you have a lot more people to buy the mag, but there are loads more businesses to advertise in it, including tons of resorts etc that probably wouldn't have considered advertising in a solely Australian publication.
The main problem with Sailwind quarterly was that you had already read all the stories etc in other international mags in the couple of months you were waiting for it to come out.
If it's not a monthly issue, then you're talking old news!