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Interesting thread! 
Yeah I am still trying to get my head around tying it up properly but it is all about history, If I want to learn more about the sport I need to know more about the past. Then work my way up to modern equipment. I don't mind tying up the boom all the time, I can sort of get it done fairly quickly now.
its all about progression, imagine if kiters were still learning on 2 line kites, or if learner drivers were driving 30 year old cars...
however windsurfing gear is overpriced, it costs about 350-550 to make a board, but then you have:
sponsored riders
research and developement
admin staff
accountants
managers
plane tickets for flying everyone around
shipping costs
eff up costs (expensive for severne atm, hehehe, just a dig)
advertising
hot women promoting the sport
sponsored events
iphone apps
production costs....
say fanatic for example $3000 for a board with some carbon kevlar in it and $3600 for a textreme version.
no wonder i took up kiting [}:)]
IMO commitment to the sport at the learning stage these days in more related to today's generational attitude of instant gratification. No matter how good the gear is and how technical the sport is most people these days just want or I should say expect to master it immediately.
I learnt on the original Wally windsurfer board, up and sailing in the first session, there was only it and the original Wayler board available at the time. Cost me about $800 at the time. I remember thinking wow what a great sport $800 and I have everything I will ever need..... If I had the money I have spent on this sport (and the one with the strings) I would be a rich man but would have missed out on some of the best times of my life, and would not have met some great people along the way.
We took those original boards everywhere, we used to wrap a black plastic bag around them, put them in the sun and then bend a little to increase the nose rocker for sailing in the surf.
Bought a second Wally about 18 years back to teach my wife when I first met her. We still have the board and use it every now and then in summer. I hope to teach my 7 YO daughter to windsurf this year, but need a new sail, anyone have one?
My 2 cents
When I took up windsurfing in the early eighties, the sport alternatives at that time were mainly: ScubaDiving; Squash; Tennis; Gym; Surfing; Footy & Cricket. I did all of them. Windsurfing came along and I gave it a go, it was technical & difficult and the learning gear atrocious, but I was the obsessive type and persevered.
Look at th alternatives that people have today........ Culture has changed, People have less time, want quciker gratification for least effort, choices abound, ............... you could develop the perfect learning equipment (and todays is pretty good) and you still wouldnt get mainstream large uptake, the world has moved on, its just a choice among many. IMHO its still a gr8 choice and offers a gr8 lifestyle, and marketers need to do their best to keep getting some new entrants, or the sport will become uneconomical.
I have been told by reliable sources, that the board factories are pumping out that many SUP's atm that windsurf board orders & manufacturing are having to wait, bec the orders are so much smaller!! Thats one problem with the sport getting smaller.
SUP is the biggest growing water sport atm (cycling is biggest growing sport), and SUP is a gr8 sport, easy to learn, set up etc dont need wind...... I took my SUP away with me to a windy location recently & used it once, and it was windy & I windsurfed 8 days..... Windsurfing if you are proficient and have wind is heaps more fun, but thats not what people are buying..... enuff from me more like $200, than 2 cents
Couldn't agree more with Smithy on the commitment thing.
I teach a fair bit, and I get a lot of "too hard this" after a mere 10-15 minutes, on ideal club Go boards or nice SUP for learning, with nice on-shore light breeze in a mere 2 feet of warm water and sandy bottom. Never, ever had that on the old gear.
I've been very careful about potential learners the last few years. I direct brats towards easier choices in life - and you know what I mean.
One thing I love about the old boards is that they were made to last just like old yachts, they are still going. How many can say that about their new sailboards. My old first board came off the roof racks one day driving to fast and hit by head wind 
and slid down the road no damage just a bit of a graze in the nose. That's why we still talk about these boards they never die. If they could talk just imagine what they would say. Every time I get back on old boards I enjoy the ride the Wally is still heaps of fun on the right day.
Russ
wow, great posts, really enjoyed reading them, some great stories and memorys, me, im along time listener, first time caller, so here goes, ha, i grew up on scottland island in the eighties and everyone windsurfed, i started at about five, we had one designs, sea skip, then eventually got serious on a bombora new toy, haha, it was a sweet time, thats when we moved away, so the sport was going well in the earlier ninties , i took windsurfing up about five yrs ago, ive really enjoyed the journey so far, just a hobby lake blaster, the gears great, i love the whole gps thing going on, ive gone to sandy pt the last couple of years, im loving the pilgramiage feel about that trip plus get to hang with some great people, and watch some heros set the water on fire, i love the basic vibe in sydney and central coast wear i sail, people are still helpful, and kind, even behind a little competitiviness, the gps, everyone, all the lake sorta of blasters always want to improve, i did heaps of bodyboarding and competitions, from local monthly comps, to port teams challenge, nationals, etc, and heaps of amature boxing, about a yr ago i tried my first windsurfing comp, slalom racing at ramsgate, it was sorta fun, but didnt really compere to the other sports id competited in, people were great, but it was not well organised and overall boring, i wouldnt bother going back to another, so really i can only buy formula gear to compete on, mmmm, not interested right now, so there doesnt really appear to be a platform for sailors like me, lake, speed theme, wannabes, to come together, compete, have fun, thrive, thats probably why people luv the gps so much, cause its the only real competitive vibe, at local level, amongst friends, other team members, etc, i dont know how popular boxing wouldve have been, if fighters never fought each other, ha, the sport does seem to be full of the older statesman if you will, which isnt a real good sign for the sport as a whole, personally, i love it, not too many people in the line up, thats what sorta killed of surfing for me, the vibe is friendly amongst sailors, yeah, the gears dear, i think its worth it, and i live in sydney, sometimes weeks between session cause of poor conditions, how sweet does it feel to sail all day, now its over, at home finished dinner sitting there, just feeling so great, so happy and vibrant, exhausted and so excited about the next sess, i just feel like a grommett again, been surfing all day, ha, i dont know what killed windsurfing for some, for me, and you dudes, it aint dead for us, were still loving it and living it, ha, i wanna go windsurfing!
(sentence being words between fullstops).
Time constraints, instant gratification, team sports, money/career sports all had a huge impact on windsurfing. Hell we would have windsurfed on ferro boards if we had to! But then we had weekends at the beach, Only dad worked. Sport was for fun and if you were seriously talented with a ball then you'd consider it more than just a bit of fun and actually look at state/national teams and practicing 5 days a week.
Try and explain that to a teenager who now can't survive for 30mins without facebook and is more concerned with their looks. Their loss!
Kitesurfing killed the new generation of windsurfing. Not bagging out windsurfing as its an amazing sport.
I knew 1 windsurfer growing up in Gero, but I knew heaps of kiters. Kiting was new - not many people had tried it, I guess it was in its honeymoon phase, it was the new kid on the block.
Remember the old single kick skateboard? Well now it's scooters. Times a change.
I beleive the price of gear would have kept people away taking up the sport. These days you can get a kite and board/ harness set up less than 2 years old for $900.
I wish kiting wasn't as popular... There are too many kooks looking for a cheap thrill.
)
The another thing is 'the distinction between us real world windsurfers and the pros'. Can we/ learners connect ourself with what the pros are doing?
For cycling, sup its relatively easy, one can purchase a Team Sky jersey and a Pinarello then ride away, claim him/herself as a cyclist.
For windsurfing it is different, beginners look at JP, PK etc expecting to ride like them in short future.. Well.. it is just not going to happen.. it take years of hard work and dedication,
Secondly, we windsurfers are all subject to local condition. To be honest, how often we condition we see on the poster, windsurfing movies.. almost never!
There is some sort of dis-connection between us n pros. This also explain why are more racers out there, it is more likely that racers can connect themselves with AA or BD who are that top level of the game and get a kind of satisfaction I suppose.
Or.. maybe after all, it is just because in the old day we did not have much other choice, we did not have McDonald's, we tend to fix it, if its not working instead of getting something new.
Interesting read...I'm another one who bought a windsurfer (actually 3 setups) in the early 90's. The problem was that I had no idea, 400kms from the nearest w/surf lessons/shop and the fact that I bought the gear of a jockey & I was >100kgs at my peak meant that after a few weekends of trying to rig the sail (I had no internet then either) and failing miserably, I decided to shelve the kit in the shed roof-space & continued with mainstream sport.
Only when a mate turned up 15 years later with a 'GO' and modern sail, I decided to give it another chance & after a few (ok, about 20) cracks at it, got planing & was hooked!
Although I see the original poster's point, I also agree that we can easily 'evolve' ourselves to a point where (and this might be more due to my geography) there never seems to be enough wind. I'm now down to a board that doesn't float me, so need a decent wind to get going. The sad thing is, the memories of cruising on a big board & sail are still my favorite, however I seem to keep wanting to get out on smaller gear - which means less TOW.
