Well summed up Akim. In the end the only thing that matters is "Time On Water". For Chris, that means racing a wally at Dobroid point each weekend, for you I presume its freestyle at St Georges Basin or wave sailing at Gerroa or for me its taking advantage of any wind on Morton Bay with either my 20 year old Mistral Raceboard or blasting on my new Futura 111L. Whatever works for you. This is a case of everyone is right.
As John says, it's a case of whatever works for the individual. That's the point I'm trying to make, but some people keep on saying that they know better than everyone else, and that some of us are using the wrong board. That's bloody patronising when they have not had an open mind as to the reasons why we use what we use, and when we have not hassled them for the gear they have used.
360, re Canberra - yes I have not lived here long, nor claimed to have. I did sail regularly hear for a couple of years on boats and saw very, very few boards out, but most of my info about the shift in the sport locally comes from people who are VERY long-term windsurfers and who have seen the changes in the sport here for well over 20 years. So I am not relying on my own short-term information.
I don't know why Jim Drake's references to the Olympics are relevant. They are also contradicted by others who were there. Yes, the first windsurfing Olympics was in '84 and windsurfing's growth levelled out '84-'86. Around that time we also saw the UK patent lost ('83), the Oz patent lost ('84), the German patent lost ('83), the World Cup launched ('83), the rise of the short board ('82-'88), huge leaps in design with the RAF, camber inducers etc (C'84-'85), windsurfers take over the world sailing speed record ('86), the first radical moves like loops (C'84), the first pro wave contest ('82), yada yada yada.
For Jim to say that OD stopped windsurfing developing is clearly wrong. How the Olympics, which was only truly one-design for a couple of years in this period (due to board changes) and had less exposure than the funboards, would have harmed the sport I have no idea. BTW other Olympic gear (skis, bikes, etc) is also very restricted, and the FW model he holds up is more restricted than many boat classes!
The time that Jim was talking about also saw the beginner's and light wind market abandoned; as Boards put it in '85 when discussing the drop in sales for '84 "all the manufacturers have effectively turned their backs on the first time buyer's board, and have ranges which often look like World Cup quivers...windsurfing started as a simple sport...it has suddenly become a very complicated and expensive sport, with endemic built-in obsolescence that will slowly but surely make an enemy of the recreational windsurfer...there is virtually no first time buyers' market. Every manufacturer is trying to sell more and more sophisticated products to the (experienced) buyers...."
Given all this, it seems a big stretch to blame the drop in windsurfing on the Olympics.
Nor does Svein Rasmussen, the head of the firm that sponsors you, seems to believe it - in fact he has publicly said that concentrating too much on high winds and short boards is the problem; "equipment for planing and non-planing conditions is still a missing link. Within the next five to 10 years it will be the largest part of our sport.....lakes used to be full of windsurfers. Light winds did not stop them having fun gliding around....in all the focus on early planing, we forgot how much fun it is to simply glide along in the water."
As reported earlier by Kenalu.com, Svein had already told dealers that;
"It's clear that windsurfing did not follow the typical adoption curve of most active sports. After reaching a very strong peak it declined precipitously leveling off at a much lower participation rate than similar sports. They typical boom/leveling cycle for active sports goes through a very fast growth period when the sport is “cool” and everyone knows about it, then declines to a maintenance level at perhaps 60 percent of the peak. Windsurfing declined to something like 20 percent of the peak participation. Starboard maintains that was because all manufacturers focused solely on the performance end of the market, abandoning longboards and the simple fun of being on a board in light wind in favor of sinker shortboards and high-performance sails that required careful selection and tuning to meet conditions. They are looking to SUP to rectify that problem!"
Just like Starboard and Svein, I think that the sport is wider than just planing and shortboards. Unlike you, I am NOT abusing anyone's taste in sailing gear.
Yes, at one stage I offered you assistance in a kid's programme because we had experience in that field - sorry for daring to do that.... The programme we had WORKED, as shown by the numbers we got and those that have stayed in the sport. It may not have worked for MRRT or for you, but we never claimed that it was the perfect option for everyone....last time I looked people were not identical. The criticisms made about the way we did things are largely based on a lack of understanding of what we were trying to do and what we succeeded in doing.
Sitting back and slinging **** at the stuff people use to have fun, and the way that volunteers have successfully taught many people (including those who have gone on to represent the country and have a huge amount of fun) instead of respecting them is a funny way to behave IMHO.
But enough of this.....I'll bail from this thread as I clearly know nothing about how to have fun on the water.
Chris, It is a shame that we have different philosophies but what we have in common is that we are both passionate about our sport. I really had no intention to put you down. What motivates me is to get people windsurfing in the quickest and least painful way. I am particularly interested in teaching young kids who are obviously too young to have the option of learning on a Wally. I would like it to be normal for kids around 8 years old to be planning and in the footstraps and harness within 3 months of starting. Obviously this can't be done with a Wally but it can be done with other boards. I will not (as you won't) be changing my mind about the best way to teach beginners but despite all that has been said, you have my respect for what you do and I think there is potential in using Wallies to teach triangle racing economically to experienced windsurfers who want to learn race craft. Other than the teaching aspect, I assure you I have no issue with you riding your Wally.
Great movie fjdoug! based on that movie it seems expensive and complicated equipment really did diminish the sport. Those people certainly seemed to be having just as much fun as I am for a lot less money lol.
Except for the guy in the blue budgie catchers. Oh the horror.
I've given a few basic lessons to some guys at work that scored wally's from council garbage pickups. Their reasoning is that the old junky gear gives them a chance to see if they like it without outlaying a heap of money and personally I can't argue with their reasoning.
What I tell them is the wally is both good and bad for learning. I tell them that the wally is still one of the most sensitive and responsive light wind boards around and as such will teach them rig balance in very light wind. Then I tell them that the bad side of the wally is that they are hard yakka when the wind picks up a bit and a modern wide style board like a JP funster will serve them much better and will grow with them as they advance.
I can see their point however. A Funster package is what? $2800? I can't blame them for wanting to try before they buy as there is nowhere to get lessons or hire gear in Newcastle that I know of. So that's what I tell them, by all means use the wally to have a go at it and learn the basics but when you're ready to progress a bit bite the bullet and buy something more modern.
