Got my latest copy of WS yesterday in the mail. I saw two of the best indicators that big changes are afoot in the sport. Forget redone longboards, or the absolute troll/yank our chain article on Trip Forman (they put that in because the editorial section had been slow since that "chick" revealed her personal ... um... well, let's just say some of her closest friends are battery powered).
The Kona is cool, the Serendipity an absolutely useful piece of equipment when the wind is betwenn 4-7 mph. But to most of us, these don't matter. Some folks will buy Konas but it won't change the sport. Most of us don't have a longboard because - welll, we don't want one. We have very little free time and a 85 ltr board stokes the fire much more than gliding a longboard. Is it cool? Absolutely but I only have so many sessions per year that I can wiggle away from the family, job, etc and I'd rather them be at 25 mph. So, until nitrojiber tires of his, there may not be a Kona in my future.
so what did I find so fantastically interesting?
1) on the last pages was an article about custom board and sail graphics. Custom board graphics will be fun but custom sails? Color is back and the 9.5s on the Formulas will look absolutely cool again. Advertisers won't have to use 20 yr old shots of windsurfers for stock photos in TV ads and spectators on the water will love our rainbows, polka dots and every other crazy pattern. The SuperFreaks have been out a while but they have only been in the smaller sizes and somewhat limited to design. They are the first wave of a new generation of very visibly appealing sails.
2) The number of young guns - I counted about 6 or more 15 yr old or younger sailors profiled not to mention the ad for the Bonaire Kids DVD. No more recycled articles about the graceful aging of Robby Naish (not to put down any of his achievements - he's still the KING). There are a ton of teens in Hawaii and Bonaire absolutely ripping it. These kids will introduce windsurfing as a young, cool thing to do for the next generation. Forget getting us old farts on a longboard - what will make the sport really grow is teenagers seeing their peers in the mags, media and the web.
We've been seeing this a bit for the last few years - young guys throwing moves that the older generation couldn't even imagine. It was a big deal in our day for Robby to do a table top. The Bonaire kids are doing twice that off flat water. The teenagers in Hawaii are starting to beat the pros in competitions. We old guys won't be doing many of these moves but our kids and grand kids will.
For all those (Trip Forman included) who assumed that windsurfing would just whither away, I think the next five years will peel their eyes back.
Astute observations, Webguy.
I recall thinking a few years ago that the biggest change that might happen in winsurfing was not in board or sail design (which don't change that much anyway, this year's new crop of longboards notwithstanding) but rather in custom graphics/color schedmes. With modern computer graphics, the internet etc, it seems to me that creating a stock board (i.e. Techno 283) with custom graphics uniquely designed by the sailor might be the next big thing. With only so much in the way of innovation to be done on the deisgn end, the next thing needed to get peeps to break open thier checkbooks would be customization of the appearance of their gear.
In my thinking the boards themselves haven't really improved that much in the past 5-10 years. Sure they change every year, but the deviations in width or length only change the emphasis of the board. Construciton materials have not changed that much (and in all likihood it is only the name of the technique that is changing, not so much what is being built with.) The 2007 "Techno" is a little shorter and wider than the 1998 Techno 283, but I'm not so sure the new board is all that better. (Some would probably argue the 1998 Explosion was only a little better the 1993 model, and the 2006 models is only better at early planning, not top end speed, even though they look a lot different.) Car makers used to have a substantially different model each year (when I was a kid I could tell the diff from a 60 chevy vs. a 61, 62, etc) but eventually it cost to much to do that re-design every year. With windsurfing being no longer a "growth" sport and w/o major advances in design there is little reason for annual design changes and the pace of development has slowed down a lot. To my thinking the last big innovation was width for boards (late 90's) and twist for sails (mid 90s?) It took a lot of experiementing to find the best configuations of those elements, but we ought to be there by now.
With designs now stabilized, the growth needs to come from somewhere else. So that's either graphics or kids. The manufacturers should be able to do the custom graphics pretty easily (particularly for sails, as witness the super freak.) And windsurfers have been busy producing little windsurfers who now are getting bigger and they need some gear - hence the kids market, complete with their own line up of stars.
Incidently, I think the other part of these trend is aging of the windsurfing population. We're all getting older (well at least I am) and hence the longboard comeback may at least in part be attempt to nudge the sport inot a more social, less physically demanding direction. I figure when I'm 80 I'll still be able to sail my longboard. Not sure I'll have my wave board figured out by then, however.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
windsurfing is way to hard to be popular. like it has more than a couple of steps to learn to do it (thinking of sking). If time spent to reward ratio is the criteria for picking a sport wndsrfng is not the way to go- . except out here were windsurfing is much more so than snow sports.
I can see how
skiers came to windsurfing. like windsurfing in Atl out here for me boarding is still frontal - i only want to go when there is fresh powder(OR) or big wind(Atl)(months summerOR)
"These kids will introduce windsurfing as a young, cool thing to do for the next generation."
It seems like the kids in WSing were already "in WSing" via family or by living in someplace like Hawaii or Bonaire where it's a normal thing for kids to do. What nonsailing parent in middle America is likely to say 'let's get little Johnny a windsurfer this year' or be likely to shell out the bucks to gear up little Johnny because he thinks it might look cool? I think the mass market entry point for WSing is the twenty-to-thirty-somethings. They have some money, no kids and the ego to still be seduced by clever marketing (enter the visually customized production board).
Does it matter if WSing doesn't grow? As long as there's enough pressure to keep innovations coming, who cares? I'm having a lot of fun doing this odd thing that not very many people may ever do.
just pray that your gear outlives you. the windsurfing BUSINESS has problems (it ain't kites) but the windsurfing sport will live on as long as we can downhaul. there is NOTHING better than a 5.5 day . . .
Are there any links to the Kona or the Serendipity in the article. I haven't located a WS magazine yet and web searching on Serendipity comes up with tons of hits. With a toddler and full time job these days, I have found very limited time to sail and when I do the wind is light, so I would like to see what they have done with the Serendipity thing. Maybe it is something the toddler can learn on when she gets older as well.
Someday I will regain control of at least part of my time!
Jamie
Windsurfing article on the Serendipity and other new longboards: (The original Kona review isn't among these however.)
http://www.windsurfingmag.com/surfexpo
Starboard has also printed some reviews:
http://www.star-board.com/news_cats.php?cat_id=22
Kona has its own web page
http://www.exocet-original.com/kona-windsurfing/theboard.asp
Look under the publications section for reviews.
I'm supposed to be getting my Serendipity one of these days. The good news is that should usher in an era of high winds on weekends for all! I'm afraid however the Serenity is not for learning, though the Kona would probably work fine for kids.
What happens in a black hole stays in a black hole.
Am I missing something -- what the heck is a "Serendipity"?
Serendipity: n The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
Serenity: Long, skinny, pointy-on-both-ends 'not for everybody' board.
http://www.star-board.com/viewpage.php?page_id=37
Chris Voith... striking of the nail on the head, you are.
You're absolutely right about windsurfing and kids: this ain't a kid's sport, except in very rare exceptions. Doesn't mean they can't do it; it just isn't a logical fit. The kids who will likely get into it are "in the choir" -- no use preaching (read, marketing) to them: their parents are already trying to get them to do it. Older teenagers who can drive, aren't gonna spend the bucks, either, if their parents aren't helping them with the gear, being windsurfers themselves. And, also, being young people, they will not tolerate the equipment issues: sheer volume of gear and it's complexity, realtive to other cool, alluring choices that lack those issues. However, I do adjust upward your #'s for the true market. It's the 30 and 40 somethings out there who are the market, and that market should be targeted with severe focus.
And, what's wrong with that? Not a thing in the world. 40 isn't what it used to be, nor is 50 or even 60 years old. (I took my first lesson at 39.) There's a whole bunch of mid-to-late baby boomers waking up at early mid-life, looking around, and saying to themselves,"I always wanted to do something like ___________ (fill in blank), and I still got time, a willing body and mind, and, finally, I got the $$." (USA today last week had a long article aobut all the boxing, gymnastics, and other gyms and clubs that can barely meet the demand from this age group. Many other magazines have been writing about it for 6 or 7 years.) Sure, for any age person, the sport has a lot of "issues", but there are a lot more people out there in our society than ever before in a "non-conventional lifestyle" or in control of their own work schedule, and that reduces a lot of those problems. The sport doesn't have to attract kids to survive or thrive. Target the sheer huge bulk of the younger baby boomers. They will bring the choir with them.
Chuck Hardin
Whitecap Windsurfing, Inc.
c:706-833-WIND (9463)
The Serendipity review made it seem fun, but it seems like it might be a bit expensive. If this board does work like they say, maybe there will be a few used examples around someday. I wonder if I could push one of my kayaks sideways through a bandsaw and fill the bottom part with foam and a fin box/mast track?