Gone with the wind

[mortontoemike]

I just thought that the pictures were really nice!

But, I seem to recall that windsurfing went through a lull in the mid-90's when almost all the boards being sold were long, narrow, slalom boards built for speed. Hard to gybe and frisky as a 2 year old filly. The newer shapes have made the sport (sorry, addiction) much more accessible and easier to learn.

But definitely kiting has a coolness factor that windsurfing doesn't. I think the key is for ALL OF US to do these kinds of things on our board.

http://www.continentseven.de/windsurfmove221.html

to turn some heads. Let's get going ...

[JL]

Watching the Oregon crew (BWD, KUS, WINDDOC etc.) ripping , flipping & jumping makes me want to dust off my w-surf gear in addition to the ancient one design I picked up last year.

[firstonlastoff]

Nice thread mtm. Clearly either a tremendous interest in protecting a dwindling sport or evidence of la Nina reigning supreme.
While the general comments that I routinely hear regarding the creation of an instant gratification culture amongst our youth would clearly suggest that the easier (keep reading, my comments come back to this) to get to the 'stoked stage' (and there is a link on this website to a hilarious video clip on the young getting stoked), the more likely that sport is to be popular. So, while jumping out of an airplane (haven't done this myself) would suggest parachuting would be extremely popular, it isn't as far as I can tell. Being able to jump in winds less than 15 knots suggests to me that maybe I should try kiting. $, time, and an eerie small number beside my birth year has prevented me form jumping in so far to the kiting world. I add, that last year when I was sailing bf by the White Salmon bridge, I had to look out for kiters beating it straight downwind while ripping apart swell - that was the first and only time I have said to myself that kiting looked really cool. I am told by Gorge-locals who do kite and sail that anytime the Gorge goes off, the last thing they look for in the gear garage is kite gear. So if windsurfing is dying, it might also be because, simply, the observers who don't do it are running for shelter when we're going yahoo, and those same observers are sitting in lawn chairs watching under bright sunny skies the kiters ripping it up when the conditions are marginal for ripping windsurfing conditions.
Which brings me to something that I can't figure out. Last week I had my two boys on the Go board at Nitnat. Both my boys appear to me to be similar in athletic talent and drive, yet, my older boy (14 years old), who can go out and back, non-planing, complains of not yet being able to go fast yet is unwilling to put in the addiitonal time to learn the skills to allow him to get planing, and my younger boy (12 years old), was out there going bf, and damn near nailing the port tack deep-water beach start using a 2.5 m2 sail and a Go. Go figure, role model (maybe not ideal ...), similar genes, same day, both had good wetsuits on, different outcomes. Lastly, last year, my boys clearly preferred the warmth of the Gorge, sailing in just outside of the Hook relative to Nitnat, and they didn't even contemplate sailing at Floras lake because of the low temperature when we we there for a day.
Maybe windsurfing would be more popular if there was a barge for stoked windsurfers that was stocked accordingly. (But if that were to become true, I'd soon be the one lamenting that there are too many people on the barge.

[mortontoemike]

If it weren't for the fact that it is blowing 10 mph in the Gorge I'd be there instead of posting useless articles ...

I don't know if anyone actually read the NYT article but it said this:

"Over a five-year period, from 1999 to 2004, windsurfing ranked dead last among some 80 American recreational pursuits. While nearly 10 percent of the population in 2004 said it jet-skied, less than 2 percent windsurfed. Meanwhile, more than 4 percent did something called “anadromous fishing.” (That seems to be what bears do in rivers. I had to look it up, too.)"

That makes me feel really, really special!! You guys are too!

[BigD]

Yep it's blowing solid 9.0m in the gorge, nice sunny day though. Double mountain for lunch and apple valley huckleberry milkshakes for dessert kept us busy. Tomorrow has a bit more promise, going to have to get some exercise one wayor another tomorrow to burn off the calories

A little disheartening walking into 2nd wind after reading the sign out front, "windsurfing gear now upstairs". The whole lower store is full of kite gear and clothes. Upstairs behind the camping gear is a tiny section of crappy old busted up gear with about a dozen boards and maybe twice as many sails. Almost bought a few things downstairs but after I saw that they won't be getting any of my business anymore.

Our 2 year old went into meltdown mode so I couldn't check out any more stores today but I'm hoping there is still some windsurfing gear in this town...

[KC7777]

BigD,

No gear left I bought it all.

[nanmoo]

A little disheartening walking into 2nd wind after reading the sign out front, "windsurfing gear now upstairs"

On the other hand, Windsurfing is still very much front and center at Big Winds, and still more prominent at Windance than kiting, so maybe second wind was just out competed (side note: note sure if second wind maui is the same company, but they are also not focusing as much on WS anymore, which was how I scored my 2010 RRD in May of2009 for a grand!)

[G-Daddy]

No wind, nothing to do but more useless posting....

The irony of the article is that it's built around beautiful images from the biggest windsurfing race on earth. I'm not sure but I think larger then anything that occurred back in the 'golden years' of windsurfing, and I've never heard of a similar event for kiting (but correct me if I'm wrong...). The author openly admits to wanting to learn how to windsurf, frustration at having come up short, then goes on to quote stats on why the sport is in decline implying it wasn't worth it anyway, bias?

I seem to deal with some variant of this discussion all year long as a windsurfer/telemarker. I've watched both sports go through cycles. Right now both are in decline, but what's really behind the stats is that pretty much all outdoor pursuits are. People are becoming more sedentary, or pursuing less 'high impact' sports. Kiting grew for a multitude of reasons, while windsurfing declined, but I would bet that stats 5-10 years from now will show that the ratio is pretty stable now, neither will really grow that much, but neither will disappear. The real growth story will be about SUP which is more accessible to the masses... but hey isn't SUP just basically what windsurf was when it all started accept now it's a paddle instead of a sail? One at every cottage....

The analogy from the skiing world is pretty much spot on. I chose tele because I like the versatility of the gear, and I just like the 'feel' of the turn, but I'm a skier, not a 'telemarker'. I chose the gear that's most appropriate for the conditions, sometimes that means an alpine setup, sometimes tele, sometimes nordic. Some days it's snowshoes. I tried snowboarding at one point years ago... and it was great. Some days the powder is nice and light and I'd love to be on a board again. If you look beyond the stats at the folks who are actually doing this stuff, really integrating it into their lives, doing it as a family over multiple generations , they're using it all. Because if you live were it's cold and snowy or spend your vacations in the snow you need all those options to keep everyone outside, playing and happy.

Same goes on the water. Surfing, kiting, windsurf, bodyboard, SUP, kayak, canoe, snorkel... different toys for different ages, interests, conditions, places and times. Windsurfing is tougher to learn, but it's pretty fun once you do. As long as there are enough folks doing it to keep good gear available, who really cares if it's growing?

[KayakDoc]

Hoping to dispel the myth that windsurfing is harder to learn than kitesurfing (just kidding) I asked Robbie Naish which one was harder to learn. His answer was compelling. I paraphrase: [Windsurfing gear is so good today that anyone can get up and sailing on their first day but if they are starting late in the game (40’s plus) it is doubtful that they will ever get really good, at least at the technical stuff. Kiting on the other hand lends itself to almost any age participant learning the fun stuff like big air, racing, etc.]

I also asked him about the numbers: [Windsurfing is really on the decline. Kiting hit a growth phase plateau a few years ago (due to the rapid growth from limited numbers of old windsurfers switching to kiting without the youth populous getting involved) but this has since passed and the number of kiters world wide is now exploding].

Nothing new here, but good to get it from a pretty reliable source.

[Nimai]

I know that I didn't even think about windsurfing when I decided I wanted to get into kiteboarding. I didn't know that there was a rivalry. I just thought that kiteboarding looked incredibly fun. It was really only after I registered on BWD that I found out that we were at war .

I've also been flying small foils for quite a while. Naturally, I might be a little biased .

And when it comes to transporting gear to and fro, kiting gear is probably the easiest to move. I would much rather pack a wafer-thin 1.36m board, and my kites, and be able to fit it all into the trunk, or the back seat of my jetta, instead of having to figure out a means of getting a significantly bigger board onto or into it, or thinking about upgrading to a larger vehicle altogether. I've been driving my dad's jeep the past little while, and in one short week, I managed to blow $250 in gas going to Tof and Campbell. I want my Jetta back!

As it stands, budget constraints alone would be enough to lead me to kiteboarding, as opposed to windsurfing. Of course the cheapest way to go would be to do nothing.

But that would suck.

[KUS]

I didn't know that there was a rivalry..... It was really only after I registered on BWD that I found out that we were at war

Hmmmm....I have no idea where, in this thread or elsewhere on this forum, you got this I think this local community really prides itself on being in relative harmony considering we share the water the way we do Even just down the coast or the Gorge things aren't all this happy and it is too bad. Don't be stirring the pot, there will always be conflicts on some stuff....that doesn't mean we don't get stoked on each other's sports

[Vik]

I've been kiting since 2009 [summers on Van Isle and winters in Baja] and spent a lot of time hanging out with windsurfers - probably because I'm a bit older. In that whole time only 2 WSers [who were buddies camped together in Baja] made a compelling case for learning to WS vs. kiting. Most of the WSers either encouraged me to kite and/or were switching over themselves.

My very first summer of kiting I ended up at Nitnaht camped with a hardcore windsurfing family. They asked me if I windsurfed and I told them I was just learning to kite. Their reply was "smart choice" and they went on to expound why kiting was the way to go...!

If you are new to a sport and the folks doing it aren't pumping you up about it there is very very little motivation to spend $$$ & time to take it up when there is an alternative that people are excited about.

If you are new at a beach and sit down with some kiters they'll tell you how much fun it is and point you at some lessons.

[KUS]

If you are new to a sport and the folks doing it aren't pumping you up about it there is very very little motivation to spend $$$ & time to take it up when there is an alternative that people are excited about.

most of us windsurfers are realists and honest about how long it took to get proficient and I tell people that tho WSing has come a long way to get easier to learn, you can learn to kite in 1/4 of the time. Make no mistake, the hardcore WSers are pumped about the sport, we just want the parking
The money is the same (if not kiting is more due to the lessons required), the challenge to me is not and neither is that ride, it's just different. I will kite again, just like I snowboard as well as ski, but it's nowhere near as satisfying to me.
BTW now I see a lot of kiters taking up SUP'ing for those no wind days.....so where is that space saving now Not that apart from board there was that much difference, my quad now does what it took 3 boards to do in the past and is a deflated kite any smaller than a sail?

If you are new at a beach and sit down with some kiters they'll tell you how much fun it is and point you at some lessons.

if you are new to a beach and sit down with some windsurfers.....you can't cuz we're on the water not untangling lines, catching kites or learning on our own not taking/paying for lessons or needing a buddy

Hey, it's all good in windsports, eh To each their own

[Tom B]

I agree with Kus, I think most windsurfers would agree that windsurfing is pretty rad - and isn't getting any less rad in the future. Less popular, perhaps, but it will continue to be a pretty awesome sport: check out photos from the oregon coast crew. Definately tough to learn though, and demanding (in the sense of requiring long term dedication).

I'd also like to add that kiteboarding is also rad - we should work hard to maintain harmony; we use many of the same sailing spots and harmony is undeniably more productive for advocacy to ensure access, etc., and also for on-water safety. Last thing I want is to be injured on the water and have kiteboarder - wsurfer feuds get in the way of a kiteboarder offering assistance. Many windsurfers also kite, not sure how such a 'war' would work in that case.

[nanmoo]

And when it comes to transporting gear to and fro, kiting gear is probably the easiest to move. I would much rather pack a wafer-thin 1.36m board, and my kites, and be able to fit it all into the trunk, or the back seat of my jetta, instead of having to figure out a means of getting a significantly bigger board onto or into it, or thinking about upgrading to a larger vehicle altogether.

I drive a Jetta or a Smart Car, and windsurf.

If I am going far then I throw the Boards on top of the Jetta just like if I were going surfing, if I am staying local I throw my board inside the smart car. Consequently I don't find the size of the gear very restrictive, certainly no more restrictive than having to have someone to help launch or land a kite. Both are diesel and super cheap on fuel.