VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I was speaking in general terms, not about me per se, haha, I have had a bad streak as of late. And I do keep the spares in the garage until they are used up or someone offers me a fair price, warts and all considered

The sad reality is that the windsurfing industry is nearly dead - it`s on life support ( please note that I said industry . The sport still has life). Companies are trying to keep their sales up by raising prices to make up for their rapidly dropping sales volumes. Just a few years ago all the big windsurf companies were at Surf Expo ( the largest wind tradeshow in North America) .This year there was only a small handfull and they were in tiny booths. Hopefully this will turnaround, but without shops and schools to introduce new blood into the sport, companies are left with trying to sell gear to people that already have gear and so the turnover is very slow. Bring back the schools and the sport will grow and prices will drop.

Ross,

Yeah, it's true the industry is on life support right now unfortunately. I just wonder if jacking the prices up so radically will just cause more damage. I tend not to mind paying for a quality product and buying new gear relatively often, but I have a really hard time justifying spending close to $3000 bucks on a production board that may delam or fail in under a year of use. I also agree that the grassroots side of windsurfing needs more support. Where are all the younger kids? It seems like windsurfing (and to a lesser degree, kitesurfing) is going to be passed over by the current generation of teen agers. Take a look around Nitinat or even the Gorge. We're an aging population with little in the way of new blood. Hard to believe this is happening when we know how much fun these sports are.

Nintendo Wii units are, on the other hand, selling like mad. Virtual fitness, virtual happiness, and virtual spirituality are available now! Put your orders in now to avoid disappointment...

I agree, price jacking won`t help.

Cheap solution to the need for the latest twin-fin trend - search garges and basements for a good-condition Jeff Logosz Warbird from the late 90's - they were mass-produced by Cobra in an 8'3", 8'5" ( actually a 5-fin ), an 8'7", and a massive 9'3".

Among the spares in my shed are an 8'3" and 8'7", real no-nose shape, wide in the tail, tons of nose scoop, impossible to pearl even when stuffing a landing nose-first. With the twin-fins in they are super turny, kind of like riding a skateboard on just the rear truck. Still enjoy ridng them, so no looking in my shed !

Ahh, just caught the last line Winddoc, sure enough......

It's tough to compete with the video games, what a drag it is.....I am daily fighting the battle but I know other parents are NOT figure it out, keeping the kids quiet for a few hours isn't worth all the damage.....it goes beyond being addicted to screens, requiring glasses, migraine headaches like my boy despite being restricted to minimal time on the tube.

All that appreciation for mother nature gone is the biggest loss. Trying to get some of these kids out for a hike or walk on the beach is like pulling teeth.....if windsurfing is on life support so is all the other outdoor stuff.

Even mountain biking is now no longer cool.....Skiing is about the only outdoor activity left that gets them going....and it better be on a quad detachable I suggested ski touring last year....talk about lead balloon So Sad

i disagree - there are hundreds of kids out there that already own nice wetsuits and obviously have no fear of playing in the ocean.. just go surfing sometime. how to swing some to the windy side is the question..
we can probably help by not debating gear so much when an innocent learning question pops up on the forum.. on the plus side theres that new WS school in Parksville we can recommend now which is awesome.

on a side note, is windsurfing not still huge in europe and the UK, just not so much in North america?

windsurf companies are not making much money on boards. The increase you see this year in price is from freight (oil and logistics). The cost to get all the raw materials to the asian mfg, plus the multiple distribution "hands" it takes to get those huge boxes around the world now cost big $$$.

Think Richard is right on here - but not necessarily the cost of bring in materials to Asia or getting the boards out to the initial distributor, they've gone up a large percentage but bulk shipping is still pretty efficient - it's in the next stage of transport, onesy-twosy shipping out to dealers/sub-distributors has been incredibly hard hit. Unfortunately with too many name-brands and a significantly smaller market, this is a downward spiral even if they're all coming from one factory. And the Canadian dollar just swung down by 25-30% (which is fantastic for me, hope it goes lower!) So at $3,000 I'll be back to building my next ones.

I'd like to clear the air on the pricing for the new Starboard Evil twin for 2009

full pop retail for the wood is 2099.00
and 2349.00 for the wood carbon.

if you are being asked to pay 3000 you are getting hosed!

Best of luck...the board absolutely rips!

Futura - you must be talking $US because on CDN sites they are $2420 for the wood and $2700 for the wood/carbon in $CDN. (plus tax and shipping)

hey now, lets not let some facts screw up a good debate! there are some cheaper options out there even for a twin fin.

Item Price Available ? Action
Evil Twin WC --- 74 - Wood / Carbon $2,699.00 $CDN Call to order
Evil Twin W --- 74 - Wood $2,419.00 $CDN Call to order
Evil Twin WC --- 80 - Wood / Carbon $2,699.00 $CDN Call to order
Evil Twin W --- 80 - Wood $2,419.00 $CDN Call to order
http://www.windspirit-direct.com/boards.cfm

I pick up a copy of Boards magazine from the UK whenever I get a chance. I find the UK mags way better than ours. Seems to be a lot of clubs and also an emphasis on teaching the sport over there. The school in Parksville is great. I don't think anybody has taught windsurfing in years at Nitinat. Expensive gear, nowhere to learn and hard to learn. Not a prescription for popularity, especially to younger people. Some of the gear that the manufacturers have put out over the years has not helped either. For years they would provide some crappy fin with a new board. Most people would just use it not realizing the board would have worked way better with a proper fin appropriate for their conditions. One positive thing is that when you finally get to the beach, plus on this website, everybody is very supportive and helpful.

Hey that futura man sounds like someone from that overpriced board company Starboard !

I see from a Boards thread that the new Exocet 'black beauties' are 2,440 Euros - just a tad under $4,000 Canadian.

http://www.boards.co.uk/forum/forum_pos ... PN=0&TPN=1

Those Starboards sound like a deal!