[Closed] Whatever happened to windsurfing?

Yeah, I was hooked then gave up (I got better and needed stronger wind - inland that wasn't that often) - still it dove tailed well with biking ......

I think most people didn't make it past the tiring and painful uphauling stage.

Might be handy to point this out to all the wind turbine fans ....... ;+)

do surfing now - just need 1 bit of kit, but still toy with the idea of another Neilson or Sunsail to Greece etc

There is still a lot of people who windsurf of calshot beach not that i do it my self.

There's still a few die hards out and around. South coast especially.

Kite surfing really killed windsurfing. Thats why there isn't a massive influx of people into the sport now.

The equipment is much lighter, the air is much bigger, you don't need a roof rack or a van and if your'e talented you can probably pick up the basics in 3-5 days. You also need a lot less wind, so get out more often.

Plus there is a big skate / wakeboard / snowboard cross over, so it appeals to the youth generation.

Learning intermediate techniquies such as how to gybe and waterstart a windsurf board probably takes 6 months if you are very talented...........I loved it, but Kitesurfing still kicks it's ass.

After 6 months, you'll be jumping over the local kitesurfers with a tweeked grab or an inverted roll! (not recommended for health & safety reasons)

I loved it and took it up early in its life. Ended up working for companys such as HyJumpers (harnesses, booms, etc), Sola westsuits and Lightwave (custom boards). Not enough money in it though so changed jobs but still carried on sailing quite a lot. Last time I sailed was the day before my eldest daughter was born and she's 9 now 😕
Still got the kit and hoping to get again some day. They're still sailing up at West Kirby (where I spent many many days - and nights - sailing) but it is almost perfect there.
Sort of replaced it with wakeboarding and sailing mad boats such as the Musto Skiff although economic downturn has curtailed that for now.

Same, got good, needed more wind, only seemed to blow Monday to Friday, got into bikes, gave up...

it stopped being trendy so people who really enjoyed it felt they could no longer be seen to enjoy it. global marketing lizards found new equally enjoyable activities to sell to them having already got their windsurfing cash.

BigJohn however thought differently......

I got into it in very early days. Had one of the original MK1 Windsurfers with the teak wishbone and wooden pull up centreboard. Loved it even more as the kit improved but ended up moving to about the furthest point in the UK from any sailing water and it just became too much effort

Didn't it get knocked for 6 by blue-green alge in the same way mountain biking suffered foot and mouth? I think that finished off the people I knew who did it. I think a lot of companies involved moved to other things. I know it's how sShokwave in Nottingham got started, Orange have been mentioned but I think ATB sales (Marin) were a similar story. There's one chap down south who used to make custom wet suits but now makes more money making fetish gear for the Germans!

yeah - I got into it early 80's and gave up as I was going my final exams at Uni in 87 - I was lucky to get in early in Scotland and got a lot of sponsorship though local shop - as a student I had an absolute load of kit for nowt - couple of sponsored Mistral's, a full set of Tushingham Sails (Thanks Lester !), a custom Vitamin Sea wave board etc etc. I basically had to make the choice of trying to get even better and go pro or concentrate on my studies....picked the latter. One of my mates at the time was at the same crossroads and went the other way - he got a year or 2 in Hawaii and coulnd't make ends meet and ended back in the UK picking up his studies. I gave all my kit away about 5 yrs ago after it had lain unused for over 15 years !

I have an Orange 5 though....... 😆

I thought it was great and did it loads and then work took me further from water than I would have liked and then wife + kids kind of meant that I couldn't disappear off for a whole day at a moments notice.

Now I can pop out on my bike for couple of hours what ever the weather or evenings - windsurfing in the dark probably would wouldn't we worth the hassle.

All my old kit (3 boards + half dozen sails) still compete for space in the shed with the bikes even though they haven't go wet for years.

Hope to teach my kids soon though

BigJohn is a bit *different* though int he.

I used to love it, but wasn't good enough for a short board although my Alpha 230 was good in light winds. I bought it in 83, gave it away a couple of years ago.

What I do remember was going to Portland on business, then spending a couple of hours windsurfing before coming home - it was great.
That, and that it took so effing long to pack all the kit into & onto the car, get it ready, and then stow it again afterwards. Too much effort for just an hour or so on the water.

I sail as much as I can. But it is limited to windy weekends as I live 1.5hrs from the beach. Also I can see how kids etc. really makes it difficult as there is no way you can plan your weekends/life around the wind (I have a hard enough time with a gf).

Kitesurfing has attracted loads more people down the beach. I would say 25% of windsurfers have either stopped going or have converted to kitesurfing in the last 10yrs. But there is a hell of a lot of kitesurfers out there. So its just getting more people down the beach. I'm too far stuck into windsurfing to take up kitesurfing. The expense and time to do both is too much. And i cant give up windsurfig with the amount of time, effort, and pain i have put in to it over the last 15yrs. Plus i am actually starting to get good at last. Going for my first loops!

I hope windsurfing will be 'cool' again. In the 90s everyone ditched skiing for snowboarding. Now skiing is the thing to do. Hopefully windsurfing will have a resurgence. But like skiing, windsurfing is a lot more difficult to pick up at first. But as people have said, its significantly easier with the new kit. It took me 5yrs to do my first carve gybe. My mate is doing them now after only his second year. It seems unfair.

[i]the 90s everyone ditched skiing for snowboarding. Now skiing is the thing to do. [/i]

What a ridiculous thing to state.

I dont post often. But it makes me realise what why I dont when people nit pick at your posts. Thanks Scruff.

Windsurfing is too expensive, needs too much kit and requires too much cocking about on the beach rigging things up. Bloody good fun though. I'd love to get into it as I learnt the basics a couple of years ago. Thing is, I could buy 3 decent surfboards for the price of some okay entry kit. There are a couple of places around here that rent kit but they're (ironically) an hours drive inland.

So what was your fave kit? I used to sail a Fanatic Gecko 298 on a North Pyro twin cam. Had this real sweet spot where if it was tuned perfectly and you were having a good day, it would get right up on the plane instantly and the leech made a slight humming sound to let you know you were at terminal velocity, loved it!

My best memory...

I also had an F2 Axxis 275 prototype racing board that was sold off as a favour to Mike from Wet and Windy (bristol), he passed it on to me. Most people couldn't even sail it but being 13 and only 7 st, I gave it a go. It was just like normal short board to me in terms of buoyancy and width, at just 5kg in weight with a 5m Airwave racing rig on it I set off in a fairly brisk Force 5 thinking this would be fun. I think I crossed Poole Harbour in what felt like about 45 seconds before the mother of all catapults due to an inability to slow or turn the thing. Too frightened to sail this frankenboard back, I timidly walked it all the way around the beach and handed it back. F2 made a monster in that board and I'm not surprised it never made production!!

Brand new its out of reach for most people. At the bare minimum its £1000 for a board, £1200 for three sails, £150 for a wetsuit, £200 mast, £150 boom, £200 for assorted bits. Plus most people say you need two boards and two wetsuits, and will probably need two masts and two booms.

But with the decline in popularity the second hand market has fallen right through. I just bought a 1yr old board for £300, and a brand new sail for £150 off ebay. Also once you have the kit the yearly upkeep is low (unlike biking).

My best memories are sailing with my brother. Chasing each other down like in the videos. Whooping and shouting at each other with only a couple of feet between us. The ocassional drag of the hand, then a jump off the wave in front of the other.

He lives in Aberdeen now 🙁

My fave kit is what I have now. Quiver of Ezzys and my 74l RRD Freestylewave (not used it yet thought).

I sold all my windsurfing kit to fund new bikes. I really miss it though and every now and then pic up a mag and start thinking about getting a new set up.... One day.

Fave board? Custom Lightwave 260 Wave, still got my Mistral Screamer 2 ......... the 456 of the windsurfing world 😀 (of yeah, got one of them too!)

ads, well don’t post inaccuracies. Not that many people switched from skiing to boarding the 90s boom was fuelled by proper, ex or wannabe skaters going to the mountains and people who have never considering skiing also having a go at boarding. A lot of spare money around helped. As for windsurfing its equipment and condition dependant and just isn’t kewl. Its only uncooled by dirtboarding and fruitbooters. I know what I’m on about I used to work within the X-treeme industry, most of my friends still do and I’ve smoked spliffs with Farrel O’Shea and skated with Tony Hawk. Dude.

Fave board F2 Axis 272 yellow one - fast as nowt else

fave board - my custom Vit Sea 262, it had a 'splicer' style paintjob and the builder , Tad Ciastula (sp), wrote my name and date etc into the spray job. It was built to suit my sailing style and even had offset straps to fit the sw wind, west coast of Scotland prevailing conditions, going out on a port tack and back in on starboard. was great until the wind came from the north !

jeez, this thread is bringing back the memories -)

I still go whenever I can. These days I sail more abroad on holiday than I do in the UK, but after having 2 weeks in Cabarete, my best day's sailing this year was in Devon (Instow) at August bank holiday.

Tried to post some pics then, but Fotopic was having none of it.

Fave board? - I only had the Bic293 (fat boy!) and then a BiC283 - Nowt special but I miss them!

StuF - apart from my aforementioned Axxis 275 prototype which is what they toned down and turned into the 272 😉

(Always wanted the Yellow Axxis 272)

And surely the Gecko was the 456 of the windsurfing world???

I've still got about 6 boards from 80l to 180l and about 8 sails from 3.6m to 9.6m
Fave board is my Fanatic TripleXXX (119l) and Fave sail is Gaastra Poison 5.8m

I’ve smoked spliffs with Farrel O’Shea

Ahhhhh Farrel. He was a HyJumpers rider when I was working with them, see him regularly in Abersoch now.

This is him at the wonderful West Kirby 'speedway'
[img] http://beachtelegraph.typepad.com/.a/6a010535e6078d970b011168d2cd44970c-800wi [/img]

Oh dear guys, I'm on ebay and now getting the ebay sweats all over this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Naish-Titan-160-excelent-condition-with-board-bag_W0QQitemZ260481942289QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Sporting_Goods_Windsurfing_CV?hash=item3ca5ef0311&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Must walk away...

A friend of mine windsurfs still, and there's a good scene at Bournemouth (he used to share aw house at the top of the cliffs and walk to the beach with his kit) and Sandbanks. My boss' boss is in NY and windsurfs around that area - not sure where. I grew up dinghy sailing, and most of my friends / fellow instructors got into windsurfing as well. I never got on with it, and got lured to big boats instead.

Basically, I think it's just a case of the hype dying out a little, leaving real enthusiasts to the sport. Maybe the same will happen to mountain biking.

Stacks of windsurfers in Uni clubs, both of the unis I've worked at have had 15+ members of the windsurfing clubs but only 1 or 2 kitesurfers. No idea why they dont get seen on the beach more often though. I used to windsurf (briefly), MTBing killed it for me, then kitesurfing shortly after. No, i dont follow trends BTW, it's purely coincidence.

All my gear is in the garage, started in 1984 and sailed for 20 years, summer holidays were spent in Fuerteventura, weekends at Fraisthorpe or Rhosniegr till I started riding in the Alps. Must get the gear out and let the girls have a go

Tracey

Still alive and kicking down here in Chichester.....

Its still my fav sport (sorry). Cannot beat the thrill of big waves on a windy day.

And its nowhere near any more of a faff than mountain biking - I can rig my kit within 10 mins of being at the beach and regulary do as the night are drawing in and I finish work at 7...its kind of imperative!

I think its all down to how much you sail and the lifestyle that you have chosen - I don't drive a flash car and my van has all my kit ready to go!

Kitesurfing has made its mark but loads of my mates do the cross over with both sports Kite for light, surf for real wind.

surf for real wind.

Struck me as an option, but its fairly easy these days to kitesurf in a controlled way in a force 8. But from my past experience windsurfing only really got fun at around 7-8 so maybe it does make sense as a crossover. Just not sure how often we see 7-8 in the UK.

Ahhh - Rhosniegr, some fond memories (and some slightly hazey :wink:) from uni trips there. we stayed in a house on the beach - across the dunes from the Mealog pub.

Also remember braking the ice to get onto the lake in Feb when the sea was blown out

GaryLake - my 272 is now hidden under a pile of bikes with my Fanatic Skate (also the yellow one) and my Fanatic Mega cat is still somewhere in my parents garage!

I remember me and my mate, in 2nd yr at Uni (84), going on a road trip to the Western Isles - it was crap, but on the way back we decided to go via Tiree - we were apparently the first ever folk to windsurf there -)

Boards ( Mistral Screamer Race & Alpha 215 ) still in the garage gathering dust unused for several years.

Gave up and went biking instead, at least you can plan to go on a weekend irrespective of the weather.

Great fun when the wind was blowing when you managed to catch it ..... the number of times I turned up after work ( at Pugneys near Wakefield ) to watch the wind die away as you were rigging !

Still sail with Farrel usually in the 'Soch

Also sailed at Pugneys. I can remember climbing over the fence and sailing befor the council took over. Police came a few times but we just dropped the sails in the middle and eventually they would leave.

Tracey

I used to windsurf at Pugneys! ah those were the days!

Now on south coast and kitesurfed most evenings in the summer.

Windsurfing is still awesome, the portability, light wind potential and big jumps made me switch to kiting. Anyone who thinks windsurfing is dead should head to shoreham beach on a windy day.

My fave board was my f2 sunset slalom, which now hangs proudly from my garage rafters, cant bear to throw it out. My current ride is a mistral flow 284 which i sailed fror the first time in about five years three weeks ago, having been to egypt and re-discovered the love, having flirted with kitesurfing. When you've got a decent breeze windsurfing is definitely more fun and challenging than kitesurfing. The cost of kit is rather prohibitive though - my board looks 'all wrong' compared to new ones and my most used sail, my trusty 5.7, is over 15 years old! Its like playing tennis with a wooden racket, its embarrassing to turn up to my local spot with! Oh well, needs must.

You should've been here yesterday!

Ahhhh rhossy!
[url=

knots kitesurfing when the windsurfers have come in...[/url]

windsurfing is a classic example of a sport that shot itself in the foot by becoming to performance orientated.

Oi!! Coffeeking get over there on to the kitesurfing thread!

BigJohn: I've heard those words in England, Ireland, Wales, the Canaries and many parts of France, (including Leucate/Gruissan which must have the most wind turbines of anywhere in the world). 🙁

Half expecting rightplacerighttime (hi Jon) to relate some of his tales as a windsurfing instructor in Poole during the 90's

We used to get loads of windsurfers turning up to use [u]OUR[/u] lake. 😉
It seemed to almost totally die off about 10-12 years ago, we hardly ever see any now. I wasn't sure if it had died a death pretty much altogether or whether people had just stopped windsurfing on lakes because it wasn't that much fun.

Oi!! Coffeeking get over there on to the kitesurfing thread!

I'm omnipresent 😉

I think I started with a HiFly 370, moved "up" to A Fanatic 370, A Tiga Sprint (320) which got moved on v fast, Bic Rock n Roll, Bic Astro Rock, F2 Sunset Slalom, F2 Lightening World Cup Race, F2 Bullit, Mistral Stinger (many of these at the same time but never less than 2 at once) with sails through from 4.2 to 8.5m. At 15 stone the Stinger was interesting to sail if the wind dropped.... stuck out in the North Sea on a sinker ain't much fun! Anyway, it picked up to a 4 and I limped in.

I have still got the Sunset Slalom and a custom Second Skin steamer (winter) and a harness but otherwise it has all gone.

Agree with the wind comments.... it got to the stage where if it wasn't 4 gusting 5 and up I wasn't happy. I tried the race board and a big sail but it wasn't the same. To increase light wind performance I had a quiver of fins and it all got terribly anal....which board, which sail, which fin? Then I'd come in and switch it around to make up for my skill deficit and so it went on.

I miss it but not the interminable waiting around for the wind to blow.

I miss it but not the interminable waiting around for the wind to blow.

that's what riding bikes is for!

I windsurf alot. I own 5 boards and 6 sails which get me out between 10 knots and 40 knots. I made a decision to move to teh coast 5 years ago and have never regretted it. I can be on the water within 15 mins of pulling in to the drive. There are dozens of locals who live within a few miles of me who sail as well. Its getting expensive to but ew kit, but very good quality second hand kit , plus discounted 'last years' colours are available.
I love it, the boy ish excitment as i get near to home and the flags are all extended and the trees dancing gets me going , so i drive really badly to save the 9 seconds to get to the beach quicker , then its the what board /sail combo today shall i rig, Ezzy on Supercross or Combat on FSW? Get it wrong and its fustrating , get it right and its an almost trance enducing euphoric state.
Modern kit ( less than 10 years old) is so forgiving , as long as its rigged properly, the boards are light and the free ride sails easy to rig and go light in the hands once on the moove. Modern freestyle boards ( mines an F2 CompStlye 258) are so wide and easy to get going the learning curve is much steeper.
Yes I love my bikes , but i love my boards more.

perhaps I should have taken it up as a career
first time on a board at 15 I stood up sailed alo9ng turned the sail and came back - instructor was amazed
about 3rd or 4th time on a board I tried water starting and got it - by then I was surfing - still my first and deepest love 🙂

Pretty cool responses..! This kinda gives me the yearning to get back into it one day.

When everything was going right, it really was a euphoric experience, skipping over the water and jumping over waves..

Fav board: Mistral Screamer

I saw a newer looking one on eBay the other day in really good condition - it went for about all of 95 quid - complete with rig!

Interesting. It's funny how much MTB chat there is on the Boards forum. The sports are quite compatible and seem to attract the same sort of people, and there is a real youth swell now with a lot of effort going into training and racing. And it's another sport where the Brits are among the world elite but you hear nothing about it in the MSM.
If it's windy I windsurf, if it isn't (<F4) I bike. Simple. On average I sail at least once a week all year round. At the main spot I sail there are hundreds of active sailors, and I'd expect to see 50-100 tomorrow.
Windsurfing is alive and well, and done by real enthusiasts rather than fashionistas who are mostly dangling off kites this week.
And guess what we'll be doing tomorrow while there's a load of wingeing about how nasty it is biking when it's windy 🙂

Last time I sailed was Sept 1999 - rigging up on beach with my smallest sail, pulling on the downhaul and mast went straight through the top of sail - gutted.
I can still remember that magical sound of the water chattering on the board when blasting about.
You are right though - its a lot of faffing about.
I am going to be in day dream mode all day now!

Wow, how many guys on here are veteran windsurfers? I guess it must be an age thing?
I have fond memories of my Bic Electric rock, for it's time it was super quick and super light, ace for popping airs and real nice to carve gybe, even duck gybe ocasionally. I guess that was around 1988?

Thinking back the first time I ever saw a mountain bike was when the guy form the local windsurfing shop turned up with one in the back of his van. He started riding around the small hills by the car park because, as usual, there was no wind.

I remember thinking, yeah that will never catch on, rich boyz toyz. I now ride a Santa Cruz Blur?!

In fact it just shows how times have changed. I had two local windsurfing shops, and lived in Nottingham, 150 miles form the coast. I wonder what those guys are doing now?

It sounds to me a few people on hear would benefit from a trip to Egypt and a weeks kitesurfing. Those memories can be re lived, except in 25 degree water and crystal lagoons, instead of 5mm of neoprene.

Egypt is amazing and can easliy be done a budget. I can't recommend it enough for the windsurfing / kiting (but the food is lousy).

I had two local shops in nottingham

I can tell you what the guys from windsports are up to.

[/i]Wow, how many guys on here are veteran windsurfers? I guess it must be an age thing?

Easy matey there are still a bloody lot of people who STILL do it....

🙄

Although I still sail, the phase "you should have been here 2 hours/days ago" does not apply to hills and trails as they remain the same shape /size irrespective!! A distinct bonus!

I know the editor of Windsurf magazine, I went to uni with her and did a fair number of windsurfing events with her - she's still fairly heavily into it, obviously, and only ~26ish IIRC. It's not an oldies sport 🙂

btw, one thing that is really different now is the quality and availability of weather forcasts, and the number of real time weather sites online. Wasted trips to the beach are (almost) a thing of the past.
And the new learner kit makes the sport more accessible than it has ever been.

ps44 - not sure I'd agree on that at all, you really have to know how the sites vary at your spot. XC and metcheck are ****ign useless. They generally get the direction about right but speed is still a joke.

did it up to basic instructor level, after leaning to sail on Loch Tay mid 80's, stopped after awhile mainly due to time, wind and set up time.

would love to do it again maybe on a summer hols!!!

parents just got rid of my Jet 320 board, sails are still in garage rafters...

local dentist has a Tushingham cartoon poster on ceiling thats always good to look at...

coffeeking - of course you have to know how local conditions affect the meta picture, but the fact is that the data is all there for you to interpret, including forecasts from all the main models.
Anyway, it's ride the board on saturday and ride the bike on sunday - predicted with a high degree on confidence 😆

I still windsurf - in fact looking forward to going tomorrow.
After taking up mountainbiking in 1990 (after an article about it in 'Boards' magazine) a couple of years later I gave up windsurfing in preference.
In those days I had more family & work comittments, weather forecasting wasn't so easy and as I only got my rocks off at the coast found mtbing more convenient living in the heart of the country.
Some years later I re-started windsurfing as a 'thing to do occasionally' - until the bug bit deeper of course.
I now still do both, I find them quite complementary even as a weekender.
September saw me windsurfing at several coastal venues as well as Rutland & I rode High Street & Grizedale, Cumbria, as well as local trails on my Wolf Ridge.
On a good day windsurfing equates to riding your fave st & descents without the climbs and injury risk.
And although the sport is far more at the mercy of weather windsurfing kit is long lasting and barring accidents virtually maintenance free - contrast that to parts attrition and hours of cleaning/servicing from winter riding in the Peak District.

I think one thing that's happened is windurfers are not only fewer but more likely to congregate at better spots rather than be highly visible in day-glo wetsuits at every pond & beach. They're more discerning and able to be so due to advances in IT.

But each to their own - and for me I consider myself lucky to enjoy both 🙂
(My dark secret is that I also ride a ghey Cannondale road bike, a man's got to have an excuse to get into Lycra)

My observations from my surfski were that most windsurfers did 50 yards, splot, crawl back, fight sail, splot, repeat ad nausea, then 50 yards, splot, etc. That's probably why it died.

The good guys are brilliant though. Looks like too much learning curve. Give me a surfski anyday.

Hifly 300 still comes out every so often.

epicyclo,
It hasn't died. Contracted, yes.
The days of whole families being out on plastic nasties on calm sunny days are no more, but there's still quite a following.
And while the general skill level is much higher than a couple of decades ago so the kit is much improved.
Learning kit is much improved - now rather than go out, drop the sail, fall in & then expend great effort getting back on board & hauling the sail up again nowadays you'll likely stay on board & the rig is lighter to pull up.

Having said that it's still quite a hard sport to go from beginner to getting the buzz of blasting across water - whereas anybody can punch buttons on a joypad in their armchair and almost anybody can go 'whee' on a bike - so the early stages are more suited to people with the character to gain satisfaction from achieving small success's on their way to their longer term goals.
And the sport is always like that - no matter what level you reach there's always more to achieve so not only can you get the buzz from just simple 'groove riding' (blasting across water, turning, blasting back) there are always challenges and rewards beyond.

But either you get it or you don't - and for me the first sight of white water will give an adrenalin kick.

I'd better drop the subject now as I'm coming across as a bit of a zealot 😯

Hope you all have a good ride this weekend and get back reasonably unscathed.

Good to see you bikers do talk about a good sport now and then. Windsurfing perhaps doesn

e

s/ 90

b

s and get some new kit (Windsurfing). (Have a look on Starboard Open Forum; guest dont have to register)
Suspect sport has become more regional and has tended to drift towards sea venues but any folk who doubt its still healthy have a look at Le Defi (Southern France)or any wave venue here in uk.(Fraisthorpe as mentioned is still attracting perhaps 100 sailors on a good day)Also suspect sport has become a bit more like skiing (snow) with people going abroad to participate. (Again have a look at Dahab; Egypt. Sotavento or Club Vass) This month sees UK wave championship in Tiree.
Windsurfing hasn`t gone at all; its changed and perhaps appeals to a different audience. 🙂
PS
Whatever happened to mountain biking ? I never see any where I sail ????

My post got a bit mixed up above ???

Bit missing basically ;;;
Sport has developed a great deal technically. Its faster; easier (relatively) and far more accesible (for learners).
Windsurfing has broke the 50knot barrier (admitted kites were first and I think Hydroptere now holds speed record; but Hydroptere cost 6 million euro. Speed kit for £2000 would give it more than a run for its money and beat it in very strong winds/ some conditions.
Boards can sail in the most extreme conditions of any craft and Kauli Seadi has just claimed his $10 000 reward for landing a triple loop. (Yes a Triple)

I was mad keen in the 80s too. The last board I had then was a Mistral Hookipa, great fun jumped well and was dead easy to gybe even when the wind started to drop. Loads of us sailed together and working shifts made it easy to get out in the week. I stopped sailing for years and then bought a Mistral 256 wave board off someone who was emigrating to Oz. I liked the board but it was hard work when the wind was a bit flukey so I bought a Fanatic Gecko and I found it sailed just like my old Hookipa. Then my work changed and I went onto days and not so many people sailed and I didnt quite have the bottle to go miles out to sea like we did in the old days so I sailed les and less and biked more and more.
I eventually gave all my gear away to the local junior sailing club and now only windsurf on holiday. Saying that the last 2 holidays have been Vassiliki and Teos so had a great time. Vass was fantastic, biked all day then sailed at tea time when the wind got up.

Good to see windsurfing still being discussed in places other than windsurfing. As PeteB says, Bikes and Windsurfing can be very complementary sports. I've been windsurfing today on a Bedfordshire pit in howling winds with a great bunch from all walks of life. There were 50+ there today. Not bad really. Next weekend the forecast looks more ride friendly so a large group of the sailors are planning to go to the Peaks or even Wales. It all depends on what the weather does. It is suprising just how many windsurfing club members we have partake in both sports to a high degree.

For those of you that remember the old kit and how hard it was, you will be pleasantly suprised by the advancement in the sport. Liken it to riding a Penny Farthing through Afan back then compared to doing it on a nice Orange Blood FR today. The kit really has changed that much. These days a complete beginner can go out with good instruction and get their first planing experience in just a couple of months.

So those of you whe are lapsed sailors, get down to your local club and try some modern kit. Those of you who have never tried the sport before, make plans for the first week of May 2010 where national windsurfing week ( www.nationalwindsurfingweek.org ) might allow you to give it a go for free if your local pit are one of the many that are offering this.

top speed today at West Kirby 47.3 knots! down the wall, Farrel as usual had FTD
I was mullered on an old school 4m, the new sails are so much better, the speed sailors were on 5.7m!!
blowing a steady 30=35 knots

I was into it big time, but got fed up with travelling for miles, only to find the weather was wrong, or just as you rigged up a 6.5m you'd need a 5m, then as soon as the 5m was ready the wind dropped again.

I then bought a Saracen Blizzard (a half decent bike in those days). I out it in the car as well as taking my board and set off for Camber sands. As expected, the winds were light, so I go my bike out. My mates all thought I was nuts taking a pushbike sailing, but then they had a very boring day.
Mmost of my friends thought it was ridiculous to buy a pushbike at the ripe old age of 23. I old them that we'd all have one someday and that MTB's would catvch on in a big way. I think I was right seeing as the said critic ended up with a series of push bikes (starting with MTBs) and now does century road rides every weekend! Well it's relatively flat where he lives - Tokyo.

My poor windsurfer has been suspended from my garage ceiling for the past 17 years in the hope that i may one day use it again Seems unlikely as i'm now crewing on a yacht from time to time.

Oh the nostalgia! You old pole dancers are a sad bunch!

Well, I'm one too.
Windsurfed since the early 80's, introduced to mountain biking by the windsurf retailer, then that led into road bikes and triathlon.
Saw the early kiters getting teabagged across the bay and thought "that's stupid".
5 years ago for some reason started kiting, survived a trip across the rocks, and love it.
Can get out much more often and have fun in much lighter winds. Windsurfing is great, don't knock it, but I just want to get out on the water. Kiting is much less physically demanding than windsurfing, you really need to be match fit to make the best of a windy wave day on a board. It's also much easier to learn.

Who's that with a Sunset Slalom? All time classic. Epoxy light? Good skeg? Don't chuck it, a friend here has my old one and wants another as spare.