… Does anyone know?

I used to be mad keen on this sport as a teen in the late 80s – early 90s, then Lester Noble (former sailmaker) went all Orange and shifted camp to MTBing..

..I kinda never looked back either. 8)

Does anyone still windsurf, anywhere? From the apparent lack of windsurfing action the beaches nowadays, it doesn't really seem so. A shame, 'cause it was good fun – albeit when the wind was 'just right'. It seems there may be some sort of 'critical mass' at work here – windsurfing at a beach on your own is never much fun – so with few other sailors around it simply kills the sport dead.

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.

the 90s everyone ditched skiing for snowboarding. Now skiing is the thing to do.

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'

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 !