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MrFish
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 248
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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zirtaeb wrote: | Screw the Olympics.
Does any sport attract more kids than trick skateboarding?
Is it in the Olympics?
BMX racing IS. But most kids like freestyle biking.
NP/JP/Cabrina can easily produce a Slab copy of course kiteboards that can be adopted as the standard.
Ever sail an RSX? Total pig that won't hold up after 30 practice sessions.
What sport is more popular to young adults and kids than surfing? |
Yeah, that's what I used to think to. But, in other countries besides the US, Olympic windsurfing drives a lot of young people into windsurfing, and they don't even start on RSX, but on beginner gear, longboards, whatever is lying around.
The RSX board itself is besides the point now.
I think Pryde isn't doing this for money; he sincerely believes that windsurfing is better than kiting for youth, as do I, and even I'm sure a lot of kiters (I know plenty of kiters whose kids windsurf, because kiting is just not very safe). A lot of the local sailing clubs will stick with windsurfing too, and some will drop it, but I doubt any are going to add kiting as an alternative to sailing lasers-it's just to different of a sport, they don't have the instructors, equipment, it's to dangerous, and it often needs totally different launches than other sailsports. They already don't have every Olympic sailing class, so they're probably not adding this one.
OTOH this is a huge bonus for the kite companies and the kite schools, if they can extend kiting down to the youth level that's a huge mostly new market for them, and even if there are some high profile injuries or deaths, sad to say, that may even help their visibility. |
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alexw
Joined: 04 May 1998 Posts: 46
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mikecole
Joined: 21 Sep 2000 Posts: 164
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:14 pm Post subject: |
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I too wondered why this was presented as "kiteboarding at the expense of windsurfing" when there are something like six different dingy classes for sitdown sailors. I think adding kiteboarding as an olympic sport is great. Taking out windsurfing was a bad decision.
Mike |
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windchamp2
Joined: 02 Jun 2010 Posts: 24
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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The umbrella group your talking about already exists- its the international windsurfing assoc. All major windsurfing classes are members except rsx & pwa.
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swchandler
Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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It's too bad that windsurfing in the Olympics is reduced to a course race. In reality, it represents very little about what windsurfing is really about. If one was to consider how snow skiing and snowboarding are represented in the Olympics, I think that it's been better represented across many different disciplines. Lots of variety to appeal to many interests.
Even in the current Summer Olympics, we have differing facets within a sports discipline. In gymnastics or swimming, how many different events are featured?
To be honest, windsurfing is encumbered by being linked to traditional sailboat racing. Often the theater is too technical and boring to enlist any real interest, especially in conditions that many of us wouldn't waste our time. As constrained as things are, there's not much room to grow. |
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KevinDo
Joined: 02 Jul 2012 Posts: 426 Location: Cabrillo Inside
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alexw
Joined: 04 May 1998 Posts: 46
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