Remember the good old days?/ Do you give a damn?

[ScuzzyBreeze]

Does anyone else here remember/miss the good old days when windsurfing was a lifestyle, or almost a religion???

I (thinking about what I experienced of the good old days) remember families with real live children on the beach with men AND women, sometimes in predetermined shifts, out on the water enjoying a day full of fellowship akin to that appreciated by the 1970's Church of Christ Movement (i.e. really motivated to do what they did type of people.)

I think I know what's going on, but what do you all think? Does anyone really care about the current state of the sport we call windsurfing?

I've read statements here that "the good thing about windsurfing is that you can do it alone", and I don't buy it. The flaws with this type of thinking are self evident.

Let's fucking DO SOMETHING on the East Coast!! This area gets a bad rap from all sides, but can we prove them wrong? Let's get organized, in tune, in touch. I don't give a shit if any Olympians come from the East Coast, but lets have a great time together and bring as many new people into the sport as possible. What will turn the trend around? Who will make a difference?

I'm expecting mostly silly, ignorant comments (Speedy Sailor [/i]et al), but does anybody give a damn? If the current trends continue, we'll be the last of a breed. I'm a really busy person, but I'll go out of my way to try and facilitate the type of experience I was afforded by others if it means things will change for the better. How about you?

[jordanwd]

Hell Yeah! I remember the days in early 1990's when everyone; families included, would be sailin... and this was at the levie in texas city.. many hundreds of cars out there on the weekends..it was frickin sweet!

[ScuzzyBreeze]

I hear you man! It's hard to relate the experience, but it was good.

I met a person on The Cape who got it and tried to do something about it, but I didn't get behind him to help promote a revival. Neither did the local shops.

I now regret that, and I'd like to help with round two if it happens next spring. The reality is that most of the energy was based around the racing scene, but I was burned out on racing sailboats and wanted nothing more to do with triangle courses. Looking back, I'd race two twelve hour days every weekend if it'd bring back a semblance of the past community.

Constructive comments or anyone in the New England area willing to make a difference?

[jordanwd]

yeah buddy..! the times have changed hahahaaa.

I just got off a 12 hour shift and I'm probably talkin goofy but wtf...hahahaaa..

just thinkin back to them super fun times in the early 1990's when sooo many people where sailin ( and i was a young little fart then) in Texas city ..the spot to sail in the Houston area at the time..(i was just learnin of course)..was so much funnn! but evan then the tide was changing.. i would be out every weekend rippin on a NP 7.5 V8 on a 120L'ish board havin a blast , but alot of good sailors would just sit on the beach.. they wouldn't evan go out on the water if it wasn't blowin 5.2 for small boards.. evan then the maui sail quiver mentaility was takin over... and more perpetuated by the board companies and especially the mags of the time- really focussing the sailors on small board , high wind gear tho most venues didn't have those conditions... face it... that shit screwed up the sport. I'm now getting back into sailin waves here on the west coast now..had a great spring sailing mostly a 75l wave board..but also getting back into longboard wave sailing in ligt winds also..which is frickin awesome (lite wind , clean surf, good times!) .. i believe the trend by Kona and other board ompanies towards long board/lite wind sailin is a step in the right direction for the future of our killer sport .. oh well..got another 10-12 hr work day tomorrow..
latah...

[isobars]

[mewindsurf]

Hey ScuzzyBreeze,

There are still some of us that see windsurfing as a religion and here on Long Island windsurfing is growing strong. We had a huge event last year with The East Coast Windsurfing Festival which was home to the King of the East freestyle competition. We had racing and freestyle events, and participation was on par with first couple King of the Cape events and we had no wind. With wind we would have easily had over 100 competitors. This year, the 75 sailors that did compete had a blast with womens and junior's fleets. Make it down to Long Island next spring, most likely the first week in June, for the second annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival. Windsurfing is strong on the East Coast, you just have to know where to look.

Mike Burns

[jingebritsen]

80's and 90's was when the ozone hadn't baked off as much? Beach going was stronger overall? WS'ing had just gutted the catamaran population? Nintendo hadn't really been so widespread? Kids weren't quite so coddled/driven to be busy then? Body counts at the old haunts/launches, doing whatever, are way down from then.

[Wind-NC.com]

We're doing our part down here in Hatteras, too! Bill Bell deserves some big props for setting up the Loop Fest this past spring, and a Wave Fest that's in the making right now, as we speak! Sure, these are moderately advanced windsurfing themes, but the idea is there: To raise the stoke level up to whole new heights, and get people pushing their own personal levels. Think about how excited you were the first time you sailed out of a jibe- you probably ran home and yelled through the streets about what an orgasmic sport windsurfing is. If 1% of your neighbors heard you and decided to take up the sport because of how excited you were about it... well, sweet!

So, how many people have plateaued and lost that excitement? Too many. That's why we're trying to get these bi-annual windsurfing events kicking here on Hatteras. The LoopFest saw 2 people break through, and many more people at least trying. They all went home invigorated with learning something new, and their stoke certainly got passed on to anyone who would listen. The idea with Wave Fest is exactly the same- get flat water sailors out into the ocean to challenge themselves, and experience new windsurfing sensations! Your stoke will pass on to everyone you meet, whether its the bagger at the grocery store, or your Brosef who only sails when it's blowing 35...

If you wanna check out what Bill has going, click here:

www.obxwindfest.com

[Juani222]

I agree that the magazines and board makers put much emphasis on small, high wind gear and sailors, showing people ripping in places that may as well be on the Moon...

I just got a Starboard F-type and a 9.8 Sailworks inspired by an article I read in Windsurfing Magazine about what people rig. The "average Joe" was a guy in Cape Cod... A GUY LIKE ME!!! Anyway, that ridiculously big gear got me on the water in Fogland the past two weekends. Let's face it, we live in a light wind area. My point is that we need to promote our way of sailing, with gear that is appropriate for the conditions, and let the media know that we are interested in reading about guys in Jeri, but also about guys on the Cape or in Fogland (that on a sunny day gets as many sailors as the Hatchery) on Formulas and huge sails.

The race in LI was awesome, I drove all the way from Providence. Let's do another in Fogland RI, or wherever, and let's call the media... I am a busy fellow too, but I am willing to spend some of my free time organizing an event... and I would love to kick your butts on my F-type
Count on me...
Juan

[btbill]

True regarding East Coast USA windsurfing stoke, and the push to bump it up a notch! Thanks Andy for the props, and yea the Hatteras Windsurfing Festival Series is exactly what we are trying to accomplish with igniting the fires of East Coast windsurfing, especially here in Hatteras which is the top windsurfing destination on the East Coast.

There has been a kind of plateau even here on the OBX with a lack of windsurfing enthusiasm. The only other Hatteras event which remains active is Windfest at Frisco Woods Campground, but from feedback over the past few years, it sounds like enthusiasm for that event has waned from its heydays in the late 1990s early 2000s.

I too even felt myself getting into a windsurfing rut personally by not pushing myself, or feeling the drive from others to take our windsurfing to the next level. It seemed we were becoming not only older but complacent with no new sparks of windsurfing enthusiasm. Sure, we had fun and caught many days on the water, but it became kind of the same old, same old... After experiencing my own "rebirth" with loop success, my stoke flew, and what better way to share it than by organizing an event.

Hatteras Loop Fest did ignite something, and it was really awesome to experience a taste again of that windsurfing heyday feeling, not only in myself, both more importantly the others who experienced success during the event and had an awesome windsurfing time!

Hatteras Wave Fest follows a similar model to not only entice sailors to take their windsurfing to a new level, but also inject renewed enthusiasm into a sport we all enjoy and love.