I was one of thousands of wannabees

[DelCarpenter]

I must confess I was one of thousands of wannabees who helped kill off what windsurfing was. I did that by being willing to buy & try to use equipment that was beyond my possible level of competence. I should have been clued in by comparing the rigging hassles of sails that required down haul winches with earlier sails that needed only a plastic cleat in my hand.

Over the years I did get rid of the gear that was higher performance than I could ever hope to be. Now I most often sail Kona boards which most sailors can ride in most conditions. I use Kona sails I can again completely downhaul without even using a plastic cleat. I haven’t used a downhaul winch for several years because the sails I use never need one to be rigged properly.

We should have some racing events limited to beginner boards & beginner sails. Top level sailors on beginner boards with beginner sails would still provide top level competition while encouraging newcomers to begin.

[isobars]

Hit the gym.

[DelCarpenter]

Mike, listen to yourself, imagine telling someone who wants to become a windsurfer, "get thee to a gym." That is the kind of elitist B. S. that reduced our sport from its early glory.

If Drake & Schweitzer had started by inventing a board like a Starboard Start or even a Starboard Go plus batten stabilized monofilm sails the percentage of successful beginners would have been much larger. And a much larger number of them would still be sailing today.

Some things can't be changed in a gym. My endurance on a windsurfer is fine. But I would never have been a high performance windsurfer no matter how wonderful my workouts. My personal physical reaction speed was no better than an average non-windsurfer and could never become better. Balance can be improved, as proven in my yoga classes. But improving a person's general reaction speed is, I think, not generally possible. So I will never be good at being a wave sailor. I could learn to be a wave sailor, but I don't have enough speed to ever be a good one.

The focus of windsurfing manufacturers & organizations on the high performance sailor by-passes most of the actual & potential windsurfers. Most of the time in most sports most of us are and always will be just duffers. That is OK, and just fine if we can recognize and enjoy living with our limitations. If more of us could do that maybe we could get more equipment makers to pay more attention to the much larger market of duffers which would also be closer to what beginners need so we could get more beginners. I'm hoping foiling might move us in that direction just a little. Sails that can be much smaller and produce greater pleasure can also be less highly strung and much easier to rig without requiring winches.

I'm not wasting my time straining to achieve a higher speed "personal best" when I could be focused on improving my personal pleasure. And increasing the number of windsurfers on the water does increase my personal pleasure far beyond the pleasure increase that comes from a 1 or 2 mph higher speed. I think having more sailors on the water would also be a boost in personal pleasure for all or nearly all sailors.

[dllee]

Be 71 in a week, sail about 90 days a year since '83, have tried a winch a handful of times, but not in the past 15 years.
Most used boardsize 90 odd liters and mid 5 sails.

[PeconicPuffin]

[techno900]

Not all sails are difficult to rig. I have Maui sails from 4.0 to 11.0 (wave, freeride and race), the largest four are race sails. ALL rig easily with a hand cleat. I am not promoting race sails, they have their own issues, but rigging isn't a problem with any of my sails. I am 74, but only get to sail about 40 times a year. Back in the day when I had Gaastra race sails, a hand crank made things easier, but the newer designs (I can't speak for all brands) are easy to rig, even with the cambers.

And yes, I miss the days in the 80's (a little bit) when there were 40 sailors at the lake with families, most on long boards cruising around in the afternoon with the better sailors perfecting their freestyle moves.

Transitioning to higher performance gear was and is the norm for most people that give windsurfing a shot. However, as we age, we tend to plateau at some point and are happy with the status quo, or regress to something that is less demanding on our bodies. In the last two years, I haven't and won't rig my 11.0 on my formula board ever again, but everything else is still a go.

[ramps]

Skinny masts brought a huge reduction in downhaul effort, and saved wear and tear on downhaul lines.

[U2U2U2]

I don’t comprehend this thread. Wannabe what, could a should a would a
So you had equipment that you didn’t live up to, BFD.
The crank use makes adjustments less painful on my body, and so friggin rigging much easier.

[dvCali]

[PeconicPuffin]

For easier rigging, using formuline/spectra and the precise threading pattern makes all the difference. I gave away my crank a few years ago...no longer need it (but I'll buy one again if the day comes that I do.) Meanwhile on easier downhauling:

https://www.peconicpuffin.com/the_peconic_puffin/2007/03/easier_downhaul.html