The doomsayers rarely cite statistics. Their evidence is mainly impressionistic, often based on the number of people at their local launch. Occasionally someone will point to declining attendance and participation in events. Why are there no big windsurfing events anymore? Why do the USWA Nationals attract fewer than 200 people?

If you were sailing in the 1980s, you might indeed point to that decade as the golden age of windsurfing and wonder what happened to the centralized direction, the enthusiasm, and the strong growth curve of the early to mid 1980s.

Before more than a couple of postings have been exchanged, the anti-gloom side makes itself heard. Some anti-gloomers try to reassure us: “We’re just going through a shake-out.” A vocal and probably sizable portion of windsurfers think that there simply is no problem. This attitude is typical: “I kinda like the idea of a shrinking sport. Crowds are the #1 reason I don't sail some spots due to the risk of injury from the out-of-control crew.” Canadian Hole in the Spring, anyone?

After the me-and-my-windsurfing folks have had their say, people usually start listing reasons why windsurfing is shrinking. Here are some of the main reasons given:

It’s all the fault of the windsurfing industry. The industry has not done a good job of promoting the sport. This idea draws a lot of support from a widely-cited article in the Wall Street Journal (1996/06/14). The article accuses the windsurfing industry of shooting itself in the foot by concentrating only on high-end equipment and neglecting newcomers, beginners, and families. But the WSJ article only talked about declining sales.

Is that the only way to measure the health of the sport? Is the sport separable from the industry? If the industry is in decline, is the sport also in decline?

Or maybe the real problem is overproduction. We all like bargains, but how can a dealer stay in business when year-end overstock is dumped on the market at near to sometimes below dealer cost? Why would anyone buy a board from a dealer in the Spring when they can buy the same board in August for a whole lot less? The high cost of the sport ranks as a central problem of the sport—but that’s a whole other thread!

Maybe it’s the lack of good, used beginner equipment? Posters to rec.windsurfing are quick to point out that beginner gear is readily available at swap meets, in garages and attics. “There is a glut, a glut!, of good used beginner equipment out there,” wrote one. Is that why shops, and manufacturers don't push beginner gear? Maybe there is really no profit in beginner gear. Maybe the industry isn’t greedy, just realistic.

Other problems with the industry may have caused windsurfing to decline: the industry is too crowded; there are too many choices, too many brands, the products are not standardized. Maybe it’s all because monofilm sails are so fragile. Maybe the industry made equipment that’s TOO GOOD and doesn’t wear out.

Or maybe the real problem is “misdirected marketing”: the totally awesome aerial- loopoing side of windsurfing actually scares off potential windsurfers. The industry isn’t focused on the potential audience. The media image of windsurfing is too extreme. If that’s true, what about inline skating, snowboarding? The newsstands carry four or five snowboarding magazines and it all looks pretty radical to me.

Well, if it’s not the fault of the greedy, short-sighted industry, perhaps the well- known snobbism and elitism of the typical windsurfer did the sport in. Did the “industry” bring us “Just Say No to 6.O”? (This is a T-shirt truism from about 1993, I believe.) A few posters will suggest that windsurfing is only a fad for those who merely want to look kewl.

Maybe the demographics of the baby boom explain everything: Windsurfing could not sustain the 80s boom because it used up the initial pool of people who were likely to try windsurfing. Once that was exhausted, it became a “replacement market.”

Then someone will tout longboarding as the salvation of the sport. You can always count on the shortboard-only crowd to trash longboarding: “Everyone says we need to go back to the original Windsurfer, but that is bunk. Those things are a blast, yes, for about an hour. OK, a month if it is new to you. We all remember how much fun it was at first, but what you don't realize is that we went to shortboards because we were BORED silly with the thing. It is human nature.” (Will Harper)

Before a flare-up of gloom and doom runs its natural course, you’ll see some speculation about “the nature of windsurfing.” Windsurfing is not for everyone. “The only reason windsurfing boomed for a few years [just a few years?] is that it took most of the country a few years and a few thousand $$ to figure out that it was not for them.”

Of course windsurfing is not for everyone! It’s simply TOO HARD. Windsurfing also takes a long time to learn. “A person has to ENJOY frustration, effort, study, and crashes to grow in this sport.” You’ve got to be able to tolerate wind frenzy, getting skunked, unpleasant weather, getting dunked in cold water, etc. Windsurfing is a sport that “requires effort, coordination, and brain cells just to get from point A to Point B and back again....” (And sometimes I feel lucky just to get back.)

By the time the exchange of opinions broadens to include the national psychology (“this is a country that demands instant gratification”), the gloom and doom has pretty much run its course.

If there are causes, then there must be cures. Rec.windsurfing never lacks for solutions. One idea that comes up a lot is that personal involvement will save the sport. We all ought to bring new people to the sport, like the old cult thing “each one teach one.” The dubious value of having ordinary windsurfers try to teach newcomers is sometimes debated. Or, the shops should promote beginners’ equipment.

How much of any of this is true? Whether the sport is in decline depends on what you are measuring. One windsurfing store owner in the SF Bay area had this to say: “As a Windsurfing retailer in the SF Bay area my personal observation is that more people are sailing than ever in this market, both young and old. Every school that I associate with was booked solid this summer and last. ABK is sold out through September, something [that] never happened before. The reason the shops are going away ... is that the shops and the industry have been doing too good a job!!” (Will Harper, Berkeley Windsurfing)

You can check for “facts” at the AWIA web site. It is reported that there are 1,200,000+ active windsurfers in the US and that the annual participation growth rate is 7%. If these figures are correct, then it’s hardly a sport in decline.

Personally, I agree with Will Harper. His bottom line: “Sleep well. The sport is fine. Those who love it will keep it going. ... Rejoice in the fact that windsurfing is not for everyone. You are the most intelligent, technically proficient, wealthiest, upwardly mobile demographic of any action sport. YOU ARE THE FEW AND THE PROUD, YOU ARE THE WINDSURFERS.”