Tuesday, June 9, 2015

East Coast Windsurfing Festival 2015 - You're Doing it Right

Check out this great video by Mike Burns, the organizer of the annual East Coast Windsurfing Festival in Long Island, NY. A couple years ago I went to this with Josh Angulo. Super glad to see they're still doing it and having fun.

2015 ECWF - LI - HD 1080p from Mike Burns on Vimeo.

This makes me want to do some more windsurfing regatta type things. It's nice that SUP is hugely popular now and there's a big SUP race in Florida practically every weekend. It would be so cool if it was like that for windsurfing. Maybe Ace Performer in Fort Myers will host a little event sometime.

3 comments:

Frank said...

Since I am not an SUV er but am a windsurfer. Maybe you can comment on why you think windsurfing is suffering. I watched the video and noticed most of the participants were my age 62 and the equipment was old as well. Most of the board had dagger boards and the one guy on the "Windsurfer" had nice free style. A guy at the beach told me he had been to Maui and watched windsurfers but never considered learning here in Texas. Do you think most people view windsurfing as a hard sport?

James Douglass said...

Hi Frank,

I think it's because other activities are bleeding off the potential pool of windsurfers. SUP and kayaking get the slow-speed dabblers of all ages who want a simple and relaxing way to enjoy the water anywhere anytime. Kiteboarding and motorsports get all those who want to be "extreme" and are willing to use more expensive and complicated gear to do so. In my mind windsurfing combines the best of both worlds- the mellow relaxation and the extreme thrills. But to others I think it looks like the worst of both worlds- more complicated and expensive than SUP but not as radical as kiteboarding. And, of course, it takes a long time to get good at windsurfing, and few people have the patience, especially when there are so many other options offering more instant gratification.

-James

stevenjared0853 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.