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Comment by mstrem | Hacker News Reader

Internet has made a big difference for kite boarding, but I would say it has had the same effect on windsurfing recently so I don't think the comparison is necessarily correct. Rather it is the differences in the sports themselves that are making windsurfing lag behind:

1) windsurfing is much harder to learn and not as enjoyable at first (in fact it can be a pain) so people give up quicker

2) kitesurfing, for the new guy, is a lot more spectacular and gets a lot of "wows" on the beach, so it attracts more people

3) I must admit kitesurfing equipment is a lot lighter and easier to carry around

4) Windsurfing, being an older sport, has an "old" image. People generally think its slow and boring, and that you need huge waves to have fun. However things have changed drastically. Take a look at a few videos on http://www.continentseven.com to see what I mean

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Side discussion- As a kitesurfer/snowboarder/skater I think can appreciate the more technical aspects of windsurfing and not just look for 'wow' factor. But what I find difficult to watch in freestyle windsurfing is the 'sinking' or 'stopping' after tricks. It seems that in order to do anything really impressive you're going to just stop after you land. I think the best looking tricks in windsurf (and all of these sports actually) are ones where you leave the tricks with (close to) speed you entered with - such as certain tricks done on waves or some of the less technical 'pop' tricks. To me the root of this problem really comes down to the size of the gear you are having to throw around. In comparison, kitesurfing really frees your body up when riding and allows you to move around more in the air, as well as providing a 'pull' from with more freedom of control than a windsurf sail.

Well actually, you can do nearly all the tricks in windsurfing without stopping and sinking and coming out of it planing... it is just incredibly difficult to do though. Even the top surfers don't manage very often

The developments in acrobatic paragliding follow a similar theme: it used to be you'd do trick A, then resume normal flight, then do trick B, resume normal flight, trick C, etc.

Now it's all about instantaneous transitions between tricks. Pal Takats's video explains it brilliantly and impressively: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW9lncIP4ac

Strongly recommended!

It's true that windsurfing has progressed enormously in the last 10 years. However, the sport began in the 80s before the internet was commonplace and so its development was stunted in the beginning. I should have made the graph more clear.

You should mention Skateboarding. Kickflips took years to catch on because people only saw Rodney Mullen in skate-shop distributed VHSes.

That's really interesting. Although I've played around with a longboard I never got into skateboarding in a big way so I wouldn't feel qualified to write about it. Another interesting example is the Triple Cork in snowboarding:

Torstein Horgmo debuted it in 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGqkq3QqRE

And now they're expected at each X Games: http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000194812/featuresobf/tw...

Speaking of X Games and skateboarding...

Tony Hawk's first 900 was pretty neat. He was getting close to doing it, but couldn't quite nail the landing and it was decided to let him just keep trying until he got it. Even though it was over regulation time and it took him 10 tries they awarded him first place and none of the other competitors protested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/900_(skateboarding)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YYTNkAdDD8

Windsurfing also requires stronger winds. ~13/14 knots is enough to kite and jump around, and I think you need 3/4 knots to windsurf comfortably.

I think you have that backwards ..

Wind surfing doesn't seem old and boring to me. I see it as the next stage in evolution after the Laser.

For those who are confused by silverstorm's statement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_(dinghy)

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