Cr@p We've Been Told

arrogantj's picture

Much has been made of the passing of Windsurfing Magazine and many associate it with the state of windsurfing itself. However, the state of printed media and windsurfing are not necessarily correlated. Many pastimes, like windsurfing, go through a life cycle that looks like this:

  • The intrepid few give it a go
  • It catches the eye and imagination of the general population who rush to the next big thing
  • Money - sponsorship - floods in to attract the eyeballs of the new participants
  • Competition becomes the most visible vehicle for sponsors and manufacturers (if it's fast, it must be good)
  • Equipment tends to be optimized for competitive use rather than recreational - at least the most advertised and visible
  • Beginners and even intermediates find much of what's new and available to be unsuitable and find it difficult to progress or even maintain their enthusiasm
  • An economic downturn or "next new thing" siphons off some of the early adapters who have the attention spans of hamsters
  • Sponsors because of growth flat-lining or retrenching because of inevitable economic cycles reduce or end the flow of money and look for the next new big thing
  • As the number of marginal participants decreases, someone, somewhere will say "Our beloved activity is dying."
  • Manufacturers realize the error of their ways and refocus on the recreational user participation settles on a long term equilibrium

You thought I was talking about windsurfing? How about mountain biking which went through this process as has just about any other sport of the last thirty or forty years: tennis, golf, inline skating, surfing. Professional mountain bikers could score a new Jeep for winning a race twenty years ago. A recession and changes in buyer habits and sponsorship dollars later, they might have gotten a set of new wheels - bike wheels. Manufacturers had flooded the market with wannabe downhill racers bought by the thousands at Walmart, Target, Toys R Us. You'd see a full-suspension bike (done cheaply, they are quite heavy, it takes serious money to make them light) bouncing down the local bike path. When sales slowed, manufacturers woke up and refocused on the hybrid which are both more comfortable and suitable for the riding 90% of cyclists do.

What's all this have to do with Windsurfing?

Our club ceased publication of a paper newsletter ten years ago. It simply became too expensive in time and money. Each copy cost almost a dollar to print and mail and the writing, printing and mailing took more time than most of us could offer. At the same time, our web site began to offer more ways for members to interact - forums, photo gallery. It didn't make sense to take club members money and invest the time in something that could be done for free. It wasn't that we lacked for members.

Jeff Henderson of Hot Sails Maui recently posted this on his forums: Print is slow, expensive, and takes way more work than on-line. They killed their kite board magazine as well, and they had good advertising in that. It is not windsurfing that is the problem.

Today, Encyclopedia Britannica announced that they will cease publication on paper. Instead, they will concentrate on their online version. Does this mean reading has gone out of style? Are books dead? Judging by the prodigious amounts of book my wife reads on her Kindle, I'd say no way. Just as we've moved from stone tablets to papyrus rolls and then paper books, we are moving to a method that enables distribution more efficiently.

What about the bike industry? Two interesting things have been happening in the last several years:

  • A rediscovery of classic steel bikes. Old ones are fetching double and triple of what the cost a few years ago and new ones are being produced in amounts not seen since the advent of inexpensive aluminum bikes in the early 1990's. Steel, mated with proper tires, provides a pleasant ride and evokes the reasons people have ridden for over a century. Certainly, these bikes are 5-7 lbs heavier than high-end race bikes but riders find that it really doesn't matter nor do they care.
  • The carbon super bike. A significant number of amateur, middle-aged riders are plunking down from $5-10,000 for a professional level race bike. Some of these folks are well-to-do and some are hanging their bikes on backs of cars not worth much more than their bike. I see riders on the Silver Comet Trail whose handlebars cost more than some of my beloved classics.

Cycles aren't just rise and fall. For the truly enjoyable sport, there is the rediscovery phase when young and old realize what the appeal always was. Also, while new windsurfing equipment may seem expensive, there are plenty of other sports where people drop a fair amount of money when buyers perceive that they are buying new, better technology they are more than willing to step up with plastic in hand.

I'll miss Windsurfing - the magazine. Now, I think there's a new freestyle video on Youtube I want to watch so if you'll excuse me...

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--- The Arrogant Jerk: Crabby and irritable since 1998.