Hi Curac,
I am sure Micheal(the editor of Freesail) would love to have two magazines, one for each sport, but the reality of the country we live in is that there are simply not enough people to buy them. As it is, Freesail has come on leaps and bounds in the last two years, and it is almost entirly a one man band.




Simon
gowindsurfing.com

Curac,

I share your feelings on this one but I think there is a real dilemna here. I love windsurfing and have no problem at all with Kitesurfing, and I have friends that are kiters, but I want material that purely focusses on windsurfing which is my passion.

The dilemna is that as consumers we can always vote with our wallets, don't buy it and buy the British and American Magazines which are predominantly devoted to windsurfing, eg Boards, Windsurf etc. I buy those magazines because of their focus on Winsurfing. But is my consumer behaviour only reinforcing for Freesail to focus on Kiting

As Simon points out Australia is a small market, if we don't buy/support freesail as windsurfers, then what is the point of windsurf distributers advertising in it, and then what is Freesail's incentive in focussing on Windsuring. Kiting is new, and distributors want their product out there advertised, and Kiters want to read lot's about their new sport, so it would be stupid of Freesail not to focus on Kiting.

It's a dilemna, which I think we as windsurfers, such as myself, have probably contributed to the magazine focussing on Kiting I'm not sure what value there is in BLAMING Freesail, but at the same time I don't see any value in buying Freesail magazine.

There you go I can be serious! Particularly when I'm paid by Freesail to do so Yeh! they'd pay me to say "Don't But It"

Hardie SoftBoy

Well that is good to hear Simon. I hope that continues to be the case because there are a lot of good things going on throughout the local scene.

Hopefully it will steer back toward a predominantly windsurfing perspective, because as I said earlier the kiters I have spoken to don't bother with it either, so maybe the kiting content of the mag is not really helping sales that much.

OK, next time I am in a newsagency trying to quietly tear off the plastic cover of the FHM or RALPH special issue, I will take a look at Freesail with an open mind.

I looked through freesail at the newsagency and put my money on a UK mag instead, it may have cost twice as much but you get 3 times more windsurfing than freesail, so I think the overseas mags are better value.
There must be a better cover photo than the one they used on the latest freesail?

after hardman said that it was worth the buy.. i bought it..
seeing as away from home and have no equipment with me and the wind is up.. and well.. its a bit of touch and go.. mostly go.
while he has some good articles.. the kitesurfing completely outweighs the windsurfing. and as i don't give a **** about kiting that left me with about 10 pages to read.. while most mags don't take much time to read you can usually go through them a bunch of times and pick up the things you missed.. i have had the mag a day.. and i have read everything.. even stuff i didn't want too. heh

while i respect that this mag is suposedly close to a one man show.
it doesn't make up for pretty much abandoning you long time audience..

In the mag there was mention windsurfing needs exposure to the public again(thats not a quote its a gist of what was said a few times) its a funny thing to have printed in a mag that didn't have one picture of windsurfing on the cover..


I LIKE WATER

Bowen is not windy at the moment.. it was for the first 2 days i was here but its not anymore.. yay.. 22 degrees.. that will be fun going back down there to that after a week of 28 degrees and water that prolly isn't much lower.. i think i will fix my car and make another trip back up here during winter..

I LIKE WATER

And if i may blantantly give my school a plug, the mag has a great little feature on junior windsurfing down here in Safety Bay. The photo is Matthew, who is only 8.He's a ripper in the making.



Simon
gowindsurfing.com

Hey you guys,

I surf, Kite and wavesail from time to time and am getting back into wave sailing this season, and want to throw my unbiased 2 cents worth in. Freesail is a good mag that has had to move with the times. Many of the windsurfers from the east coast gave up windsurfing for the option of kiting because the winds bites more often than not on the east coast and if there is wind, then there's no swell.

Many windsurfers on the west coast now do both sports but probably still favour windsurfing due to excellent windsurfing conditions. So it is probable that Michael has now had to change the focus of Freesail to cater for the old and new readers of both sports.

Many kiters are unhappy with Kiteboarder mag and as such look forward to reading the latest in Freesail. As a kiter I still enjoy reading about the wavesailing articles in Freesail.

The biggest problem is the cost to put the mag together. The money comes from shops, distributors and other advertisers so if windsurfing took a bit of a downturn in advertising then it would have been difficult to keep the magazine going without the support of the kite industry wanting to advertise.

If you want more articles on the local happenings, then you have to write them and send in some pics along with the story as I have done on many occasions. Maybe we need to just halve the magazine and have the front half for windsurfing and the 2nd half for kitesurfing. That way we get even parts of both. Both Kiters and Sailboarders would like Mike to split the mag into two seperate mags, but the money isn't there from either circulation or advertising to warrant the cost and the additional manpower to produce two mags.

As for the Euro/Brit mags like windsurf, sheeiit, half the mag is bloody advertising of friggin wetties and the likes. I want stories of travel and comps to be entertained.

We all need to support Mike as he is a one man show, pretty much, by buying the products, encouraging advertisers, and submitting articles, it's only with this help that Freesail will get bigger and better for all involved. Who knows maybe one day it will even split off into two seperate mags!

Just a few thoughts.
Sail, kite and surf!