Interview with  Josh Sampiero :  (Windsurfing Magazine Editor)

By Rick Randall

Rick Randall:  So I am here at Surf Expo 2008 with Windsurfing Magazine’s Editor Josh Sampiero.  What do you think about the show so far?

JS:  So far it has been great with a lot of participation from all the dealers and the manufacturers.  There are people here from all over the world.  And that is the most beautiful girl I have seen all day!

RR:  And that is saying something with all of the models around here!

JS:  There is a ton of great gear here, but also many beautiful women.

RR:  That is why you got into this business.

JS:  Absolutely, I am a windsurfer for the girls.

RR:  There is so much cool new gear here, with lots of sails designed for the SUP boards for light wind wave sailing.  Also new SUP boards with mast tracks which is one of the coolest things this year, as well as the new free ride and freestyle gear too.

RR:  One big trend I have noticed is something that has maybe carried over from that other sport we won’t mention by name and that is a lot of color in the sails and graphics on the boards that really pop…….it seems that for a while that windsurfing has sort of disappeared from the general public’s consciousness due to the prevalence of mono film in sails. 

JS:  Yeah it seems we started to see some color creeping into the sails again a couple of years ago.  Now every manufacturer has lots of color in all the sails.  In fact we did an article a couple of years ago called “Is Windsurfing Disappearing?”  And it seems that since kite surfing came around, we have seen color coming back.  It is just really hard to notice a monofilm sail from 150 feet away, so it is great to see the full color back in the sails.

RR:  So tell us a bit about the future of the magazine and the focus that your articles will have.  And is that a change over what happened in the past?

JS:  Well in the past the magazine has not done much with racing.  And my background in windsurfing is racing, so we are going to focus a bit more on that.  And other than that, really focusing on grassroots windsurfing, and real world windsurfing.  We all know that there are hundreds of pros who sail in beautiful places in 4.5 conditions, but that is not windsurfing in the United States.  So you will see more coverage of what is really going on here.

RR:  That is awesome to hear.  You mentioned SUP and light wind wave sailing, and you just did a big cross country trip where you met lots of windsurfers.  Tell us about that.

JS:  Well as far as SUP, I had one on my trip and it probably doubled the days I had when the high winds just did not blow.  And windsurfing is alive and vibrant, in small pockets around the country where there is strong support for it.  There were a surprising number of juniors, which was good to see, because it is no secret that the average age of windsurfers is around 40.  The thing about that is these people now have kids who are old enough to get into the sport which is great.  My generation sort of got skipped, but the first generation of sailors now can get their kids into it.

RR:  Outside of windsurfers with kids, what do you see as the key to getting people outside the sport to discover it.  There are so many other choices out there from computers to other sports now, how do we expose windsurfing to the public?

JS:  There is no question that there is a lot of competition from other solo sports, and others.  And windsurfing has a high level of difficulty to enter into it.  But the US Windsurfing / US Sailing initiative to get it into yacht clubs is a good thing.  In Europe it is a big part of the youth culture and that is where it needs to be to grow.

RR:  You mentioned US Sailing, and I talked yesterday with Nevin Sayre who has had a lot of success with getting that program going.  And he said the same thing about Europe, where there is a real progression to a top level, including the Olympics.  Windsurfing started here in this country and yet we have not really done so well in the Olympics.  Is this an opportunity to grow the sport, or do most windsurfers not even care about that?

JS:  That is a difficult question to answer.  I am not sure if that is a way to grow the sport.  For young people there are a lot more exciting ways for them to participate in the sport.  As far as the Olympics, we will not produce another contender until we have real support for them.  The top sailors are competing in   Europe.

RR:  So is that a cause or a symptom?

JS:  I don’t think that there are enough people interested in the Olympics to create a viable and competitive class here in this country. 

RR:  Is that a result of the fact that the current equipment is not something that the average windsurfer is interested in?

JS:  I think there is a lot of divisiveness amongst the racing community on what sort of equipment to race on.  Our sport has evolved into so many different formats, that you can argue for long boards which are great in light winds.  And Formula is also a valid format which works great in stronger winds.  I don’t think we are ever going to be able to convince the Olympic committee to go with an open class like Formula, it will have to be one design.

RR:  Well all the other classes are a single design, built by different manufacturers.

JS:  Then maybe there is a chance to get Formula into the Olympics.  To the world windsurfing community Olympic windsurfing is important and I am curious to see where it will go.

RR:  What other thoughts and feeling do you have about windsurfing in the coming year?

JS:  Well I hope it is windy!  I am looking forward to the SUP sailboard test.  A lot of people are talking about it being an economically down time, but after the summer it seems the dealers feel the numbers are about the same.

RR:  Yes the economy has been a big topic, and certainly gas was expensive which cut down on peoples travels.  I think that may be a benefit to windsurfing, because most people can just cruise down to their local spot, and if they have the right gear, can sail a lot.

JS:  Windsurfing is an ecologically friendly sport too.  I love to wakeboard, but I hate to fill up the boat with gas!  Especially when I can grab my windsurf board, and do the same thing for free.

RR:  Thanks a lot Josh!

JS:  Thank you Rick!