Lets get you sponsored!!

Some say windsurfing is dead….. well its not, we are still selling equipment and with the new lines about to be released we can expect the market to just keep getting better, so now you know what it takes to be a pro lets have a look at how you could get sponsored as i speak to heaps of people wanting to turn pro but they are just not applying themselves correctly!

i would say the hardest people to get sponsored by would be Fanatic North as we set our sights really high and have professional riders writing the checks, but this doesnt mean dont try because we are all looking for that X-Factor or even opinion leaders, which are people associated with a shop that gets a good deal from us to sponsor someone down the beach that is respected, these sailors or kiters dont even have to be that good just have the drive and love for the sport.

so which are you….. ?

it seems that every under 20 year old that is up and coming in windsurfing wants to be a freestyler………….. and i hate to break it to you but this is a huge mistake as they will never get any good sponsorship and never achieve a good ranking on the PWA, as the PWA top sailors are 16 and already world champs, these uk sailors are using freestyle to express themselves as this is whats cool but its not a career its a hobby, i have seen soooooooooo many UK freestylers on my travels which are apparently shit hot but in reality in the UK the bar is set so low that they will struggle to get top 20 on tour.

what is a shame about these freestylers is that they are actually really good wave sailors as well but they spend there time on flat water falling in all the time…. im sorry if i seem a little negative but it frustrates me to see talent get wasted! i sat on the beach in Dahab which is a mecca for Freestylers and watched Britons finest fall in again, and again, and again and even asked some punters (people who pay for there gear) what they thought and they said, ‘ all they do is fall in!’, and they were not wrong, Whitey and i counted 30 falls to 1 land on an average! this is not good for our sport and why would anyone sponsor someone who was going to fall in all the time

so for the positives you could look to someone like swifty, who was 3rd last year in the waves overall for the world, or even skye boy who is not so good overall in thw world but gets heaps of coverage and is a bloody nice guy, what these guys have is something that a sponsor can promote, not everything they do generates £££££ but it builds up there bank so when it comes round to re do contracts they can whip it out and bedazzle their potential sponsors.

Shops are the way forward if you are just up and coming as they provide a means to quantify how well you are doing, as if someone walks in to a shop and says i have seen joe bloggs down the beach and he said come and see you for a new board you will get the kudos, and then in the future if its worth money to the shop to have you on new gear then it will be done, these opinion leaders are what makes the industry turn as we cant be on every beach and the shop owners are busy when it windy so they cant either.

so the long and short is get down you local beach and make it yours, own your own beach and the world will follow!!!

have a good one and super stocked to have soo many of you ready this!!

AB