DISTRIBUTION
A major reason that Tushingham have continued to grow, is their hugely efficient distribution network. Rather than sit on their laurels as a standalone sail brand, the company has diversified by becoming importers of Starboard windsurf and SUPs, Severne sails and the Red Paddle SUP brand that specializes purely in inflatable boards. The team in the warehouse is now eleven strong and, despite Britain just about clawing its way out of the depths of this almighty recession, Tushingham have proved to be one of the stronger forces in the market with a healthy market share and an efficiently run business that is all set to ride the wave of recovery.
However, all the team have taken note that the overall size of the windsurfing market has shrunk during the last decade. Roger thinks it’s become way too complicated and hard-core. “I mean, sailors own a 5.5, but they don’t have a van full of 5.5s optimised for different disciplines and conditions. If it’s 5.5 weather, you need a sail that will do-it-all to at least 95% perfection. We wanted to make the recreational sailor’s choice easier, so we’ve taken this bold step to dramatically reduce the number of models in the range”. Gone will be the Storm, the Edge freestyle range, the T4 and the Lightning, all to be replaced by the ‘Bolt’, which they aim to combine the best of the previous models into one simplified range. The smaller sizes up to 5.25 will feature four battens, then five battens up to 6.0, then six and seven battens and twin cams for the bigger sizes up to 9.4. The characteristics of the sails will change as the sizes increase and Tushingham have kept key features of their existing sweet sizes from the previous ranges and incorporated them into the new designs. All the sails will be lighter and Roger reckons you should be able to rig the whole range using three mast sizes. All sails will have an ideal mast but will also be rig-able on the mast size either side of it.