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So why did windsurfing decline in popularity?

It was a hot fad sport of the 80's. But unless you had a beachfront or lakefront home, it ended up being a pain to have to car top the board to some location and then haul it from the parking lot to the water, then go back and get the sail and harness, and then spend some time rigging the thing, then hoping that the wind would hold up, and then at the end of the day having to repeat the whole hauling the stuff back to the car. If you lived on the water you could leave your board all rigged on the beach and start sailing whenever you wanted.
I remember board sailors complaining that it was a real pain to haul everything (which usually includes a cooler and towel and other beach stuff) from the Cape Cod beach parking lots to the water, which was often a hundred or two yards across soft deep sand. They made a little 2 wheeled dolly to help such hauls, which helped (though it wasn't that good in soft sand) but in the end was another piece of equipment you were hauling around. It ended up being a sport, that for most entailed too much work, and you had to be careful where you went with your board strapped to the roof. Stop at a restaurant and there was a chance it would be gone when you came out (the locking systems for the racks did little to help stop thieves.)

My friends store did great business in rollerblades in the 80's and could barely keep in demand models in stock, but now sells a few,now and then. It was a big fad that has died off with mostly hard core inline skaters carrying on.