how far does everyone live from their local spot. (yes hasn't blown for a long long time)
8.9km for me.
41.6km *sigh*
But I leave next to the City, which is more important for everything else ;)
When I moved from Sydney to some inland place in yank country, I spotted all the wind charts and prevailing wind directions and (all two) nearby windsurfable spots.
Then I put a dime on the map for optimal windsurfing distance, drew a circle, and rented in that circle. Never regretted - am never any further than 15 minutes.
Of course downside is that windsurfing is very average inland...
Yeah I was like airsail.......... I could see it at the end of the street....... 500m tops. One of the best places in WA too 
Then moved for work promotion and now it is 150km
One hour each way, not that it matters. We haven't had any wind since the 8th of December.
Used to be 250 metres, but that was a long time a go. Now it's 11.5km - half hour drive.
If you're still working I think its more important to live closer to your work.
There is more to it than just how close you live to your Local Spot. I've heard many a story of people living on the coast just to commute an hour and a half to two hours each way every working day just so they can claim to ' 'live on the coast' - what sort of life is that?
A lucky few will have both that is work and play all close by.
Having work so close has been fantastic whith all my other 'Lifestyles' besides sailing (if you have a family you'll understand)
I'm not to bad off actually, work about half an our door to door by car in heavy traffic (much quicker on my pushie), Local spot about 35-40mins from either work or home. There is also my 'desperate' after work spot which is about 7mins away from home.
300m. 4 min trip with a kids pram all loaded up with gear.
Get a few chuckles from onlookers, but not having to pack a car full of ****e - GOLD!!
Closest spot 40 mins.. average 1 hr ..sigh...
Still I work from home so can plan my week around the wind & most of the drive is rural 100km/hr..
about mmmm 300 metres.
...but I suppose if i wanted to I could windsurf 1mm from my home....
, but IMHO in general it would still depend heavily where you work - if I had to use up +10hrs a week in travel to and fro work per week my lifestyle would suck
and I would have missed much of my kids childhood.) I can also make trips to my kids school at a drop of a hat (teacher interviews special events etc) with minimal disruption to my work - even a visit to them when the're homealone sick/holidays durring my lunch hour (traffic very light).
and chuck my job in
i just recently walked away from a 3.5 hour daily commute.
6-7 years ago i moved within 800meters of the water, paid almost nothing for it. 
so i could get out of the city and closer to some windsurfing action on weekends.
7 years later and i was over the commute and the inability to see my kids or join in with their schooling.
now i work "or am supposed to" from home for myself. i can see the water, i am 9km from a great windsurfing spot. i get to see the kids, recoup 20 hours a week commute, sail late arvo sessions, flex my time. sounds sweet,
it is hard to stay focused and motivated! but i reckon it's worth it.
) ratio Mark refers to makes it doubly important having an arrangement where going out at night is a possibility.
I should also add that on no surf days I leave for work at about 6am, so am home early enough for some quality time with the little bloke or to get a late arvo sail if it's on.
On good surf days I get out for some waves on the SUP at about 4:30am (yes it is light that early) and still get to leave for work at about 7am.
I do have the added bonus of being able to work from home on occasion, and can also log into work with a laptop and 3g card from the train if I elect not to drive to work so the travel time isn't a total waste. But am very keen to find a suitable job closer to home, only problem is there is not much call for my profession outside major capital cities.
We built a house 100km (well 98km to be honest) away from my office where I work to be near my favorite surf break 3.3km precisely to drive, on a quite morning you can hear the waves breaking whilst laying in bed.
4.5km from wave sailing spot 8km from speed strip
Never looked back, apart from when I have Perth in the rear vision mirror
For the last 6 years about 20km (or 20 to 25min drive) by 2 Feb it will be about 5km (12 min drive) have already tested it out from beach to the block but may be as close as just across the road as need a rental while building and not many houses around but lots of units right on the beach.
Will still be about 20 min drive from work but in the opposite direction with more traffic. plus side will be able to walk the kids to school on my days off then head to the beach.
This is a lifestyle move as property does cost more this close to the coast, but I think it will be worth it.
Between my house and my normal spot, there is about 5m of grass that I use to rig. Don't think i could be much closer
