Hello everyone,
I’m thinking about picking up some second-hand windsurfing gear and need some advice. About 3 years ago I bought an old Tyronsea 370 (cm I suppose?) longboard with mast, boom and three sails. I only wanted the sails at the time for my landsailer but I’ve since used the gear for its intended purpose on and off. Due to the narrow river where I sail, I can tack pretty reliably and gybe intermittently. I think I’ve managed to waterstart a few times. Anyway I had a really nice run the other day and I think I should get some better equipment. To give you an idea of the age of the stuff I have, the sails have Dacron luff pockets, soft vinyl windows and that awful de-laminating fabric/film stuff everywhere else. The board is a plastic thing, with a pivoting daggerboard and a long mast track.
I like to sail cats and build my own gear, so I know how to sail and how to fix things. I want to go fast on flat water and maybe try some small surf when I get a bit better. I weigh about 67kg. Student budget.
What should I be looking for?
Any help would be much appreciated. Sorry for the rambling post.
Thanks,
Leon.
Trouble is what goes fast on flat water, and what works well for down the line wave sailing are different, for speed you need very flat rocker at the tail, for manoeuvrability on the wave you need some rocker at the rear of the board.
however there are compromise boards (fsw I think, freeride, slalom and wave) they have very little rocker at the rear so go fairly fast, but have enough nose rocker to handle waves, certainly you'll be able to ride waves on them, just won't be as flicky turny as an all out wave board.
I'm about the same weight as you and my all round boards are about 80litres, OK from 15 to 30kts.
Depends what sort of wind range you'll be sailing in.
Yeah more info needed. Firstly what is the budget? I am guessing you mean for whole kit as the old sails and mast etc won't work on a new board too well.
And how wide is this narrow river?
Anyway you should be looking for a 100L freeride or freestylewave (I mean a FSW, not freestyle and not wave boards, they're too specialist) and a sail according to wind range you expect to sail.... maybe a 4.5 and a 5.5 as both will just rig on the same mast (430)
For your situation I would recommend some newer (not older than 5 years) freeride rig maybe a 5.3 and a 6m with 1 mast for both. Something like a gaastra remedy. That will give you reasonably fast user friendly gear at a good price and a high quality.
Board wise you have 2 options. There are old boards like the F2 Sputnic that are very cheap and pretty fast but not the most user friendly. Be careful that if you go the old board route it is a good shape buying a really crappy old board is a waste of money. You can spend the extra cash and get a 90lt freeride board ( 2000- onwards) that will be a lot easier to use and possibly faster.
At the end of the day what I would suggest is that you set a budget of as much as possible and then spend 60% on a new rig and 40% on a new board. because the newer your gear is the better it will work and the long it will last.
Thanks for the replies. I’ll try and explain myself further. Firstly, I live on the NSW mid-north coast, near Coffs harbour. There are probably lots of places around to sail, so I’m not restricted in that way. The river I’ve been sailing in is just convenient because I keep my gear in a sailing club shed right on the water, but getting around is no problem. I’d say the widest usable area would be about 200m or so but the wind is pretty clean NE or S.
Gear that is a compromise sounds good. When I said “fast on flat water”, I was being subjective. I don’t care if I’m slower than someone on a speed sailing board as long as I’m having fun. I’m getting a bit confused by the terminology. What are FSW, freeride, freestyle, slalom and wave? Are these board types or do they refer to the rig as well? Are there websites I should be reading?
No set budget at this point but I don’t want to go overboard until I work out what type of sailing I want to get into.
I’m pretty sure the mast I have is all glass, 450cm. Is this usable with newer sails? Also, can I still use a newer rig on my old longboard for light wind days?
Lots of questions here I know but I’m sure you can point me in the right direction.
Thanks again,
Leon.
Go for a Starboard Go or Carve.I still have my old tyronsea 370 and the change to a carve 145 was easy and you can still use your old sail on it.
An old sail on a new board will not be ideal and severely restrict you when learning planing in the harness tye sailing. The old glass mast will not work with modern sails at all.
I'd suggest:
A Starboard Carve 120 - 140 litres (ish) 2002 -2004 model - $400 - $500
2 sails, not cambered, maybe 6 and 7m looking at where u sail $250 each
Mast, 30% - 50% carbon (no higher, race type not req'd) $200
Boom, clamp-on type ally, $150
Mast extn and base $100
all secondhand = $1200 total.
Great, thanks. Now I have something to look for and compare to. The Starboard Carve, now is that a freeride board? How can I tell if a board from another maker is roughly equivalent besides volume?
Forgot to answer your others : FSW is "freestyle wave" .. you don't want a freestyle or a wave, or a FSW
anyway, any freeride board of 120-140L will be good. I just said a Starboard Carve as they are the most common, and very good blend of speed and easy turning (usually mutually exclusive). They are tops for a first "short" or non-learner board but people still have fun blasting on them later. I have been wavesailing for 15 yrs and still enjoy my Carve 123L in lighter winds sometimes. (I am 96kg so lighter winds for the Carve is 15-18kn 
)
A slalom board of same size will be faster but harder to learn to gybe.
If you have heaps of wind very often (18-20kn plus, 3x a week) and you WILL sail 3 x a week and you are very dedicated and you are fit, and have an expert sailor to help you, then a 100L freestyle or wave board or FSW may be OK
Thanks that clarifies things for me. Freeride is the go then, I'm a very casual sailor at best.
You wanna go down a windsurfing beach regularly, when the boys are there, you be surprised how much unused and spare kit is around, and by putting the word out that your looking for stuff, you may be surprised what bargains you can pick up,
The other day some bloke was wanting to try out a waist harness, and i`ve had a spare in my van for years, so i let him have it; made his day.
Mind you there are some right tight ba*&***ds who want top dollar for old crap.
so be warned I wish you luck.
Sounds like a good plan, though windsurfers are pretty thin on the groud around here. I'll keep my eye out though.
Thanks.
There are not many windsurfers on the mid north coast of NSW. There is one forum member who sometimes sails around Urunga. Your best bet for second hand gear is to contact the shops in Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney and Queensland.
Try not to buy a board too old. You can tell the difference between new and old style as older boards are long and skinny. Newer boards are shorter and wider and are generally easier to more fun to sail. In relation to sails, put most of your money into a rig you are going to use most of the time. Based on the winds up there I'd probably look for a sail around 7 meters in size. This will get you going in 10 to 15 knot breezes and you can keep going up to 20 knots. Get a mast and boom to suit it plus a decent mast base/universal joint.
If you get the chance, go down to South West Rocks for the day when there is a north easter blowing. Its a magic spot for windsurfing.
I believe the guy from up that way username on Seabreeze is DISM.
Most of the guys around Coffs seem to be in the waves, On a southerly go and check out Flat Rock at Woolgoolga (on the back Beach), or try to catch up with some of the guys that sail around Nambucca. They should be able to point you in the right direction for your area down there.
For gear I would recomend taking a 4 hour drive up the coast to Surf FX on the goldy and talking to Mick or Ian, they have both been around windsurfing for over 20 years and usually carry a decent range of second hand gear...and don't ever charge for the huge amount of advice they will give at the very least.
While up this way I would spending some time at the broadwater, you could be pretty sure there would be some second hand gear exactly like what you are after floating around there. A trip to an area that has a larger number of windsurfers will save you $$$ and potential heartache.
Right then, I need to get around a bit and track down some other windsurfers. I agree about South West Rocks, I was there a few weeks ago and it looked fantastic.
