I have had a few hours experience in windsurfing but want to buy a board. Any recommendations on size and brands. Where to look.
I am in Tasmania.
ANY ADVICE MUCH APPRECIATED
THANKS
Vic
Depending on your size:
Starboard Go from 150 to 180 litres depending on the model year. (Current models are 155 and 175)
These are wide, stable and early to plane. They perform very well indeed when planing and are a very sporty ride for intermediate and even advanced sailors. Resale is quite good but many people tend to hang onto them for use as a large light wind cruiser even when they advance to sailing smaller boards in stronger winds so they are not always so easy to pick up second hand. This, and their popularity keeps their resale values high.
Other manufacturers have copied this concept and some of them are very good but the Go is still the original and the best in my opinion.
For lighter wind sailing where planning is not as high a priority, ether the Starboard Rio is a bit longer for easy sub planing gliding and has a retractable centerboard which helps a lot in sub planing light winds.
I also like the concept and performance of the various longer Kona boards for sub planing, learning and cruising. Very versatile, a modernized version of the original 'Windsurfer'.
Where abouts in Tas are you? What stage did you get to in your few hours? (ie/ sailing in a straight line, turning around, uphauling ?) What gear were you on during those few hours? How heavy are you? How much can you spend on gear?
How much time do you have?
How flexible is your time? Can you hit the water when the wind is strong, or can you only get out from 1 to 4pm on Sundays?
What sort of stuff do you like? Are you a technofreak, a fitness fanatic, a balls to the wall adrenalin junky? As in, would you rather go bushwalking in the wilderness, moto-x riding or get out on a road bike?
How much do you want to spend?
All these things have a huge impact on the board you should have. It's like canoeing or kayaking, it can take you from a flat-water Olympic event to cruising on a sea kayak to the Maatsuykers or white water.
I second Sailquick. You might even look at something like a big JP ExciteRide or a Tabou Rocket, around the 150litre mark.
What do you guys reckon about rigs? I'd say something like the Neil Pryde Zen?
I am 90 kg. Practice was in the Cook Islands in very light wind. Now on Flinders Island where wind gets very strong but on these days I stay at home by the fire.
No balls to the walls junky, but can sail at my leasure. Just like to do a bit of sailboarding to keep fit and learn something new.
With the Starboard Go or Starboard Rio in what sort of wind conditions can I operate? What sails suite these boards ( I can get access to 4.2)
Vic
i am 90 Kg and started with a 144 Go. great board. (which i have for sale by the way).
rig wise i started with a NP 5.7m expression. again, great sail but found after a few months it was a little small for the days i seemed to sail on. however that may have just been my bad luck in choosing the wrong days. unless you have kit to cover all conditions, the skill in reading the weather and choosing the right days is almost as important as being able to windsurf its self.
smaller sails are easier to manage / uphaul etc, but once you're past that stage, bigger sails make you go quicker!
dont know where you're sailing or what type of conditions but a starboard go 144 or depending on your weight a 133 and a 6.2m ish sail would be my recommendation to start with. you will out grow the board quickly so if you're not afraid of a bit of a challenge go as small as your weight allows.
hope this helps.
edit: sorry, you posted while i was writing!
Cray,
Im learning (again) on a 130lt JP Xcite ride with a 6.6 and 7.4 Loft o2 freeride sails. These give me plenty of range depending on the wind.
I weigh about 90 kgs too and the 130 is big enough to uphaul on or drown next to when trying to waterstart.
I highly recommend this board as it is easy enough to learn on (sort of) but will definitely not be outgrown in a hurry and will become a excellent lighter day board as I progress.
I agree with the others but would recommend not going over 155ltrs. Why? Because these boards are generally designed for complete beginners and can be outgrown in a couple of days. Yes they are versatile enough to be used with big sails for more experienced sailors but so's a 150ltr board which has ample volume for uphauling and learning and will be more value once you become an intermediate sailor. The exception to this might be if you want to teach others how to sail and use the board in extremely light winds, in this case consider 180ltrs and even a retractable centre board.
If you have the money a newish board around 130 ltrs will be big enough to learn on and will be a good size for light wind cruising with a bigger sail. Not as stable or buoyant as the 150ltr's but thats the only trade off. Both can carry large sails and you can learn the basics and progress from there.
You'll eventually need a few different size sails to cater for different conditions so start with something between 5 and 6m's. You'll probably want a bigger sail for the light wind days but a sail smaller than 5m prob wont be of much benefit as the wind needed for a sub 5m sail will be too much for a 130ltr plus board anyway.
I started on a 152ltr Bic Techno and it was a good board. I've sailed the 180Ltr Go and it felt too big and boatish IMO.
The new boards are expensive but they are light and give good performance and you wont need to upgrade any time soon.
Good luck
Yeah I agree with Bayblaster. I have a 155 Go and it is great to use on light wind days with a larger sail and it was great to learn on. I certainly wouldnt go any bigger.
Just to add to the good info above. One of the benefits of the GO is that it is well padded and learner abuse resistant. If you go for a more high performance board like the JP Excite I would get a nose protector and mast pads.
If you plan to progress to a shorter board my pick would be mid size freeride like Excite 130. Otherwise the go is a good long term general purpose recreational toy that does a bit of everything.
