I know this has probably been asked a million times on the forum, but please bear with me 
My mate who weighs 85kg thinks that a 75L wave board is too small for high wind conditions. So I was wondering what size boards other people are using.
If enough people answer, this might be a good thread to point beginners to when they ask "what size board do I need ?"
Could you please post:
- Your weight
- Number of years wavesailing
- Can you do a vertical reentry (yes/no)
- Can you land a backloop (yes/no)
- Board volume
- Minimum wind speed you would use this board in
- Maximum wind speed you would use this board in
Once I get a few responses, I'll tally the results for all to see.
I'll go first.
- 65kg
- 1 year
- Vert reo: no
- backloop: no
Board 1
- 84L
- Min: 14knts
- Max: 20knts
Board 2
- 72L
- Min: 17knts
- Max: 30knts
I hope you are not taking ability into the equation because anything I say will be immediately invalidated 
96-7kg
main board
101L
min 15knt - 25knts (can go higher but have a small board for that)
high wind board
84L
min 20-25knt ->
Interesting topic I think the number of fins should be included and board width,
my reason is after loosing 16kg in 4 months I'm still using the same boards but smaller sails. Both boards are twin fins and in the higher winds twin fins have less leverage and feel more stable than an equivilent single in higher winds, the new lighter me has noticed that my larger board feels a little bit less responsive to foot pressure but the difference is minimal.
The biggest looser.
Here's a link to a similar thread that was running a while back.
Forum members listed weight vs board volume
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=53514&SearchTerms=weight,vs,volume
From what we could work out... the location where sailing took place was the biggest contributing factor.
If you are planning on tallying up the results the link and past thread might give you a head start.
me now 73kg (was 78 at start of season when i picked my boards)
wavesailing for 7 years (but take 1 year off for injury time)
yes for reo
very close to backie
Board 1
74L -2 fins
Big wave down the line. cross off board
Board 2
82L -4 fins
Most common used board for scabs, lano and magies.
Board 3
92L -4 fins
mainly light wind. But still works good in mast and a half offshore in 25 knots
i used to ride much smaller boards but i'm finding these boards so go i'm riding a a size bigger than i ever had before coz they are more controllable in more conditions and are less hard work and less swimming
- Your weight 97kg
- Number of years wavesailing 15 but only 6 "proper" ones at "real" wave spots
- Can you do a vertical reentry (yes/no) Yes
- Can you land a backloop (yes/no) Barely
- Board volume 85L wave / 101 FSW / 115 FSW (all RRD's plug plug)
- Minimum wind speed you would use this board in 25kn / 18kn / 12kn
- Maxwind speed you would use this board in 85L -no max / 30kn / 25kn
Now they were hard to answer as
At a perfect DTL spot I'll take the 85L pure wave out shlogging cos it is so nice on a wave. At a mostly jumping spot, especially cross-on, I'll stay on the 101FSW until it is really friggen windy as it jumps soooo nice with that extra width and makes backside turns in slush worth it. That is not a factor of volume, if I had a 80L FSW I'd use that in jumping only slush conditions.
Volume becomes irrelevant to some degree when there is very different conditions all considered as "wavesailing"
Board design. A couple of years ago, in 30kn at a very choppy spot I hated my 80L EVO, could not hold it down even when I was 100kg. I used my 101 FSW as the lots of vee up front made it manageable.
In the same wind strength at Gnaraloo I would think of using nothing other than my EVO. Major difference.
Without being rude though, in short: if your mate thinks a board 10L less than his weight is too small for a high wind waveboard, he may need more practice before venturing into the waves in high winds.
Cool, that other thread is what I was looking for, but the search functionality in the forums is a bit... well you know.
I'll collate some results tonight.
Going by the 10L less than your weight rule means I should be looking at something around 55L for high winds?
Some results:
Caveat: the light/medium/high wind categories are pretty loose.
Depending on wind strength, the average difference between rider weight and board volume
Light wind: Weight + 9.9L
Medium wind: Weight + 1.0L
High wind: Weight - 6.5L
Chart of Weight vs. Board Volume
It would have been nice to have enough data so I could slice this by rider ability (that was the intention of the loop/reo question).
Jibe9: that's funny, but I'm laughing at you not with you, because
the majority of guys would weigh about 65kgs if you removed their lard layer
OK - here goes:
- Your weight - 88kg
- Number of years wavesailing - Been sailing for 10+ but mostely on flatwater. Only really gotten into wave sailing in the last 2 - 3 years
- Can you do a vertical reentry (yes/no) - yes
- Can you land a backloop (yes/no) - Yes, when dreaming
- Board volume - Arond 80l
- Minimum wind speed you would use this board in - 5.8 and 18 knots
- Maximum wind speed you would use this board in - 4.0 and mid to late 30ies
It was a joke!! Geez. And I'm very aware of my lardiness
~ 85 kg
~ 5 years (might be 6, but i also spend one summer in asia, so didnt get much sailing in that year)
Reo - yes
Backloop - yes (i have landed and sailed away from 1), but get close/landed and dropped the sail on many.
Board - 81L starboard quad (use in all conditions)
~ 15 knots (though I like about 17 knots)
~ 35 knots (though i will go out until i cant physically hold the sail, board is a quad fin and handles overpowered conditions well)
I've been landlocked for too long but still have my custom wave board and slalom board from twenty years ago. I agree with earlier post re it depends where you sail. Used to use a 2m by 22 in waveboard in WA with no problems but it never worked on the east coast so I had a longer,thicker and wider model made. Nowadays stick to the slalom board as the wind at my local spot is always full of holes. My question is "How the hell do you know what the volume of your board is?". I weigh 67kg and the waveboard is water start only. I can just uphaul the slalom if needed. I think its time to upgrade my gear for some ultra light easy to use stuff that I can also get my teenage kids on to, but still haven't worked out this volume thing.
95kg
15years
Yes
Yes
78l (narrow traditional) - 15kt + (Cross-off) 20kts (cross-on)
87l (fish shape) - 12kt + (Cross-off) 15kts (cross-on)
