Beginner wave sailor. Having some good success with easy turns. I am 80kg and my main board is an 89L fanatic quad. I also use a 120L minitanker. Seems like mostly what I am doing is slogging out and riding waves back in, so the minitanker certainly makes things easier eg not falling on every light wind tack and gybe, less balance fatigue and some better glide on small waves.
Any idea what people typically would step up to from my 89L?
Should I just stick with the minitanker as my lightwindboard?
Not the best footage
Your quad is about the right size.
Exocet have released a more radical version of the minitanker this year. It's narrower with a longer step tail and thrusters. I must admit it's tempting for my local cross-on short period swell. Many days I've watched people having a very good time on WindSUPs where my big waveboard can't be made to work.
The other option is a larger wave oriented FSW. The Quatro Power comes to mind right away. But you won't have the same slogging power as the minitanker.
I see that you have taken a trip to the best place to learn wave sailing.Like Grantmac said you could just stick with the 89 quad also demo as many boards as you can you might find a magic one. Me 85kg and all I ride is 92 lit thruster in all conditions the newer big boards really perform quite well.
I'm about your size and regularly ride gutless mushburgers at my local break.The waves in your videos areway better (shape, power, etc). For light wind I use a 5.7 or 6.3 wave sail on a 114liter Goya C4. My 80kg-ishbuddiesuse 115-ish liter FSW boards (JP and Goya One) and 6.2/6.3-ish power wave sails. The advantage for them on the FSWs is that they can switch to a faster bump and jump session by changing fins out. However, I love the quad for turning easily on the wave face. It isn't horribly slow, but slower than a FSW.
Have recently tried an Exocet 9'2" windSUP in small easy waves with light wind at PSC, SW swell. The 9'2" becomes 8'2" at speed and feet are right over the fin. Turned beautifully and kept speed, much better than any other WS board in these conditions. Would like to try their new "Breeze" longboard windsurfer, also with a stepped tail.
Lightwind (6-18 mph) wavesailing has always been my favorite part of the sport for the past 40 years, even here on Maui. This is my current quiver for those conditions at 165 lbs (75 kilos):
6-11 mph with surf up to just overhead= 135-liter, 8'10" SUP with a 5.3 Simmer Blacktip. Easy to uphaul in non-waterstart conditions and easy to take off the sail and switch to a paddle if it gets any lighter.
12-17 mph with surf up to head-and-a-half= 99 liter 2024 Goya Thruster with a 5.9 Simmer Blacktip. Good for 'float and ride' and is very quick to plane which means more waves and more jumps. Great flatwater board when converted to a large single fin. Turns great in small to medium surf but too wide for me in logo high or bigger surf.
12-17 mph with surf logo to mast-and-half= Old 92-liter Quatro prototype single-fin gun (long, narrow, thin) with 5.9 Blacktip. Very slow to plane but fine for 'float and ride' with awesome control in surf over logo high.
Consistant 17-18 mph with head to logo surf= 82-liter Fanatic Grip set as thruster with 5.9 Blacktip. I stay on this board for 5.3 down to 5.0 and then switch to my 76-liter grip set as thruster for more control in large surf and/or winds around 30 mph.
I use a rule of thumb for light winds of weight in kg times 1.2 = volume in liters. If there's an easy channel for getting back out then slightly smaller. If cross onshore with no channel then more volume and more length (slogging/very light cross onshore winds, lots of white water to get out are the conditions where the Exocet longboards will outshine every other board on the planet).
Board and deck shape can also affect how well a board slogs and climbs whitewater and tacks in very light winds. Too narrow and it's tippy. If the deck is very domed it can also be tippy. Lack of width in front of the mast track can make it challenging to tack in very light winds.
Select to expand quotebillekrub said..
Have recently tried an Exocet 9'2" windSUP in small easy waves with light wind at PSC, SW swell. The 9'2" becomes 8'2" at speed and feet are right over the fin. Turned beautifully and kept speed, much better than any other WS board in these conditions. Would like to try their new "Breeze" longboard windsurfer, also with a stepped tail.
Are you riding that board strapped? Is that onshore? What's your weight? How does it handle chop?
I've got my eyes open for one of those as my light wind wave sailing option with a 105L turny FSW as a step down. Before landing at a 90-95L waveboard (I'm 95kg).
The wave in the videos seem to be not the most powerful, so imo for good waveriding you need a board to gain and keep speed on your waverides. Nowadays i'm more and more into winging in such conditions but before that the best board in my 2-board quiver i had was the Goya Nitro 106 (me 95 kg, complementing a Goya 98 Thruster). The wide tail delivers the support for keeping speed and in not to big waves it really turns like a real waveboard.
IMO the big Goya quads are more for float an ride in more powerful waves, since they don't develop that much speed in weaker waves.
I now use a Goya Quad 104 as a 1-board solution, but for less powerful waves it's not the best board (and i rather go winging in these)
Volume helps a lot in light winds. Especially if the waves are weak you want the board to be free and not stuck in the water. 72 kg, with a 86 L quad in very light and slightly onshore winds. That board predates the production Goya Custom Quad 2020 and shares some design elements with it. quick to plane and joy to ride both in super light and stronger winds as well.
Hey Door, nice riding. I think you know that I think you should try the riding waves on a foil in light winds. The rest of the guys providing advise are way better wave riders than me but I am not sure they have more fun than me in light conditions.
