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Hi, just a few queries from a beginner i.e. had a couple of lessons and know the basics but not planing, any form of starts etc.
I can see the use of a light wind long board as well as a freeride fun board. But if you start on a wide beginner board with centreboard, I'm not sure it is much good for either light wind or progressing planning and other skills. A WOD seems a cheap way of starting out and then serve a purpose as a light wind board later on. As long as it's 66cm width is not too hard to start on!?
1. How hard is it to learn on a WOD compared with a modern wide board with centre board?
2. I know they will be good in light wind but can I also advance planing and other skills on a WOD? I'm not sure if they even plane.
3. Does a centreboard in any board detract from it's planing capability due to the extra weight?
So I guess the question is; is a WOD a suitable beginner board or is it a step that comes after the wide beginner board with centreboard.
Thanks
We all learnt on a one design. Some still have them and love them. But it did take us years to learn. Many years. I would start on modern board, a little more money but you will be sailing in a few days. You will need many sails 4,5 & 6 and on your second day use the harness
Once you can sail buy two one designs then you will have fun, one for you one for a friend
good luck
One designs plane alright and can plane in very little wind ,
how ever they are fragile and very long and are more of a board you want to tack rather than gybe .
you don't need a centre board to learn how to sail.
i would also go for a shorter wider board to learn on .
i wish they where around when I was learning ,I would of advanced a lot quicker .
go wide 
One Designs fragile? No way - national titles have been won on 30 year old boards. A board that was pulled off a tip (although in very good condition) was second at the last nationals. I've only ever seen one One Design suffer structural damage, apart from some Mk 1s that had been the sun for decades.
How they rate as beginner boards depends on the beginner's aims, weight and location. The short wide boards are fantastic for people who live where it's windy and where there are open waters. If you are sailing somewhere like the upper end of Sydney Harbour or on a lake, you'll often struggle to get speed out of a wide beginner's board and to stay upwind.
If you are say 80kg+ and don't have great balance, the WOD can be a bit tippy.
A lot depends on what you want to do in windsurfing. If you just want to reach around in strong winds, the WOD is not the ideal learning platform. If you want to learn to sail in all conditions, the widestyle board may not be ideal either, since they are very slow in light winds.
When we were using WODs to teach uni students, about 29 out of every 30 would be able to get sailing on their first session and most would be tacking and/or gybing unless it was windy. That was in a narrow and fluky area. However, we did have the 4.5m sails which makes a big difference.
One Design can certainly plane. The only time I know that anyone put a GPS on one, it got 25.4 knots peak and 22.5 for 10 seconds, and they can go a lot faster than that.
I might declare my bias; I have been heavily involved in WODs. However, I have also raced slalom, Raceboards, D2s and done waves up to comp level, so the reason I'm involved in WODs is because I feel that they are great for what they do, NOT because I'm not into other boards as well.
sorry... chris is right ...fragile ..No.I don't know why i said that 
...duh..
amazing speed for a big board chris,
my mate steve has the 1995 wod ,he brought it with a 7.4 north Prisma ..i have the 1997 escape .longboard of the year in 1997. 
the escape was faster on a reach ,but in light wind he killed me .and pointing ...wow.
mine was 13.5 kg .
it lives on a rack.great memories.of learning.it doesn't get wet now 
If you want to progress to planing windsurfing, and sail where there is 15+ mph winds, you're doing yourself a big dis service using a one design.
The boards are not set up for planing, are heavy as heck, and the round bottom actually discourages planing without a ton of water resistance, which translates to wind resistance.
Yes, Robbie made it look easy. Nobody else did.
I learnt on a OD in the 80s. There was nothing else back then. I weighed 75kgs at the time. It was pretty easy to learn the basics, beach start, uphaul, tracking on both tacks, tacking and gybing in winds under 10kts. It was harder but not too hard to translate this to stronger winds, planing, using a harness etc. I was course racing in up to 12kts within the month of starting.
I moved to a short board, when they started to become available, about 2 years later
I've been told the wider beginner boards are a more stable platform for a bigger learner
In both cases, a retractable centre board definitely makes it easier
Chris 249 sums it up nicely. There are pros and cons to each option.
I own both types of boards
In answer to your questions
1) I would guess the basics may take 30% longer on a WOD due to less lateral stability. Sail size is a big factor too. Learning with a 6m sail on any board is not ideal.
2) A WOD will plane, but unlike a freeride board you will not be able to get back in the straps with 2/3 of the board out of the water like you can on lot of intermediate freeride boards. PART of this is due to the smaller fin on a WOD which limits how much you can "push" off the fin and get your weight back.
3) A weight of a centreboard on a board like (for example) a starboard Rio will make minimal difference in the ability to get planing. You can take the centreboard out if weight is an issue on a board like a Rio (if you have enough wind a big enough fin).
It is possible to carve turn/gybe a large freeride board with a centreboard (like a Rio), but it is far from the ideal board on which to learn these skills.
The old WODs with the drop in centreboard are far less user friendly than the 90s and later WODs with retractable centreboards and footstrap plugs.
Clarence
I believe it's best to stick with what the industry currently recommends as beginner boards (they've not really changed in 10 years), they are basically big short boards with a kick down centreboard. As you get better you tend to only use the centreboard in very light wind conditions and the rest of the time you are planing with it up. The width and stability of these boards will have a beginner tacking in only 1 or 2 sessions and they can build up their skills from there. Every major manufacturer makes one of these type of boards.
about two years ago brought two newbies and two boards to the water
(starting to sound like Jacob two two ??)
one board was a longboard (either a Fanatic Ultra CAT or Mistral Equipe One) and the other BIC Techno Formula
one fellow was light to middle-weight and the other a heavyweight like myself
both had issues trying to start with the longboard
after a couple of quick sessions on the 94 cm wide semi_formula board the lighter fellow took off on the longboard
he already realised that the longboard glided MUCH better than the fat easier board in such light winds (<20 kph)
the heavyweight was having difficulties on the wide board and never really got it on the first day
so, a LOT depends on the board and on YOU
and as usual - location, location, location (we were on flat water and staying shallow)
