Hi Everyone, I'm looking at getting back to windsurfing after about umm 20 years give or take. As a teenager in NZ i used to do alright in slalom racing and goin faast. Now I'm looking to go fast again!
Looking at sailing lake weyba mostly plus some golden beach and cootharaba. I'm about 92kg and only interested in windsurfing in proper wind - i.e over 20kts - hate to say it but up till then i would rather kite...
Any tips for gear, its changed so much but from what I can see probably a board between 90-100 litres and a 7m race style rig should be good for starting at 20 and then a switch down to maybe a ~6m once its getting blowy 30+??
Any other tips for the local area? Im on the hunt for the gear too so if you have any rockets tucked away in the garrage you might want to get rid of let me know :)
Cheers
Select to expand quotecald said..
Looking at sailing lake weyba mostly plus some golden beach and cootharaba. I'm about 92kg and only interested in windsurfing in proper wind - i.e over 20kts - hate to say it but up till then i would rather kite...
For the part time sailor, those winds are hard to find on a consistent basis. You may have to travel down to the Moreton Bay spots or Gold Coast depending upon the day. As you say, kites have their appeal in light conditions. Foiling may be another option though. It is good to be prepared for all conditions if you can afford the gear.
Select to expand quoteMarkSSC said..cald said..
Looking at sailing lake weyba mostly plus some golden beach and cootharaba. I'm about 92kg and only interested in windsurfing in proper wind - i.e over 20kts - hate to say it but up till then i would rather kite...
For the part time sailor, those winds are hard to find on a consistent basis. You may have to travel down to the Moreton Bay spots or Gold Coast depending upon the day. As you say, kites have their appeal in light conditions. Foiling may be another option though. It is good to be prepared for all conditions if you can afford the gear.
Cheers, I'm content enough for it to not be a super regular thing, but when its proper windy I want to be able to go :-) i have the kiting, refular surfing and mountain biking to keep me busy while I wait for the real wind to come. Really hoping to find semi reasonable second hand gear withou breaking the bank!
Keep an eye on the Seabreeze buy and sell forums, heaps of stuff available but be quick. I did the same in September, even equipment that is up to 10 years old is a quantum leap compared to 20 years ago.
Select to expand quotemaxrobz said..
Keep an eye on the Seabreeze buy and sell forums, heaps of stuff available but be quick. I did the same in September, even equipment that is up to 10 years old is a quantum leap compared to 20 years ago.
Cheer Max, are you enjoying being back out there? I'm scanning both the classifieds here plus facebooks marketplace & gumtree haha!
Was hoping to get some feedback from locals on sails + boards for the lakes. I'm feeling like I want a 7m on about a 90ltr board - remembering im only getting into the water in 20+
the next couple of days are looking to be exactly what you are talking about condition wise..
Lake Weyba is fun and safe, but is gusty so you need a bit of extra volume and size to what you were mentioning to allow for the lulls of which there will be plenty between the gusts, and in between the squalls you can get rain outs , which means a long slog back to land with no wind ...so bigger board..its pretty flat there so bigger boards are easy as.
you actually want more than 90ltr especially your size, for lake weyba - think 100-110ltr 65-72cm wide board, 7m sail, is a super common size up there...you might want to go a little smaller until you get your skill set back,
I set someone up similar to you just recently , the recipe was
Starboard Carve 72cm wide, Ezzy Cheetah sails 6.5 and 7.5 2 fin sizes to increase your range....if you had to pick one size sail only go 7m that will cover you from 15+ knots to high 20's ( a typical 20+knt day at lake weyba is 16-28knts! so you need range!)
you don't want a slalom board....or slalom sails.
look for Starboard: Atom's, Carves, Large size Kodes, Futuras
Fanatic: Gecko, Hawk, Blast
JP: Magic Ride, All Ride,
Tabou: Rockets, Bullits,
few others that fit the bill also but just avoid race stuff and going 'too small'
Thanks Jonsey, that is exactly the info I was after. I know the next couple of days look like we should have some wiiind - it is up already!
Your advice re slalom / race gear I take it is just because of usability? obviously race gear is faster but at how much fun factor?
Its tough sorting this out - as back in 2000 I absolutely wanted the race gear - different world now...
As already stated, it is quite normal for a high-wind slalom to be your bodyweight + 10 litres vs light wind would be your weight + 40 litres -> modern boards+sails are fast, you dont need small to be fast (you will actually go slower).
At 92kg you will probably looking at around 100 - 110 litres... which is based on 92kg + roughly 10-15kg for a 7m slalom rig. A 90L board would be more like a speed board (for your weight).
... and generally - again as mentioned - you dont want race gear - fast-freeride is what most people are happy with. [ Edit ] They are hard to rig correctly, they are not-forgiving to use, they dont waterstart easily, they are heavy (by comparison to other gear).... noting that "race gear" and "slalom gear" are different.
Select to expand quotemathew said..
As already stated, it is quite normal for a high-wind slalom to be your bodyweight + 10 litres vs light wind would be your weight + 40 litres -> modern boards+sails are fast, you dont need small to be fast (you will actually go slower).
At 92kg you will probably looking at around 100 - 110 litres... which is based on 92kg + roughly 10-15kg for a 7m slalom rig. A 90L board would be more like a speed board (for your weight).
... and generally - again as mentioned - you dont want race gear - fast-freeride is what most people are happy with. [ Edit ] They are hard to rig correctly, they are not-forgiving to use, they dont waterstart easily, they are heavy (by comparison to other gear).... noting that "race gear" and "slalom gear" are different.
Cheers Mathew, definitely looking more at the fast free ride gear now - there isn't much (anything) suitable around second hand at the moment, might have to check out the shops to see if they have any trade ins
Contact Simon at Board crazy, see if he still has my RRD Firestorm 112, it's at the high performance FR side, loves a 7m , forgot to mention RRD brand boards !
Select to expand quoteJonesySail said..
Contact Simon at Board crazy, see if he still has my RRD Firestorm 112, it's at the high performance FR side, loves a 7m , forgot to mention RRD brand boards !
Cheers, I don't believe they still have it, i searched everywhere for gear spoke to the shops, damn covid making supplies short and second hand gear scarce... I have found a 2015 jp slalom pro (108ltr) Im expecting fast but twitchy but the promo vid does say the adjusted the outline to help with cornering ?????, and a couple of similar vintage ka koncept sails (6.6 and 5.8) - which were cheap, viewing it as a starting point and will replace/add gear once I have had a little time on the water... thanks again for the advice, probably would have gone 90ltrs and a full race sail without it...
Cald, I jumped back in last year, confined myself to used gear and immediately struggled with getting masts to match my sails.
This is may be specific to my region, but the lesson I learned was the order of decision making should be:
1. Determine the sail sizes you need - see above.
2. Limit yourself to sail brands which rig on a constant curve mast. This bend curve will give you the most sail brand choice flexibility. Check out Unifiber's mast selector pages.
3. Assemble your sails.
4. Next, get masts of the right bend curve, length and stiffness for your sails. If you are lucky, you can avoid getting a separate mast for every sail. For example, my 7.0 and 5.8 both rig on the same 430 cm mast.
5. It can get very expensive to ship long masts, so you can spend/lose a lot of time trying to save $ on trying to find a mast which is correct and local and reasonably priced. Sometimes you just have to pay up to avoid spending months searching for a bargain.6. RDM v SDM. Go RDM for sails 7.0 and below, but be prepared to go with SDM if you decide to get a larger sizes like 8-8.5. Sailworks and Duotone recommend SDM for their larger sizes, especially for heavier riders. Other brands differ. 7. Start with tall mast extensions. Gives you greatest sail size coverage.
The more experienced folks probably can explain how all the above is b.s. or not applicable to your situation, but that is the lesson I've learned from the last 12 months.
Good luck
Thanks for the tips, i managed to find someone selling all their gear, but the mast is a bit of an issue, he sold the better mast so I am only getting what was a backup mast, will work fine on the sails but is heavy/low carbon content so not ideal. Of the gear I have got the mast and sails will be the first things to get replaced... but these ones will suffice to get me on the water to begin with.
Did you find getting back into it was like riding a bike or not really...
Half and half. I'm learning to waterstart and gybe for the first time. But the equipment is so much better and I'm super stoked. There's a long learning curve - judging wind speed/sail size choice, do you rig for the gust or the lulls?, which skills to prioritize (harness, planning, straps, gybes, ...), gear choices, etc
I've had several early wasted sessions where I either didn't own the right size sail, or I choose the wrong one.
Greatest part is discovering the community of like-minded, nice, generous people who are willing to share their knowledge and the good vibes.
Looks like we should have wind here tomorrow, feel like a kid on xmas eve :D had a practise rig of one sail and replaced the tendon in my mast base... it's going to be interesting to see where i am at - or not at haha
