Hope to get some advice, sorry long post.
Windsurfed the 80's till like most got tired of waiting for the wind (SEQ!) and went back to surfing.
Revisited it 2006/7 and bought all new gear, 4 SE Ezzy sails, JP FSW 92 Carbon boom all the best bits, sailed ½ a season…. Got sick of waiting for the wind and packed it all away!
Back to surfing, SUP taken over for the last 3 years. Anyway, sort of retired, moved to the Goldy, see a few guys out at the Alley sailing recently, have more time now and surf SUP and wind doesn't go so pulled out my windsurf gear out of the shed. It's all like new, but I am a gear tragic and love the latest and greatest which I know can be stupid sometimes.
So those who have been sailing through all the new releases, has enough changed in 5 years to justify chucking my old stuff or would I hardly notice the difference? And don't want to bury myself in gear so could you recommend one board and two sails for someone who is 75 kilo and just wants to cruise around outside the Alley, and sneak a occasional wave, what would they be? Not after the highest performance, but highest level of range and user friendliness.
Cheers
you wont notice the difference since then, not enough to justify the money to change. No real changes apart from multi-fin boards came back into fashion. Keep what you've got & just get out there & sail.
There has not been any real breakthroughs in design or fashion since 2007. A 2007 board and sail are not that much different to 2012 designs. You won't look incredibly old school with 2007 gear.
Perhaps we are heading for a new era in design soon, where everything pre 201X is incredibly daggy.
I still have an 07 JP FSW amongst other newer gear, that board has been one of my favoutites!
I'd definitely stick with the gear that you have unless you have $$ to burn....besides, we could have another crap wind year!
Nearly all my gear is about that old or older.
Time to change it is when you are good enough to be limited by your gear, or it wears out - unless you bought the wrong stuff for you in the first place, or your weight has changed a lot.
Thanks guys for the feedback.
Don't have money to burn but do have plenty of toy money spare. Still I know it would be stupid to throw $5k at it and not even notice any equipment difference.
I am a sucker for reading forums and comments like “the new Severne sails weigh half as much”, or “the latest thruster turns so much better” has me dreaming and searching for justification.
But the comment of waiting till the skill is limited by equipment is very accurate and I have a long way to go before I am there.
tks again
Since then, the only changes that were noticable were probably in freestyle boards...others are just few cms on and off from model to model...
Look at the people posting the comments- a good portion of seabreezers are sponsored/team riders or just need to justify their purchase. Some stuff has improved & become nicer to use. Most of my gear is from 07/08, i've sailed the newer stuff & can't justify the change.
Colour has changed, other than that most normal sailors would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a board of 4 years ago and now. Before anyone starts jumping up and down and describing the subtle differences between a minute change of width or thickness take a deep breath.
Most normal human beings can't actually tell if someone has pulled in the tail by 10mm or moved the wide point by half an inch, neither can they tell if 200g of weight has been taken out.
Most average sailors won't notice to much change in subtle board changes like width or length or slight panel changes in sail shapes which is true and are happy as to be still using older gear, which is why you can do our great sport cheaply if you like..
But since 07/08 gear has changed a heap, boards are pretty much the same weight and prob won't get much lighter anytime soon but they are getting even easier to sail and are making it possible for wave and freestyle moves to progress as fast as it is at the moment and in wider wind range.
Sails are lighter and more responsive, i won't mention any brands because i will be labeled as a brand whore but my 2010 5.3m wave sail lost 20% of it's weight from the previous year most masts booms weigh alot less. my whole rig prob weighs 6kgs max now, some 07/08 sails weigh that much buy the selves.
Yer they have added more fins to boards but you cant just glue in some extra fin boxes and now have a quad fin..
One good thing about sailing in W.A is you sail so much your gear only last 1 or 2 seasons so you have to upgrade your gear and get to see the progression each year or 2
They are all wrong, you gear is crap, you must buy new gear.
Let me know where it can be picked up and I will arrange for it to be taken out of your sight,
Second hand gear is worth crap but I will give yo $500 for the lot as I'm a nice guy.
Then you can get the latest, shiny and the greatest gear out there.
PM me with a pick up address and it will be done.
If your sick of waiting for wind get a floatier 2nd hand board so you at least get more TOW..
biggest change I would say:
1) SUP has become a popular past time for those no wind days
2) move to larger boards for wave sailing. Which is great news for heavier riders like myself.
The 2006 Ezzys are now 20 years out of date, instead of just the 15 years when they were brand new..
Wave boards have changed, the Evo I commandeered last year was more a freestyle board than a DTL Ho'okipa special.. And since 2006 another 10cm has been lobbed off most wave boards, good riddance..
I have but one more thing to say and that is everything old is new again, lets see, thrusters, yep had them in the 80's so nothing new there, really short boards yep another 80s thing, colour coming back into the sport yep 80s again. Yea I know the boards were more difficult to sail the sails didn't work, but really we have spent the last 20 years just refining stuff.
Wonder what will be next?
Bring back the flouro I reckon. Speed boards will always be needles so no change there.
(even though the water floods in everytime I fall in...)
biggest change has been production and the amopunt of developement that goes into a board.....
production should actually be the reducing amount in any board, if the industry is getting more mature than changes in the manufacture process should become a smaller part of the whole development process.
R&D mmmm once again with an amount of sponsored riders reporting to a head shaper, that uses a computer program to adjust and tweak a bottom shape or a rail profile or a width. Yea actually shouldn't be a really big part of it.
To date nothing seen tells me where the changes are over a 5 year period. Sorry to be cynical but Geez guys give me something to work with here
Here's my non-sequitur statement for tonight: as much change in the past 5 years as in the next 5.
This should keep both sides happy...
Lol your sentence structure makes no sense at all. I take it your sitting firmly on the fence?
