Hi all,
I am fairly new to windsurfing, have probably about 5-7 hours up my sleeve and am looking to buy my first board but dont want to go too crazy just yet (even though I would love to). I have been looking at a second hand board around 101ltr and am trying to figure out if this will be ok for my level of experience and weigh, I weight 78 kilos.
Would this board suit or should I be looking higher in the 100's?
Any advice would be appreciated!! :-)
Hey, you're probably best off with something around the 130 litre mark I reckon. 100 litre boards are tricky to uphaul in any kind of chop at all and probably a bit advanced for you I'm afraid - I reckon it would slow your progress down considerably to be playing on one of those.
Come down to Sandy Point this weekend - there's a huge gig going on, and come and meet some people - it's a great venue and perfect for learning - very flat water. I've got a 98 litre board you can have a go on that I'm taking down if you want to try, and I'm sure someone might be persuaded to let you play on something a little bigger for comparison. Look for the old-skool pale-yellow VW Kombi on the beach at Shallow Inlet - that's me! Cheers, Ian
Are you planing, in the straps and starting to use a harness? What sort of winds are you going out in and having a good time in and what sort of waters are you sailing in?
Thanks for the advice, I had a feeling it might be a little bit too tricky for me at this stage. I havent started planing and am not using a harness yet, just looking for a good board that I can keep using for a while yet. Thanks for the offer Ian but I am in South Australia and if my geography is any good you are in Vic, but I will be sure to look you up if I am over that way :-) Cheers, Paul
Hey nzspindrift - i'm about 70kegs and i'm currently looking for a 100-odd Litre FSW (freestylewave) type board, i'm in footstraps, harness, planing and waterstarts with dodgy tacks and gybes stage (hope that gives you an idea of what sorta litres you need)
Currently on a 120L board (old and not wide or new/easy), that I found was a bit small for learning most of the basics
What gear have you sailed?
What wind does your local get? (gusty etc)
If you get a 120-140L that will become you light wind board when you get better (this will be useful for ages), and you'll (don't need to but the ideal sorta quiver but i'm getting away with one board mostly atm) get maybe a 100L allrounder and something about 80-90L for waves (depending how many boards you want/need/budget)
I'm with Flicky, I reckon that if you try to ride on a board that is too small for your ability (at present) all it will do is lead to a great gnashing of teeth and much frustration and will actually slow your learning rate down. I learnt on a 140 L board which I still have and use in light winds and I then bought a 90 L board when the chop gets up. I've found this to be a good combination and with a spread of 3 sails I can handle most conditions.
Hey mate,
I'm in SA too. I do think though that 100L will be a bit small and slippery to get the basics well. 100L was my first board once i could plane in the harness and then gradually moved back to footstraps on that (but i was only about 60kg at the time, maybe even a little less). I would defently be looking for something a little bigger, like the two GO's 133 and 144 for sale in SA at the moment. But obviouisily that a lot of money to forke out so just keep your eye open and something like that will come up. But thats the sort of thing you need i reckon. Would be perfect and you would progress very quickly.
Anyway catch you out on the water some time hopefully, were the white ute PACKED with gear and me and my old man sail together (i cant drive yet either 
).
Cheers
Bubs
