Hi I have been sailing for a few months but I am still not planning.Im a shade under 100kgs and am using a 150lt board with a 5.8m sail.I realise this sail is small for my size but was useful when learning the basics.I feel comfortable with the basics now so I am wondering what sail size should I go to keeping in mind most of the time I sail out in the bay in 10 to 20 knotts of wind.
a 6.5 or 6.7 would get you planning from 15knts
@ 100 kg you'll be looking at a BIG sail to plane at 10knts.... but you've got the board for it.
Im about 85 kg and using a 150 litre board with a 6.6m sail and get planing easily in 17 knots and up, any lighter than 15 though and i really struggle am thinking off upsizeing to something over 7m for those lighter days. I would suggest you look at the same if a bit heavier. I am only relatively new myself though so others may have better ideas.
Im about your weight. If you were to have a 7.4 and a 6.6 or similar you would then have a nice quiver with your 5.7. I would go for a 7.5 or similar first as you will hold it down in a fair amount of wind and you'll get out a lot more than getting a 6.5 first.
A board of that size will easily carry a 9 meter sail. However best to work upwards towards that size.
What sort of sail and mast do you have now? If you have a 430cm mast it will be difficult to find a sail much bigger than 7 meters that rigs on your mast.
It may not be a bad idea to budget for buying a 460cm mast as well as a sail.
Your mast and boom would suit sails up to around 8 meters in size. As advised above you are probably best to get a 6.5 meter sail first but perhaps go for a 7 meter one you see one available.
Just a helpful hint from my own experience carfull with what you choose if you have a sail in mind ask on this forum first or talk to a dealer. My first two sails i got second hand together as they were what i could afford and they done what i wanted which is getting me into the sport cheap. However the sails were a 5m wave sail and a 6.6m race sail. Absolute chalk and cheese. The wave sail wouldn't hardly get me moving but was good to learn with but then the race sail just over powered me and i kept hitting the water, hard. I did get used to it but my experience could have been easier if id had something in between. Good luck.
If you are getting towards 20kn at times you should be planing.
I get a 100L FSW planing easily in that with a 5.6 wavesail (I'm 95kg)
Yes buy a bigger sail for lighter days, but technique is the issue so read up on stance and getting planing and practice
I think get the biggest sail you can fit on your mast.
I am 97kg on a 130 litre board with a 7.8 sail. Sailing at Manly at Moreton Bay there is more times than not when you are wishing for more wind or a bigger sail. I have only been at it for a year and still suck at getting on the plane and often wish for more power.
So, what are they planning for heavier sailors? A way to get them planing more easily perhaps 
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. Like me, well maybe with formula gear
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). Now (still at 110kgs) if I still had the gear I reckon I could get it going in 10kts with some rig tweaking, pumping & a better technique. 1 or 2 knot drop in a lull would kill it though.
watch instruction video about early planing (1 of 3)
For me, (just under 100kg), a 133 ltr board with a 7.5m (uncammed sail) - perfect at 20 knots. So I'd definately be looking at more than 7m for those conditions.
It seems that matching the sail size to the wind is critical, of course it would be nice to have a full quiver of sizes but that's not going to happen.
So as a beginner like myself you are most comfortable sailing underpowered and if you jump right up to a much bigger sail skipping a few sizes there is a higher likelihood of finding yourself in an overpowered situation.
I would suggest to just buy the next size sail such as a 6.3M and work your way up.
Personally, as a beginner, I find it counter productive being overpowered.
That was the situation today and it was discouraging and not fun at all being out of control. I didn't make any progress and certainly didn't work on my gybe.
Being slightly underpowered not greatly underpowered, on and off the plane I am more relaxed and can work on technique rather than trying to just stay on the board.
i agree with the going bigger is better but also its very important to have a good sail with a mast that it goes well with and rigged rite . learning to rig it just rite is half the battle . When its set rite though it wont try and throw you off all the time even if it is a bit big . id probably get a 7.5 for at manly remember most people at manly are smaller than you and alot of them rig small even for there size because they like playing on the swell and doing jumpy spinny things .
It's a matter of being disappointed or discouraged.
Disappointed when underpowered and discouraged when overpowered.
Where I sail it is also mostly 10 to 20 knots when there are people out and they are usually around 6.5M, I'm 100 KG also and everyone else is lighter of course but they are more experienced, sort of a trade off.
Also depends upon one's location, if it's a shallow flat water lake with endless blasting go ahead and be overpowered and blast off downwind to oblivion.
Alternatively I'm on a bay with waves and chop in places so I'm not looking to just go blasting off out of control wherever the wind pushes me.
I am preferring the incremental approach, this sport has a steep enough learning curve in perfect conditions.
Sometimes the fin makes a lot of difference. A larger one gets me going sooner.
Also, I keep my rear foot out of the strap in marginal winds until I get going.
Good video.I'm a lightweight but I tend to rely on board volume to plane so the tips are good. Wheres the other 2 videos.?
On a more serious note....
I'd go a 7.5 or thereabouts.
At 100kg a 7.5 will give you a lot of range and should be manageable up to 20K. At 105kg I use my 7.6 TR7 in 18-25K, but it's cammed, so you need to derate that for a camless option.
Something fairly stable, but with some power, would be ideal, like a KA Koyote or a Severne Gator.
