windsurfer for female beginner!

I was wondering if someone could pleas give me some advice, I am just learning to windsurf and am having trouble trying to figure out what kind/size board & sail i should get. I am 6ft & 65kg can anyone help me?? I am in WA

Hey sunshinestar,

I'm same sorta stats as you

What level are you at exactly, uphaul/fall off, tacking?, blasting around, keeping balance but not much sail stuff???

My guesses (but I had this in older gear which was narrower width then the easier new gear)
Real Beginner ~ 150+L
Beginner/Grow-into Light Wind Board ~120-130L

All the boards hardie mentioned are good

Something wide (prob 70cm ish)

Sail probably 5m

Getting back on topic of learning to windsurf, which is what we're all interested in!

If you a are a rank beginner, a big board like a SB Go or equivalent (100cm wide) with centre board and a small battened sail will have you progressing the fastest.

We've had a couple of the girls in the group start lately and we were quite impressed how quickly they progressed on this type of gear.

The big board allows you to concentrate on sail handling technique without having to worry about board balance too much. Once you get the feel of the wind and you can use the sail to help you balance then you can start concentrating on board skills and smaller board. Also centre board keeps board tracking straight with smaller sails.

We have started them on a 3.5m wave sail.
1. because it easy to up haul out for the water, 2. It's light and handles a broad range ow wind conditions. The were both 45kg girl, with your height and weight you could probably go around 4.5-5m. See below, our learner sailing confidently after a couple of hours on the water.

However if you have progressed pas the basics then a wide freeride board around 125L & 5.5 sail would be the go.

Maybe you could tell us a little about your skill level.

After the 125 litre board.

nah 100 litre for her first!!!

Shes only 65 kgs! Which means that she has 35litres of positive volume! thats plenty!

SSS, Agreed. Don't buy anything until you have had a few lessons (I am your weight / height)

I've just completed the beginner board progression. I had half a season on beginner
boards, and then jumped to intermediate equipment (148L board, 5.2L sail). This
was a big jump in progression... and it took me few stacks and tips to get it going
(for a while there I had serious doubts).

With a few lessons, you may find you can jump straight to intermediate gear.
If you're like some people, you might progress much slower and a jump to intermediate
equipment will be too big. In this case you're just become pissed off, injure yourself
and your equipment.

Good luck with it ;)]

Ja

I only weigh 73kg and a 100l board would have been way to small for me when I started. Something in the 130 - 150 is ideal. It makes progressing from beginner to intermediate far quicker and easier. A smaller sail is good too 5.5 - 4.5. You can learn sail handling skills without being overpowered.

If you are a raw beginner I would advise getting at least a few lessons or at least sail with more experienced people who can help you along.

One final tip: Do a search through this forum for the beginner tips (there are heaps). I found it an invaluable source of information. And dont wory about some of the comments on here. Us guys dont mean to offend. Its just sometimes our social skills and manners are a little lacking (blame it on having fallen off the board one too many times)

To add to the mix - wife and daughter absolute newbies - three or four sails on a 165 funster (80cm wide) and 3.3 experience sail and theyre are sailing in and out tacking and able to head up or down wind with some simple commands (from the beach/water).

There is no way either of them would have done this on 110 or 120 L board which some are recomending. They tried on an old Tyronsea and due to the narrow long board spent more time in the water than on it.

Some of the "advice" (understandably tongue in cheek) given here to Sunshine is from people that really don't understand the basic needs of a beginner - stability and low risk of falling in the water (which is what scares them the most) and a centre board to maximise upwind ability and stability -

If you want to put people off sailing forever tell them to start on a board thats too small too early and they spend their time falling off and losing ground, cant get back from deeper water and need rescuing. you do them and windsurfing no favours.

The funster style boards actually get planing quite well and are good fun for more experienced sailors to practice their own moves in light winds. I'd rather be sailing waves on my evo but when its 12 knots and youre cruising around with the wife and kids it puts a smile on your face.

Go for a big board Sunshine and enjoy it - and get a friend along to learn with you - the best way to push youreslf to the next level - and you've always got it for practicing moves when you get a smaller board in the future.

Hey sunshinestar,

Good to have another girl getting out there.

What most of the guys here have said has been right.

It really depends on your skill, perseverance, where you are sailing and what level you are at.

But here is what I would recommend:
If you buy a large board/small sail (150lt board, 3.5m sail) at this point you will probably out grow it too quickly.

Whilst you are a complete beginner: Get lessons and the hire the board until you are confident sailing back and forth in 10 to 15 knt winds. By this point you will be at the stage of thinking about beach starting/harness work and foot straps.

Then a board around 120lts and a sail around 5m should be fine, but who ever gave you lessons should be able to advise on the best set up to suit you. If you are only going to be one sail do not go smaller than this or you will not have enough power to progress.

I sail quite a lot, so if you want to sail with another girl I'm happy to give you a few pointers. Just send me an email.

Cheers,
Annika

You'll start just being stoked staying up right, then you'll go a bit faster and start catapulting a bit (nothing to worry about they don't hurt), then chuck your feet in the straps and throw the harness on and hook in and you;ll feel the next rush.

Then you'll struggle around alot with tacks/gybes

Then you'll wanna try more open water...thats what i'm at (still dodgy at alot but)

Hi sunshinestar,
Great to hear you are getting into Windsurfing.
The biggest tip I can give you that really helped my wife out is to go and get the lightest boom and mast you can find.
I know in most cases, this means a carbon boom, so find a good second hand one. A light race mast (400cm) will also be an advantage. This setup saves a lot of weight in the rig for uphauling and lower swing weight when tacking and gybing.
I agree with the 120Ltr ish board choice for your location. My preference would be the JP X-Cite ride as it can be used by beginner to advanced sailors.
Have fun. And welcome to the sport

Hey there SS, I too come from aplace where lessons cannot be had...

What i learnt on was an old one design board with an old crappy sail and dodgy gear, taught myself and after about 8 months of WS I'm now getting the hang of carve gybing and the likes...(new gear given to me by local guy)

Personally, I'm about 5' 10" and weigh 70kgs, The best thing you can do is fall off a lot, enjoy it and do it lots, the more you do it, the more you'll fall off and the more you'll learn!! Also you get a bit more exercise from uphauling the sail everytime! I'm in Darwin so The first sail I used was a 6.5...Bit big fo south i guess!

I'm now on a 145 litre board with an 8m sail and progressing...What i do is just ask questions, Find a person who looks like they know what they're doing, don't get lessons from them, just go out with them, ask questions and fall in!! the more you fall in the more you learn! (in the beginning)

Sunshinestar - as far as gear is concerned it all depends on how often you intend to sail and how good you aim to get. If you sail on a regular basis, you'll advance fairly quickly and outgrow your beginner gear. But if it's just the occasional sail, then the Starboard Go and/or Start with 3m sail would be a good option. If you sail regularly then start out with cheap second hand beginner gear as you'll probably ditch it after a few months. My folks live down in Albany so I'll keep an eye out for you next time I'm out sailing. I usually take aStarboard Go down there to teacg family/friends etc and found Frenchmans Bay a pretty good place to teach/learn.

This is a Windsurfing forum and I'm a windsurfer. If I read something that I don't agree with, or find offensive, I will make a comment on it, just as you would, I assume Zed.
It's just a shame that you believe that men, by nature, are offensive to women.
You wont be checking what you write, probably because you don't give a s**t what women think/want. But I do hope that there are others out there who may think twice in the future.