What is the smallest windsurfing board that...

Piotr · Post by **Piotr** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:08 pm

I need some advice from you, the more experienced guys here:

What is the smallest (lowest displacement) windsurfing board, that one can up-haul and sail without the water start skill?

I am 165 lb (75 kg), 5 ft 8. This will be my third windsurfing season. I sailed on 175 ltr F2 Comet, sails in the 4.5 - 7.5 m range. Last season in harness and in foot straps, often planeing. I cannot water start. I would like to get a second, board. I think I should get something smaller than my Comet.

How small can I go without the water start skill?

Thanks for any advice,

Piotr

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:46 pm

You can go down to ~100L and be able to uphaul but you might benefit more from something ~115L. The newer freeride shapes (2002+)are shorter and wider than older models giving you the opportunity to go smaller and feel more stable at the same time. they also give you more sail range. Just my 2¢. Hope it helps.

Diego

thewavebb · Post by **thewavebb** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:22 pm

I have uphauled on a 88L and a 5.0m sail when the wind suddenly shut off on me. Wasn't fun or pretty, but got it done. I would really spend sometime on a shallow lake and get your waterstarting down. Typically once you are on a low volume board, you have to deal with more chop and big gusts.... and that makes things hard to uphaul on.

freejoshua7 · Post by **freejoshua7** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:02 pm

Seriously consider the Carve 111. It can blast in high wind, float in marginal winds. It would take some finesse to uphaul, but the thing is you can learn to waterstart so easy with. I read a few articles, then went out and did it. Two sessions and I was proficient. One year and at least in my own mind I'm an advanced waterstarter. And the board pretty much teaches you how to jibe. I have one available in the classifieds and I will be at the swap on saturday and ready to negotiate a price you can live with. You can probably pick up a 10 year old board for $50 bucks, but you would be selling yourself short. Go with a newer model.

Oh yeah, last year I weighed 220lbs and uphauled it. I weigh 185 now and am sure uphauling would be much easier. But why uphaul when you can waterstart. The carve will give you the confidence to attempt it.

I'm only selling it because I want to buy a 07 board that retails at $1598 that fits better between my big board and little board. Otherwise I would hand it down to my grandchildren in 30 years.

Piotr · Post by **Piotr** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:05 pm

Thank you all for your thoughts. I will try to get something in the 110-130 ltrs range.

Josh: Thanks for your recommendations. I will look for you at the swap. Are any of the articles about water starting, that you are talking about available on the Internet? Could anyone point me to articles like that?

Piotr

thewavebb · Post by **thewavebb** » Wed May 02, 2007 4:51 pm

Can you beach start? I learned by first learning to beach start then just going out gradually into deeper waters. I would talk to a more veteran windsurfer at the beach and maybe spend some time watching them waterstart. Make sure you wear a lifejacket though, this will help you a lot when your trying to fly the sail. I wouldn't try learning when its nukin out or when your on a sail with a huge luff sleeve that takes on a lot of water as this makes the sail very heavy and hard to fly.

some links:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Surfing-Wind ... arting.htm

http://www.windance.com/info_source/ass ... hnique.asp

this one has a couple small photos
http://bayinsider.ktvu.com/recreation/g ... start.html

step by step
http://www.iwavesolutions.com/lefebvre/ ... rting.html

Kirk D. · Post by **Kirk D.** » Wed May 02, 2007 11:06 pm

Just to add my 2 cents, I'd see what is available at the swap in the 110-130 liter range for relatively cheap and save the $$$$ for the board to follow.

When I was progressing thru that stage I went from my first big board down to a 130 liter board, but after a very short amount of time found that I was ready to go the next step down to the 90 liter range. There were still some marginal days that the 130 was perfect, but most of the time I was riding the smaller board.

Regarding the waterstart, videos and articles can be helpful but I think finding someone to spend 5 minutes with you could save tons of time and frustration. I think if you were to ask anyone for tips (on a non-nukin day) they would be willing to give some suggestions for a couple minutes.

Kirk

djmadmike · Post by **djmadmike** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:10 am

Great advice here!

I tend to prefer bigger boards in MN since the wind is more gusty. In MN I use my huge 180 L Go board and love it most days. Last time I was in Bonaire I could easily use a 145 L and even a 135 L, but I think it would be a little tricky (for me) to use in MN unless the wind was high and strong.

Look at the width of the board too, as the wider, newer styles will be more stable.

Not sure what the current thoughts are, but as mentioned it may be worth nailing the beach start first before water starting. Then again I only care about going fast and I am too lazy to practice water starts

I can beach start no problem, but I've only done 2 water starts.

Unless it is nuking, I will be out kiteboarding most times this summer, so consider the source

Mike N

Piotr · Post by **Piotr** » Thu May 03, 2007 9:39 pm

Thank you all for great advice. The web sites you gave me are a great recourse too. I feel that I am much more aware of what to do and where to go now than before. You might see me doing a lot of beach stats from gradually deeper and deeper water this year. I am really motivated to learn to water start.

Thanks again.

Piotr