The best way for learning to Windsurf is with a wide and LONG with daggerboard.
As of late,,,there seems to be an emphasis to have short boards.. The beginner boards also tend to be
Wide but short! Short is not good for beginners (newbies). Newbies need wide and Long! They need to
be able to have room in order move or walk all over the board until they really have mastered their balance on
the board. Windsurfing (from the start) needs to be fun, not difficult. Just feel the sail pushing the board along.
The Old "Start" boards (from 2000-2001) were great! They were 100 cm. wide and 282 cm long. with a detachable center fin. But,, starting in around 2004 the Start boards were reduced in length (only 255 cm long) but still wide at 100 cm.
But being shorter makes them more difficult! I think short is great for more advanced windsurfers but not so great for newbies. They need room to roam on the board.
Wide boards with a long retractable daggerboard are also great (as long as they are long!).
A wide and long with dagger is "the Key" to sucess for bgner
Moderator: MK
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Quetzalcoatl
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Re: A wide and long with dagger is "the Key" to sucess for b
Agree with you completely.
I give free windsurfing lessons out of my local sailing club in Council Bluffs, IA. My beginners board, a Fanatic "Viper 85" works well for developing balance as it is not super wide at 85cm but is decently long at 285cm. But after 4 outings on the "Viper", I move my students on to my Mistral "Pacifico" crossover SUP/windsurfboard. More length helps with faster displacement speeds. It also seems to smoothly transition from non-planing, to almost-planing, to nearly-planing, to full-on-plane. My "Viper" seems to just be on or off plane with hard transition that beginners find difficult to manage - as did I when I was teaching myself.
Since the "Pacifico" has no daggerboard, it is sometimes difficult to get upwind for beginners. But Del did actually accuse me of having a daggerboard on it when we sailed together (Del was on a Kona) on my home lake. He thought it went upwind as well as his board. I blame it on the home lake advantage.
SUP/crossover/windsurf boards could have saved windsurfing if they would have been more prevalent from manufactures of SUP only boards.
I give free windsurfing lessons out of my local sailing club in Council Bluffs, IA. My beginners board, a Fanatic "Viper 85" works well for developing balance as it is not super wide at 85cm but is decently long at 285cm. But after 4 outings on the "Viper", I move my students on to my Mistral "Pacifico" crossover SUP/windsurfboard. More length helps with faster displacement speeds. It also seems to smoothly transition from non-planing, to almost-planing, to nearly-planing, to full-on-plane. My "Viper" seems to just be on or off plane with hard transition that beginners find difficult to manage - as did I when I was teaching myself.
Since the "Pacifico" has no daggerboard, it is sometimes difficult to get upwind for beginners. But Del did actually accuse me of having a daggerboard on it when we sailed together (Del was on a Kona) on my home lake. He thought it went upwind as well as his board. I blame it on the home lake advantage.
SUP/crossover/windsurf boards could have saved windsurfing if they would have been more prevalent from manufactures of SUP only boards.