any 430 or 460 mast, light and flexible is good, it has a very simple adjustable tip. 180 boom. all very low tech but it works. just your standard windsurfer mast and boom is fine so when he is ready to go up to 5.7 sail that's all he needs.

I have heard RQ has a awesome kids windsurfer program, that may be worth a look for your kids?

I have no aspirations to see an LT fleet at RQ.

windsufering said..
How many yacht clubs are in Brisbane ?

that's not what i'm talking about here. it's not a club that's needed. it's a pro kids rig for longboard racing and freestyle. like what severne has with the redback for shortboards. a rig that allows accessible racing for kids on the LT or the WOD and is still suitable in higher winds and nimble enough for freestyle. a scaled down 5.7

the current setup is for youth ie. teenagers. it seems to me that now the class has proven to be so successful there are further steps that could be taken.

as a side note. kids rigs are too flat. they can't sail high upwind in light winds. using a 4m youth sail and rigging it flat does the same thing. it kills the lift upwind. not rigging it flat lets the coe sit too high up in the sail for a child.

MatStirl said..
I'd agree about the kids rigs.
Mine is completely useless - fully battened, monofilm and completely flat.
You'd think the manufacturers would realise beginners learn in light winds and a full soft sail would be better.
They cost too much too. There's one on Sea breeze for $500 2nd hand. If manufacturers were responsible about growing the sport and their future sales they sell them at a low profit margin.

Since its inception windsurfing has followed a manufacturer driven model of what not to do to grow or even sustain the sport. They've focused on high end, new models each year, million versions of everything, all with their own versions of learner/race gear all of which misses the mark because its either too expensive, sails are too flat/heavy, won't go upwind and dilutes racing fleets because it's just one of many brands.

The versatile, cheap LT and it's cross branding has been the only thing that may increase windsurfing numbers in the last 20 years in my view. I reckon LT should make a say 3m soft sail to fit the bottom mast section and let's do away with all this other manufacturer focused beginner stuff.

yep a 3m and a 3.8-4m with enough draft to make it tunable like the 5.7m
i can't see it working on half the mast though. it really would need an alloy kids mast ($20) and an alloy kids boom.

maybe just copy the starboard windsup sails and tweak it to be lower aspect. Or a version of what bic have with their kids skiffs.

the LT may also benefit from a plate to allow the mast to set closer to the centreboard for small rigs. on the LT the track is a touch too far forward. it's great on the WOD.

lotofwind said..
I call fake news, photoshopped buildings

Yep looks dodgy

lotofwind said..
Im guessing a pic from the 70's that they added colour and tried to photoshop in the modern buildings??
or
its a modern photo that was taken with a camera from the 70's.

so either way its from the 70's.

Ain't nothing wrong with cameras from the 70's..... was using mine at the LT meet on the weekend.

Wouldn't it be great if you guys put as much effort into your prospective classes as you do hating the Wally ?

Nice pic,
but I think you are using your board incorrectly?
I havent windsurfed for a long time , but we use to stand on the deck back then.

Gestalt said..
He's always off the rails.....

I havent windsurfed for a long time....... but now I'm thinking the LT looks like fun....so I should try again

It is fun! It's epic to see the face of a freerider or formula pilot with 8+ sqm camber sail when you pass them in light wind conditions on an upwind course. Got it two time last week.

" Yeah thats cool Mr Wippy, but is you playing with my left nipple really part of learning to ride a LT?"

oppps, sorry, thought this was part of the funny caption comp.
All in good fun.

There is a junior division in the cruiser class, also they have different wind limits.
most junior sailing classes have different fleets depending on skill level also.
not all yacht clubs put the racing course miles away from the club.
with over 100 boards at nationals there is so much going on, it's go go go go for the organisers.
having different size rigs available usually means they would choose the biggest one. Evident in the bic techno class and when the wind picks up a lot struggle. Making it a nightmare for the rescue craft.

myclubspot.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/uGjqsKWUWf_doc_1580264387664

A few years back, when my wife and I were running the association, we introduced the Junior One division. It allowed kids to use all sails under 4.5m (subject to the committee approval, to stop someone coming up with something that would give them an advantage). The kids raced in the morning, on a very short course in front of the club at the nationals, using a range of sails from about 1.5m to 4.5 metres. I think it was 2010 when we had 15 kids at the nationals, making up 24% of the entire fleet.

I think we had a division for 13 year olds and under as early as the 2008 (?) nationals, which was the first one to have a Junior division. We can easily require these younger kids to use very small sails, and allow any of them who want to use a bigger rig to race with the next group up. The Barracouta 3.5 never worked quite as well as the 4.5 but a rule allowing any approved rig under 3.5m could work well in the future. The idea for the younger kids, at least, is participation. The youngest kids can even just sail the downwind section of the course, but it gets them involved.

The Barracouta 4.5s were damn good sails, with one full batten and two leach battens just like the normal rig. In a breeze they were faster than a 6, as Jess Crisp (a major driver in getting kids sailing) showed by whipping everyone with one at one stage. They worked well for the older and better kids and were only something like 10% slower than the 5.7s overall, which is pretty good going. In light winds, the kids with 4.5s on One Designs could beat kids on theoretically faster boards in club racing (no names, no rivalry). All the good older kids used Barracouta sails, which were also good for teaching adults.

The better kids would race in the morning on their 4.5 with the Junior fleet, and then go out and race with the adults in the afternoon. In light winds, the good kids would use their 6m rigs when racing with the adults, and fly. In strong winds they could change down to their smaller sails and still race with the adults.

When my wife and I stopped running the class and the DAC juniors, Jess stopped running the Middle Harbour group and some kids aged out, it all sort of faded away. However, at the Worlds when I raised the issue of youth sailing, there was significant interest from the head honchos of various brands involved.

I'm now a grandfather rather than a father of windsurfers. I live inland in the country, I'm running the local sailing club and I'm not on the Windsurfer committee at the moment, but I'm willing to try to help to kick off a group to promote junior windsurfers. We had significant success 10 years ago at a time when the class was far weaker than it is now - we can make it something far bigger today.

I haven't used the current small sails but surely we can allow people to just whack short battens on with stickyback, to stop the leach vibrating. If the current small sails are not up to the job then if we get a group together we can lobby to have changes made.

If anyone is interested in getting a group together to foster junior sailing on LTs, please PM me so we can get something happening. If you don't want to get involved, please don't leave it to someone else but then complain. I'm not going to kick it off alone because I did that once and because of my location and lack of kids, I can't really claim to represent anyone these days.

So let's get on board now, while we can still arrange something for this season.