belijae

i recently (bout a year ago) moved up from a old board like urs and i got a 99L Naish Quest Wave board as i want to get into the waves asap. im about 65kg and the board sinks a little when i stand on it but i can still get enough ballance to up haul it in a bit of chop if need be. its very light and i can hold it easily 1 handed.

I did sail my brothers board a bit before getting this board though which would have helped a lot. His is also a old board but very fast and about 110 to 115L. his you can pick up easily but not with 1 hand like mine. have u sailed many small boards before and what size board you coming off?

if your coming straight off a large board i would recomend something around the 115 to 120L mark as they still have a lot of float and are still very nice to sail without being to big.

as for my rig i recomend anything newer than 2000. the sail i used most, which is a 2000 neilpryde core wave sail is probably one of my best sails and i can use that, and still be in control from about 12 to 17 or 18 knots on my new Naish board.

If your sail has no battons i would think its a triangle sail? these are much harder to sail and its feels so much nicer when you get onto a newer sail. how much wind are you going out in at the moment and what size sail are you running?

also how much are you looking to spend. when i ought my board i got sail mast boom and everything real chep as a guy just wanted to get rid of it. there would be a biggere market where you are than down here in SA so i would think so you would be able to ind something at a good price relatively easily. but i dont know.

anyway hope this helps
bubs

yer with those old sails you loose a lot of power so a 5.0 ina old sail would have less power than a 4 to 4.5 in new sail i think.

ive written a bit more up the top refering to boards to so give it anotha read. might help a bit more i dont know.

bubs

i dont realy know what ur level is but i went from a old triangle sail like urs ona huge board even bigga than urs (3.6m long and 170L i thin) to a bombora board (2.2M long bout 220L) and then put the sail i use now my core on that. then went to my bros board wid da same sail and then finally bought my board which came wid a bigga sail that i use ina bout 10 knots of wind.

so yer i upgraded very slowly and got all my gear cheap which was much betta. and i sold my old board coz the first board i used was my dads old 1. and with those funds bought my new board. i did that over a number of years though and slowly started goin out in more and more wind. so yer i started very early and that makes it very easy for me now ona small board because im only 13 and very light compared to most guys. i found starting very young helped heaps and yer the earlier you rly get in2 it the betta.

it realy depends how u want to do it and how much money you want to spend. going to the demo days would be a great idea to get an idea of what u want and everythin. but once you get onto new gear you wont want to go back onto older gear thats what happend with me. i had my old board sitting on the beach a didnt sail until my brother came back fora rest with his board. bit sad i know but it just duznt feel the same.

anyway the demo days are a great idea so try go 2 as many of them as u can and get a good idea of whats around.

hope this has all helped
bubs

Thanks Ruth, about 110L sounds good! you've been a great help bubs, I think I'll do what you did and upgrade with second hand stuff till I get where I'm headed. I've got some good ideas of what to look for. I think I'll go a better sail first

Thanx nebbian, I will keep an eye out on the net for that kind of stuff. I'm so inspired right now, I'm going to have to curb myself from making any rash purchases

Hi belijae,

I recently just upgraded my rig from older gear and I'm about the same weight as you and only been sailing for 1 season. I see from your profile that you're on the Gold Coast but if you frequent Brisso I suggest you check out www.wind-surf.com.au I just bought my gear from there. Steve who owns the shop was highly recommended by the guys that sail here and he has some nice 2nd hand boards for flat water and i'm more than happy with my purchases. Maybe give him a call, he might be able to offer you some help.

Good luck.

and oh yeah, the newer gear makes a big difference. Lighter, smoother, sexier!

Just to put in a contrasting opinion.......

While going smaller as you get bigger is one way to go - and a very good one in many ways - it's just one way to go. If you like sailing in all conditions - light winds as well as strong - going for a smaller board can be a problem. Big boards may be harder to handle in strong winds, but whether that's a bad thing or not depends on how often you sail in strong winds and what sort of challenge you're after.

I got the hang of a smaller board many years ago, and then stopped windsurfing and never really got back into it until I once against started sailing gear with a volume equivalent to my weight +125-150L or more. I've sailed boards with a volume equivalent to my weight - 35 L or so, but these days they just sit down the side of the house and only get wet when it rains.

Different strokes for different folks, and at different times in their lives, or when looking for different things. The real beauty of this sport (to me) is the versatility; the fact that it can be so many different things, not just a contest to sail the smallest possible board.

So before just saying you should go to the smallest board you can handle, why not ask a few more questions; like how hard it blows when you go sailing; which of the many challenges you like in sailing; how much do you like being overpowered compared to being underpowered; how often do you want to change gear; how many boards do you want; what do you want to get from the sport; if you're normally sailing in 10-15 knots, why sail a board designed for 25 knots; etc?

Belijae,

Do you sail at the train (End of Smith St motorway / North st, Southport)?

If so then keep an eye out for people who are doing freestyle there (Haircut? JF?) and ask them what the best board to get would be. Don't rush into buying a new board, but if you've got the urge to go down a board size, then treat yourself for Christmas

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Originally posted by rosey

bubs you dont make much sense...you say that an intermediate wont go go out 25knots (which i think is a load to start with) but then you say you need the big board so you can uphaul in heavy chop?
unless you are sailing in the middle of sydney harbour you arent going to get big chop in under 25knots...
belijae you are best to go with an 85-90l freewave/freeride board, depending on where you want to progress to, but i think going to one of those demo days would be a great idea

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rosey

i think my idea of chop might be a bit different to yours. i am still not sailing in more than 20 knots that often my self as i dont get around to sailing as much as i would like. so as i said before my idea of heavy chop may be compleatyly different to yours and what i considder heavy may be next to nothing for you.

however i still think coming off a big board straight onto a 80L board would one, be quite difficult, and two, you would be limited as to what winds you could go out in. from my experiance comming from a big board down to a small board was quite a large step and i think that hopping straight onto 80L would be quite difficult.

this also greatly depends out how often you get to sail. if you sail more you are obviousily going to pick things up quicker.

quote:

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Originally posted by hobie14t
I would agree he is a top bloke and has a great range of second and new gear.. PS Its Simon at Board Crazy aka www.wind-surf.com.au

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Oops Yeah, Simon at Board Crazy. Thnks hobie