Don't want to disparage your home made sail without seeing it, but a modern windsurfing sail has very little resmblance to any other sort of sail.
Unless whoever designed the sail, knows what a windsurfing sail is about, it's not going to be a patch on a modern production sail, and only going to make you're learning experience harder than it needs to be.

There's just been a very similar post to this, about learning gear.
If you have the money to spend, there's much easier boards to learn on than the Bombora.

A home made sail? Well as most guys in here will tell, u need to have some decent gear to progress. This doesn't mean u have to spend $$, u can get a relatively modern sail for under $100 and could probably spend $500 and have some decent kit if you shop around.

i thought i was the voice of encouragement nebs!

i get very wet every time i enter the ocean!

do you try to stay dry?

He everyone

It was actually me that sold him the sail. I quite liked it. Used it quite a bit as my big wind sail as its only about a 4.0. It was made my a guy who had a lot of idea and had been sailing for many years and even taught me quite a lot. Not sure exactly what it's made of but it seems like most sails i use now, just not as developed. Put a picture on some time Pittsy. The only difference is that i was running it on a carbon mast which probably makes quite a bit of difference. Is it worth him getting a 430 carbon mast of some description?

I also used the Bombora board for many years. Its quite stable and when i go out sailing with him he seems to be going ok with it.

I deffently think that you just need to get out more Pittsy and get up in the morning before the wind hits. While were down there over new year do it a couple days in a row and you'll get the hang of it quickly.

bubs

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the tips. The Green sail showen in the pics was made by a guy who know heaps about windsurfing I haven't been able to get pics on the Photo bit yet but have got them on my profile here is the link to it:

www.seabreeze.com.au/Members/Profile/Details.aspx?member=Pittsy

Any tips would still be appriciated

Cheers pittsy.

Here is one that I should have picked up last season-
If you get catapulted regularly, check that the back harness attachment point is about a third of the distance along the sail. Haven't catapulted since, but maybe when I do it might be a season ender..

Tony, continuing development has shown that white nylon rope is superior. Every part of my original setup has now been broken at least once, the latest being a uj just 10 minutes after wisely declining an invitation to venture out from the tide change maelstrom for a surf session.
So the tip here is Sod's Law- Any part of your setup that is not 100% will surely let you down at the most inconvenient moment.
P.S. Did u no that the original maelstrom is a real windsurfing spot in Finland that includes wirlpools and monster standing waves as the tide changes.