Looking for windsurfing gear suitable for a beginner

[Glenda]

Thanks to Rob at Coastalwatersports.com and his stellar teaching (I highly recommend it) I caught the bug . . . so I am looking for some used windsurfing gear suitable for a beginner . . . also, I need a lighter weight wetsuit (very small) - since I haven't been spending a great deal of time in the water . . . although that may change on a smaller board!

[Guest]

Good luck with your quest, this site is the best spot to start.
There is a guy selling a whole list of old gear at the coastalbc. classifieds. If youre not falling in youre not learning!

[Bobson]

Hey Glenda, it's the other Rob a.k.a. Bobson.
I am considering selling my Starboard GO 150. Which is very wide and floaty. I am 220lbs and it is stable and floats me very well. If your lighter then it'll be great for you. It comes with a bag and fin. Call/email/PM me if your interested.

Yes, Rob at Coastal Watersports is DA MAN!

[windsurf247]

Hey Glenda. Thanks for the kind words. You can blame me the next time you have to leave work early because of the wind.
Bobson's board would be perfect for you. It's nice and stable like the START board but you won't outgrow it. It'll be much easier to transport as well!! If that one doesn't work, I'm sure Bobson will be selling his other new board in a week or two........just joking DOOD.
Good luck with your search and remember, you get what you pay for...ie don't buy junk. It may be cheap but it'll hold you back in the long run.
Rob

[downwind dave]

hah! when i learned, junk is all you could get. we would wear out booties trekking up around the nose to tack, tracking blood from stubbing toes on the daggerboard. spend all afternoon tying the boom on. when the wind picked up you got hurt, and stuff broke and you swam in. that was the way it was and we liked it.

[windsurf247]

Ah yes, the good old days. How about blasting along at full speed and having the mast pop out of its base Or even worse, having it let go while uphauling.....one foot either side of the mast.....ouch, I'm lucky to have kids! I did like the big handle on those old tie on booms though.
These new kids have it easy. They just don't appreciate the struggle we had to go through.

[Glenda]

To Downwind Dave and Windsurf247 - no . . . it certainly wasn't like the "old days" learning . . . you guys sounded a bit like . . . "when I was young I used to have to walk to school in 10 feet of snow - uphill both ways . . . in my bare feet . . . LOL"

To "guest" I guess my real learning will start on the smaller board . . . where I do expect that I will be spending more time in the water . . . it's all good though. Then I can appreciate a bit more what Downwind Dave and Windsurf247 are talking about . . . and to be completely honest I haven't experienced "real" wind . . .

[downwind dave]

hey dont worry about what you think is "real wind", i spent a whole summer bobbing around out at elk lake wind or no wind before i took my bic longboard down to cook street one fateful day. that was still a year before i tried nitinat. as long as you get on the water its learning time thats why i wouldnt get too hung up on the gear, in my opinion. It also helps if you think of the newer beginner stuff as more of an investment because its always easy to sell. good luck, this site is pretty usefull if you have questions as you go.

[more force 4]

Anyone else remember having to haul the One-design daggerboard out and hang it over one elbow once you reached planing speed? Otherwise the foil would generate overwhelming lift and you would do an unintentional 'rail ride', which was a big freestyle trick then. The daggerboard, though, would catch wave tops and spin hard, twisting the strap hard, while jerking and almost breaking your arm ..... And the water would shoot out of the daggerboard well and blind you till you got going fast enough for the waterline to be behind the well ....

Glenda, you can often get really good (or well worn but still functional) used equipment very reasonably at the side of the road at Nitinat. Small sized sails (4.5 and smaller) can often be quite old but still in excellent shape because they aren't used as much. There will be lots of people around to help decide if it is junk. Consider buying a new boom though, and definitely don't get anything but a clamp-on! Also, you'd probably really appreciate the reduced diameter booms compared to the standard size, especially when going through the death grip of "I never wanted to go this fast" stage.

[Glenda]

Now I am a bit leary (leery? Is there a spell check on this site?) . . . I was told that I should just purchase an old One-design set up to continue my learning process . . .

I can't imagine the "I never wanted to go this fast" stage . . . I was down at Cordova Bay early evening in some nice wind . . . on my lovely, stable, rented board . . . watching some other windsurfer speeding along on a small board while I plowed through the surf on the big, stable board . . . I'm not knocking the START board . . . it is an excellent learning tool . . . it keeps you out of the water, prevents early frustration and is great for learning sail handling . . . but I wanted to fly too . . .

What I think is needed is a place that rents progressive boards . . . perhaps by the month . . . so you can move from the START to the GO . . . and if GO is where you stop that's what you purchase . . . but if you outgrow GO . . . you haven't put out the $$$$ to purchase something leaner.

I have been getting quite a bit of conflicting advice about what to buy. I weigh just over 100 lbs so a board that is "sinky" for a larger person may be very stable for me . . . how do you figure it out? Right now . . . I just want to be able to go out when I see the wind . . . I'm loving it . . . although that sail has heard language that I've never said to a human being . . .

[Stephen..]

Glenda,
Speaking as a guy who started windsurfing in February, I would say get yourself a good transition board - something just bouyant enough to keep you afloat in no wind and be able to uphaul. Also look for some bouyancy distributed towards the front of the board. This will help you with your tacks. I am finding Bobson's old board (my new toy) great for me as it also has a retractible daggerboard without the joy of a gaping hole when you slip it into the board. This lets me stay upwind in 2 kts and drive like a crazy man in 30. It will be harder to learn on a smaller board but when you get it, it will be worth it. Don't go for a barge as you will be board of it in a couple of months. It already sounds like you have the need for speed. Lighter boards are also nicer to carry and usually shorter so easy to transport. Good luck!

[more force 4]

Glenda, DON'T buy an old One-design or anything else like it (ie, any longboard). Go short and wide to start. Some of the bigger old shortboards can be found very cheap - I'm still sailing my 1989 Bic Astro Rock (130 l) and a Bic Adagio (107 l) which is almost as old and if you can find a Bic Electric Rock (105 l), people claim they are one of the easiest sailing/gybing boards ever made. You could probably pick up any of these for under $200 so you could have a quiver of boards for very cheap. A used mast or two is usually OK, and sails that are only a few years old (except the small sails I mentioned in the earlier post). Wave sails are especially easy to manage. Spend money on a new boom and good fins, these can make an old board young again. Newer boards will allow you to speed up your learning though.

If you can afford a little more, the Go 150 wouldn't be much of a transition for you, since it is comparatively wide and would feel similar (e.g., Evo deck) to the Start. In fact, at your weight, you might not notice much difference in stability for uphauling. They have tremendous range in sail sizes (need a couple of fins too) and you won't soon outgrow it, especially for lighter wind days. The Go will definitely get you planing and in the straps very quickly, especially with a bit of instruction. For that matter, the Starts will undoubtedly plane and have footstraps - are the rental boards available with different sails and fins to match? I agree that a rental fleet of beginner and transitional boards would be ideal. But, the Go's are really easy to resell if you change your mind (just ask Bobson ). At your light weight, you will probably want to get something quite a bit smaller - probably less than 80 l - for the higher wind and chop of Nitinat and Juan de Fuca. Learn to waterstart and get in the straps in moderate winds on a bigger board (like the Go, or a larger slalom board about 120-130 l that you can easily uphaul) first, though.

[windsurf247]

I agree with Stephen. What you need is a transition board - something in between the START and a shortboard. If you can find one with a retractable dagger board, that would be a huge asset. Since you are small, you could easily get away with a smaller transition board but I don't know how many smaller boards will have a daggerboard.

In terms of old or new, well that depends on your pocket book. The new boards are definitely nice, and will hold their resale value better. An older board will certainly work but I think there are definite advantages to the newer wide style boards like the GO. I haven't heard too many people complain about them.

Something else you might want to do is try a better sail on the START board. The sails that we use on them for lessons are designed to make learning easy. They really aren't that great for high performance sailing. I've had the START board out in 20+ knots with a real sail and had a blast on it. I was actually quite surprised at how much fun a tank like that could be in higher winds. The centreboard really slows them down too. If there is enough wind, take it off and you'll be amazed at how much faster you'll go.

Perhaps for now, you should invest in a nice rig. That's something that you'll keep regardless of what size board you have. Try your rig on as many different boards as you can just to see how they all compare. This is the best way to find the board that works for you. We're going to see about getting some other boards out at the club for people to try.

When you go to Nitinat, ask some other women your size what they learned on and how they liked it. Also talk to other beginners to see what they have discovered about gear. You're all in the same boat so you may as well swap stories!

Good luck. You're doing great so far

[BigD]

I too spent a year at elk lake on an 11+ ft board($400 with a complete rig) and I don't regret it at all. I learned how to handle the sail in light gusty winds and make my way around the lake in spite of the wavering wind direction. Once I was more confident with my tacks I took it out to Nitnat and got thouroughly worked over by the wind and the waves. At that point I decided to buy a new board and bought a 190L 2000 GO board(about $1000). It is much much nicer than my old mistral however it cost far more and now that I have a nice board I need to have a nicer sail(2001 Retro 8.0 $275) and a longer mast ($150) and an extension and a harness.... you get the picture. The moral of the story is you can learn a lot for relatively little $$$ and upgrade as you go or you can spend about $1500 and get a nice used board and a used sail or two. And it doesnt stop there, I figure each season I will need to budget about $1000 to fuel my addiction, so if your serious about windsurfing then spend the $$$ to get nice stuff, it wont be the last dollars you spend on gear!

PS I spent the afternoon today trying out my new sail on my super wide GO board and watched my friend uphaul his sail about 100 times on the gear he picked up for $300. He still had fun though!

[windsurf247]

Hey Glenda. My wife's board and rig are available after all. The person that was going to buy it found something else. If you'd like to check it out, give me a call at 480-4918.
Rob