I'm keen to get back into sailboarding after 10 years away. Had the hang of water starts (just) and gybing was ok (older floaty boards). From reading forums I think I would need about a 120-130ltr board for my weight (90kgs). I hope it will come back to me quickly, though I am expecting plenty of swims.

What I really need to know is what board you think would be best. I live on the Sth Coast NSW with a large open bay, prone to wind range 10-25knots regularly. I need some advice on board type given it can go from basically flat water to big choppy swells. I will no doubt continue to update but at the moment I am hoping for a one board solution. I have been looking at the JP X-Cite rides and Starboard Futuras. Any ideas?

Can't really help with brand choice but IF you can waterstart, you may want to consider a smaller volume board than 130.

modern boards tend to be shorter and wider than boards from 10yrs ago, so you'll get LOADS more balance,floatage and ease of planing.

I'm 90kgs, consider myself to be intermediate and am using an 2006 rrd freestyle wave 110ltr as a light wind board. I can easily uphaul, without rope, if the wind drops and it slogs me back in no worries in hardly any wind. great for 15 - 20 kts anything over that though that and it's bouncy/ uncomftable hell ride, so not much fun in the strong winds.

Once you get back into the swing of things probably worth getting a smaller board for the windy days.

the shape of the board is more important than the volume

i used to have an 2004 x-cite, good boards, but watch out for them going soft in the tail between front and back strap.


good luck and welcome back

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Ellobuddha said...

I'm keen to get back into sailboarding after 10 years away. Had the hang of water starts (just) and gybing was ok (older floaty boards). From reading forums I think I would need about a 120-130ltr board for my weight (90kgs). I hope it will come back to me quickly, though I am expecting plenty of swims.

What I really need to know is what board you think would be best. I live on the Sth Coast NSW with a large open bay, prone to wind range 10-25knots regularly. I need some advice on board type given it can go from basically flat water to big choppy swells. I will no doubt continue to update but at the moment I am hoping for a one board solution. I have been looking at the JP X-Cite rides and Starboard Futuras. Any ideas?

I think either of these boards would probably be perfect for you, both great versatile boards, think about the majority of winds you get and bias your choice for that size, if it's typically 10 to 15 knots, then120 to 130 litres, if it's 20 to 25 which I doubt for NSW 90 to 100 litres.

Ellobuddha , I think you ar pretty safe with something around 120 litres . As you progress then a second board around 90 would be on the cards .
Any of the modern freeride boards are great . Off the top of my head I would suggest JP Excite , Starboard Futura , Exocet Cross, Lorch Glider for eg , I think you would be happy with any of these .
Enjoy

Just out of interest Martin, where would someone go to purchase a Lorch board?

From me . I can send you some info if you are interested ,but am not going to use this Forum to promote .I am trying to stay very "unbiased " in my advice . There is plenty of choice out there for this type of board , all the new "fast freeride" boards are excellent . One of my freinds has a Starboard Futura and really likes it ,I rode it once at Sandy Point and it was very enjoyable . It is quite fast , but easy due to its width and a reasonable amount of V in front of the straps to help it smooth out chop. Another freind has an Exocet Cross and loves that , probably more manouver oriented than the Futura which would be faster . That is why I mentioned those 2 boards in particular. The JP X-Cite always gets excellent reveiws . One I forgot to mention is the Tabou Rocket , another great board and very smooth in chop due the the heavy V and concave.. . A couple of guy's at my local spot ride them and praise them highly although I can pass them on my Lorch , but that is probably skill !!! Ha !!! . More likely my excessive Kgs !!
Wow , lots of choice !!

I have a Lorch Glider 105 demo board and am very impressed , super easy to get going and ride , but also very fast . I have not ridden the 120 myself but the rocker is the same so it should be very similar I would think .
Send me a PM if you are interested in some info , otherwise visit your NSW shops and I am sure they will have something that suits you perfectly .

Thanks for your info and advice. Im at Eden on the Vic border so I may have more choice in Melbourne?

your other semi local dealer with access to a few more brands is WETSPOT in canberra. scotty knows his s#$% and sails/ has sailed merimbula/pambula a fair bit so will be able to understand what you want too. pm me if you cant find the shop.

As for my advice, I learnt to sail at merimbula and love getting back there as often as I can. I find if its worth sailing down there about 100L is what i want to be on (me being close to 100 kgs). Although i did have a lot of fun for a couple of seasons on a mistral joker 114, it just didnt hold turns real well even on the little waves over the bar. so if your looking to sail merimbula or some of the other "wave" spots down there id look for a slightly smaller real world or freestyle wave style board, althouh the jp excite ride in about 100-115 would also be pretty nice. However if you actually want to spend most of your time in twofold then go nice and big 120-130 or even bigger. just make sure you think about how much chop your going to be sailing in on eden.

A Bomber, Thats one of my concerns. Obviously Merimbula main near the bar is an ideal spot, but for those days when that big bay at Eden is there I am looking for something to do the job there. At this stage i am not really wave focused but would definitely look at it in the near future, Want to crawl again first.

My main concern is the swell+chop that does get pretty hectic on NE/SE winds on Twofold. SW (which are common) over winter will be great in the bay. Looking for the greedy option of something that will get me back into it, plug and play. Then look towards something like a Kombat or similar down the track. Any ideas?

Hi Ellobuddha, just wanted to say don't forget about Mallacoota - some great sailing there. If you want a flatwater blast (like mirror flat) hit the bottom lake behind Goodwin Sands on a big southerly. Cheers

Mallacoota is a definite. Fished there plenty of times and wished I had a sailboard instead of a tinny. Big flat water with big winds straight off the point. I dont think people realise how strong and regular the wind is down here. Greencape/Gabo can get pretty wild. Cant wait to get some gear and get into it.

I just want to get some gear sorted and spend time drinking salt water instead of reviewing/searching for something decent.

EB, where are you planning to sail in a SW?
if your looking for a board for a southwesterly and you want to be able to do snug cove to edrom sorta stuff then maybe something about the 26 ft mark, with keel and rigging (like a yacht)? seriously i would go for something large for that kind of sailing, your very exposed and theres not a lot of other people on the water at that time of year. ask wetspot if they can get the bic technos still? good cheap option in a range of sizes.

i think the problem you will find is finding a board with enough v to smooth out the ride, as i have found all my new boards tend to slap through chop. maybe something like the old starboard hypersonics? i havent ridden one but they have a very funky planshape. another option may be to go for something older with more of a pin tail. someone with more experience than i may be able to tell you if these ideas will work in practice as well as they do in theory.

if you do just want something older to have another crack on, i know of a 9'6" fairly pinned glass freeride board that could be had from wyndham if thats of any interest to you.

If you are going to be sailing in heavy chop - try looking at some of the bigger volume Xover style boards. They are a little wider than normal hence very stable for given volumes 115 up would still be uphaulable for you and they have a big range (not 10knt though).

Naish all terrain http://www.naishsails.com/en/products/allterrain.html
Exocet Cross www.exocet-original.com/products/cross.asp
Starbord Kombat www.star-board.com/2008/pages/products/v_kombat.php

just to mention a few.

Seems like you might be wanting to head in this direction anyway.

Once you've decided try this guy he is (relatively) local to you and can deliver nevertheless and is not driven by brand - he can pretty much get you any brand.

www.shoalhaven.net.au/~macsurf/drsurf.html#anchor494636