What would be the smallest board to learn on litre wise?

Im 6ft & 80-85kgs

I have an old board at home but cant tell how many litres it is.

Any help would be good

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doggie said...

What would be the smallest board to learn on litre wise?

Im 6ft & 80-85kgs

I have an old board at home but cant tell how many litres it is.

Any help would be good

What ya want is a stable platform to learn on, wide about 80 to 100cm, and 150 to 200 litres. Startboard Start is the best, lessons first etc, also need an easy to handle rig for learning with

Yes my wife has an RRD Easyrider. It's a big wide thing with a centerboard. It's very easy to learn on as you don't have to worry about your balance on it. It's similar to the Starboard Start.

Not the sort of board you may want to buy but the sort of board that will allow you to windsurf from the start rather than falling in the water all the time. Plus the centerboard allows you to more easily make forward motion instead of going sideways.

Add to that collection a JP Funster.

So over 150lt..

I will take some picks of the board that I have over the weekend, someone mite recognise it..

Cheers

Doggie, depends how fit you are, and how much you can handle embarresment.

You could learn the quick hard way on a 90 litre board.
Forget about uphauling, and go straight into the water start. If you have a good instructor, you can learn much quicker than going thru the big board uphaul method.
But there's not much positive feed back at the start, just a lot of getting thrown around.
That's why you need a high embarrement threshold.

If you intend to do a lot of big board, light wind sailing, then learning to uphaul won't be wasted, but if you're just going to wavesail, you probably won't uphaul once you get passed that learning stage.

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decrepit said...

Doggie, depends how fit you are, and how much you can handle embarresment.

You could learn the quick hard way on a 90 litre board.
Forget about uphauling, and go straight into the water start. If you have a good instructor, you can learn much quicker than going thru the big board uphaul method.
But there's not much positive feed back at the start, just a lot of getting thrown around.
That's why you need a high embarrement threshold.

If you intend to do a lot of big board, light wind sailing, then learning to uphaul won't be wasted, but if you're just going to wavesail, you probably won't uphaul once you get passed that learning stage.

I like this, it's advice that you will nearly never get but it's true... This is the way I learn't. While initially it will be harder and take a little longer in the first few times out I do believe that if yu can get past that you will progress faster.

Doggie I know you have a surfing background so at least have some board skills and probably the some of the core skills that could get you going pretty quickly.

I didn't learn this way, but really wished somebody had given me this advice, about a year later!

But it really needs somebody there to help!
A lot of stuff is counter intuitive, and it's all subtle things with the sail and board orientation to the wind.

We could attempt it over this forum, but it won't be easy.

Hey Doggie, Im willing to help you out and keen to get you on the water this summer.
But beware once you have a taste for it your life will never be the same

What do you want to do, where do you want to do it, and how often do you want to do it?

If you're an ex-surfer and sailor who is a tradie with flexible time, live near the coast and want to get into wavesailing then you will want a very different board to someone who has not had that sort of experience and can only sail between 2 and 5 pm on Sunday afternoons in a light-wind spot.

In a place like mine, even a Start or Funster or Bic is slow and difficult to stay to windward on, because it's normally light, fluky and confined. A 10 year old kid on an original Windsurfer with a 4m sail will normally be quicker than a legend on the latest pro slalom gear, and have more fun. Even in a good breeze with good sailors, an old longboard well sailed is often faster because it's gusty.

On an open bay in a windy area, it's completely different and a small modern board will be quicker and more fun.

Really, it's all about the sailor and what they want to do, so we need more info.

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doggie said...

So over 150lt..

I will take some picks of the board that I have over the weekend, someone mite recognise it..

Cheers

You also probably do some watersports already...surfing perhaps...if so you don't need a board this size, you can have a go at 130L easily...

Been teaching a total beginner the last few weeks, forgot how much muscle memory we take for granted. Stuff like sail control, knowing that sheeting out stops the power, sheeting in if you're falling off backwards, that sort of thing.

I think if you're going to go the waterstart first route you'll have to go out in higher wind, which means that everything happens quicker and you won't have the ability to learn sail control before tackling the waterstart. If going this route I'd spend at least an hour every lesson with the student on the beach, teaching sail control on the sand. Trying to figure this out when you've just been catapulted onto the board would be an exquisite excercise in frustration imho

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decrepit said...

I didn't learn this way, but really wished somebody had given me this advice, about a year later!

I did, but it certainly wasn't a conscious decision. It was over 25 years ago and all I wanted to do was ride a "wavejumper" so went out a bought one second hand. After a couple of hours struggling on the beach a helpful person told me to beach start rather than up haul and I went from there.

But it is achievable, other comments are correct you will need more wind to start out this way and you it will help if you are able to put a bit of time in, but hey you are in WA so that should be easy.

Beware Doggie, boards have no breasts

This could be OK.

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Greenroom said...

Hey Doggie, Im willing to help you out and keen to get you on the water this summer.
But beware once you have a taste for it your life will never be the same

Cheers mate that would be great, I must admit tho Im intimidated by windsurfing. Ive always wanted to get into it but never knew anyone else that did it.

Cheers guys, I will take some pics of the gear that I have on the weekend because I have no idea what it is

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Ben 555 said...

Beware Doggie, boards have no breasts

Hehe, I could paint some on (.).)

Thanks for the rev up Dins, you are my inspiration for this

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doggie said...

Ben 555 said...

Beware Doggie, boards have no breasts

Hehe, I could paint some on (.).)

Thanks for the rev up Dins, you are my inspiration for this

Not so true - my tabou 85 has titties all over it.... factory design, check out the Da Curve.... you get to ride your board and two ladies at the same time

Doggie, like all the good advice here, agree with the 130-135 ltr comments... I hada JP exite 135 - perfect learner size. You weigh the same as me.

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nebbian said...

<<<<<<

I think if you're going to go the waterstart first route you'll have to go out in higher wind, which means that everything happens quicker and you won't have the ability to learn sail control before tackling the waterstart. If going this route I'd spend at least an hour every lesson with the student on the beach, teaching sail control on the sand. Trying to figure this out when you've just been catapulted onto the board would be an exquisite excercise in frustration imho

Nebs, agreed the first thing to teach is sail control, on the sand, (on both sides of course).

The next thing is board orientation, still in lighter wind, (enough to fly the sail easily), in the water start position, keep the board drifting across the wind, don't try to get up, just keep the board on course. When that can be achieved in both directions, go for a bit more power, and try to pull the back of the board under your bum, while pushing the rig up, without loosing direction.
It needs to be done in stages, trying to waterstart straight off in strong winds will be very painful.

Couldnt get pics on the weekend but the sail is a cammed 6.0 not sure of the brand. I think Im missing the base of the mast as I cant work how it works. Going to raid a metes shed as he has some old gear in there.
Buggered if I can get the boom to adjust as well, some CRC mite do the trick on that!

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aus301 said...

decrepit said...

Doggie, depends how fit you are, and how much you can handle embarresment.

You could learn the quick hard way on a 90 litre board.
Forget about uphauling, and go straight into the water start. If you have a good instructor, you can learn much quicker than going thru the big board uphaul method.
But there's not much positive feed back at the start, just a lot of getting thrown around.
That's why you need a high embarrement threshold.

If you intend to do a lot of big board, light wind sailing, then learning to uphaul won't be wasted, but if you're just going to wavesail, you probably won't uphaul once you get passed that learning stage.

I like this, it's advice that you will nearly never get but it's true... This is the way I learn't. While initially it will be harder and take a little longer in the first few times out I do believe that if yu can get past that you will progress faster.

Doggie I know you have a surfing background so at least have some board skills and probably the some of the core skills that could get you going pretty quickly.

Im good with embarrasment you should see me surf