Is a 2005 Starboard Carve 131L a good board? I found one with a 5 sail quiver, 2 new masts, 2 mast extentions and 2 fins (Drake Freeride 400 & 480). I found this for $900 with other little things like harnesses. I am very new to this and am trying and need help. Thanks so much guys.

It sounds like a good deal but it all depends on your weight and ability level as to whether that gear would suit you.
More info please...

I am about 95 kgs and am new to windsurfing. Although did grow up sailing and snowboarding. I was going to get lessons as well. Is this board too advanced?

It will probably be OK if you get some lessons and you are prepared to have a steepish learning curve. Steep tends to equal shorter though, so that's a good thing.
It's easier to have a big wide board with a centre-board initially, but very shortly after, you will want to move to a board like you have described. If you jump directly to Point B, you just need to expect to fall in a bit more initially.
Having someone explain how the centre of effort, and the centre of lateral resistance moves about as you tilt the rig and go from non-planing to planing will help a lot. Those thing are more fixed on a sail-boat, due to the stability of the rigging.

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MattyL said...

I am about 95 kgs and am new to windsurfing. Although did grow up sailing and snowboarding. I was going to get lessons as well. Is this board too advanced?

Its a better deal than the last one you posted.

However its not the sort of board to learn on easily. Try to borrow, rent or buy a bigger board to learn on, or get some lessons if there is a person or school giving lessons.

I would definitely recommend some lessons, and not just when beginning. There is more to windsurfing than just balance, and some lessons can save you a lot of frustrating sessions. It can take a long time to work things out for yourself.

It does sound like a good deal, reasonable at the very least, certainly if you can afford to buy a bigger board as well it seems like you will have everything you need if it was going to be your second board I would say yes, but at 95 kg a 130 will feel very wobbly for a while, and that instability might scare you away, as it does a lot of folks .... All but the most persistent .

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DrJ said...

It does sound like a good deal, reasonable at the very least, certainly if you can afford to buy a bigger board as well it seems like you will have everything you need if it was going to be your second board I would say yes, but at 95 kg a 130 will feel very wobbly for a while, and that instability might scare you away, as it does a lot of folks .... All but the most persistent .

That's what happend to me: I've thought I'm still very good (after 20 years) and bought a 150l board - as it turned out, I'm not as good and I've bought a beginner board again...

It can get frustrating after a while if your abilities are not up to the board ...

It's not for starters. Too fragile, and the buoyancy lacks up front, hence it will sink the front if you transfer your weigth passed the mast foot.

Seems like a good deal for the advanced beginner's stage though, so if you are serious, buy it, then first spend 10 sessions ona large rental GO board.
Get into straps and harness, then try your board.

Won't lose money for sure.

Sounds almost exactly like my first rig (which I still use), I paid $1200 about 2.5 yrs ago but only got 3 sails.

I had about 5 lessons on a beginner board then bought the carve 131. Just be aware that the nose of these carves is quite fragile, and you'll probably catupult a lot in the beginning (I sure did! ). I've had to fix mine 3 times, taught myself how to fix it after the 2nd time, which makes it a lot cheaper.

The bonus is that I still use this as my light wind board and its great fun, plus I hear the carves hold their value well.

MattyL you are heading in the right direction, we are around the same weight, on a good day and early morning before brekkie I'm 97kg. I have 2 boards, a 220L longboard and a 135L shortboard. The 131L Starboard you mention will float you but requires some experience to use it, it is leaning more to intermediate levels.

The learning curve and frustration level will be very high due to it being unstable if you try to learn on it. One of the first things you will learn is how to "uphaul" the sail (raise the sail out of the water), that is one foot in front of the mast and the other behind it, if I try that on my 135L the nose goes for a dive very quickly so I can imagine a 131L will do the same to you. The result is you'll fall off lots and get frustrated.

But the deal sounds pretty good though. Best to check on the vintage and sizes of the sails. For your/our weight you'd want at least the largest sail to be bigger than a 6.0+ for general learning and use. Smaller is better to learn with but as you advance a 6.0 will be next to useless if you live in NSW for example and it'll only come out in 20 knots, we need at least a minimum of 7.0 for around 15 knots which is plenty big for a learner. But I doubt one of those will be in the quiver unless you are really lucky.

As DrJ suggested, and I was going to do too, is buy the whole kit as you will grow into it if you are serious into getting into this sport but you will need another larger board with a minimum of 150L+ to serve as your learner board. The more modern, post 2005?, the wider they became and much easier to learn on but attached are high prices. I'll probably cop flack over this but if you found an old plastic longboard for less than say $100 from around the '80s era they could do the job too (use your sails though), it'll be a little more wobbly as they are narrow by today's standards for their length and volume (high 210L+). But thousands and thousands of us learnt on those and survived the ordeal! However, if you can afford a newer one go for it, you can hang on to them too for light wind use when you are up to using the 131L in the the higher winds so it's not all wasted.

yeah I learned, on an old F2 strato with centre board then I went on a 130L board. The large old boards will be better choice to start on because of price and very large volume, which makes your board get that planing movement in light winds. when you are comfortable on that, give it away to another newbie and use the board from the deal you mentioned.

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Obelix said...

It's not for starters. Too fragile, and the buoyancy lacks up front, hence it will sink the front if you transfer your weigth passed the mast foot.

Seems like a good deal for the advanced beginner's stage though, so if you are serious, buy it, then first spend 10 sessions ona large rental GO board.
Get into straps and harness, then try your board.

Won't lose money for sure.

That's the voice of recent experience talking.
Good advice.
Buy the package with board to progress to, but also buy or rent a bigger tougher board for learning on.

I bought a carve133 2006 - so virtually the same board.
I had a mistral explosion 155 as a board to learn on - with a 5.7 and a 7m. Cracked it and traded it in for the carve - after 1 year, about 10-15 low wind non planing sessions and 2-3 planing.

First session on the carve I went over powered and couldnt uphaul it (I had gone for a waterstart/beachstart lessson)
Couldnt even sail across the bay to where the lesson was, ended up being towed back to shore by a friendly boat. It put me off hugely for a long time.
The board needs skill to get going in marginal winds, and is bouncy in too big once its 5-6m weather (25+knots). The wind it is good in is 15-22knots on flat water. It is easy to uphaul on though in these winds, and I am not light (85-90kgs depending on morning poo )

I did not progress for 2 years as would only go out in the right conditions after that first experience and the gaps between sessions were too long. Then I started forcing myself out as I met others to sail with and it was fine. You need to get a good few sessions at beginner level before you will benefit from the board. It had a lot of good use for 3 years recently and allowed me to get my first carbe gybes but now I find it boring to ride, slow and not a lot of feedback in the carve so its getting swapped for an isonic.

I would go for something a little bigger unless you are in the harness and getting into the straps.

redsurfbus.blogspot.com/

www.redsurfbus.com/2011/02/building-your-quiver-boards.html

Hope this helps

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Windxtasy said...

I would definitely recommend some lessons, and not just when beginning. There is more to windsurfing than just balance, and some lessons can save you a lot of frustrating sessions. It can take a long time to work things out for yourself.

Learning correctly from the start also stops you from learning bad habits which take AGES to unlearn..[}:)]