Hi all,

I wanna move to a smaller freeride board. I am current using 145 lit board. I found it pretty bumpy when sailing in high wind.

I am 62kg. I can plane but not carve gybe or waterstart. I used windsurf calculator on a website and also tried the calculation provided by RYA books. I found that my ideal small board is 110 litres. Honestly I found those calculations bit confusing.

Does it matter if I buy 105 lit board? does 5 litres make big difference?

Also I wanna know if I bring my board as a checked baggage from other states, will the airline handle this 'baggage' carefully when they see it as a fragile stuff?

Cheers

Mate I'm 70kgs my small board is 75 lt jp wave board and my big board is a F2 91lt. I think 110 lt board is way to big for wind days. What wind range do you sail in?And where do you sail?

Mainly Viccy Point , sometimes Wello and Manly. I only have 6.5m freeride sail and 5.5m kinda wave sails (5 batterns)

Yes 5lts shouldn't matter that much until it gets windy like 20knts + then it will it will be hard to control the board and keep it in the water and the rougher the water the harder it will be. I think you need to learn to water start so you can ride smaller boards.

An old rule we used was for intermediate sailors was your weight + 30 litres of volume for the board, for expert sailors it depends on the type of sailing and conditions.
+ 30 litres will allow you to up haul when the wind disappears....

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Windragon said..
Hi all,

I wanna move to a smaller freeride board. I am current using 145 lit board. I found it pretty bumpy when sailing in high wind.

I am 62kg. I can plane but not carve gybe or waterstart. I used windsurf calculator on a website and also tried the calculation provided by RYA books. I found that my ideal small board is 110 litres. Honestly I found those calculations bit confusing.

Does it matter if I buy 105 lit board? does 5 litres make big difference?

I have been down a similar path, and although I am about 10kgs heavier, I can understand the 'choppy' bit. The best advice I received before going smaller was not to be too hasty. Through a combination of better tuning and experience the chop was not so bad. There is a point though when a smaller board is needed. I dropped down nearly 40 litres so the transition was noticeable. The smaller board was easier to water start but manoeuvres like the gybe and tack had to be more precise. By keeping your bigger board you will be able to practice those moves on less windy days.

The worst thing that could happen is that you buy a smaller board prematurely. You will know this because you won't want to ride it because you are falling in or crashing too much. No problem, just persevere and the skills will come. The good thing about having two boards is that you are versatile for different conditions. If you are worried about having too many catapults then buy some epoxy to fix the nose of your board! Dings aside, it is worth thinking about the type of freeride board you buy because some will be more forgiving and gentle when you are are learning to gybe and tack in 25 knots of wind. Lastly, if you you sail often then the transition period will be shorter because it is amazing what a bit of practice will do.

Thank you waricle and MarkSSC for your advice.

Yeah I am a bit of worried too about falling off the board very often. The width is also reduced a lot in lower volume board.. that makes your feet pretty hard to move around.

The best thing would be to concentrate on getting the water starts happening using your existing gear. Once you get that sorted out it doesn't matter if you fall in a lot and you can fly to a smaller board and practice your turns. If you are 65kg I don't see why you'd go anything over 100lt for a smaller board. Dr

For those two sails and your weight, I wouldn't go over 100l. Get your water starts sorted as a priority, it will open up a whole new world for you. Don't forget about the fin either, changing your fin can make a massive difference. Go 90L freeride and get two fins. I'm 75kg and run those two sails on 100l Freeride and it's spot on for me.

Musorianin is right - get you water starts down pat first.

After that a jump to 100 ot 110 litres free ride / free race board would be great, especially if its a modern board with a bit of width (65 to 70 cm). You should be able to use this in up to 20kts and even 25kts at a stretch. You will find this board quite lively after your 145lit.

When transporting boards by either checked in luggage or by truck, ensure you pack them in a purpose built cardboard box with the rocker of the board suported by styro foam. Do not rely on fragile stickers. Check with your local windsurfing store (eg Surf Fx or Board Crazy) - they usually have old boxed they want to get rid of.

Thank you musorianin, JazzyandJase & John340 for your opinions

smaller boards have shorter width. I reckon only these two or three years came some small boards with width.

Yeah I will concentrate my practise on waterstart from now on. Please come to give me a demo when you see me practising waterstart myself on the water :) cheers