I recently purchased an old Mistral Equipe and have had a few fun sails on it recently and was thinking if there would be any interest in getting some of these old boards and racing them like we used to in the early 90"s. I remember racing every Saturday in the Pumicestone passage at Caloundra Qld. with about 20 others and the racing was awesome fun. We had a Max sail size of 7m and would sail in just about any conditions. I am interested in contacting some of the local sailing clubs e.g PDYC and Deviot to see if I could join in on some dingy, Cat. courses to see how it would go for next season, hoping eventually that some others might also join in. I am interested in other peoples thoughts about a maximum sail size for here in Tas. that we could decide on. There seems to be several different sizes used.... for International (9.5m), Australian National (10.5m), South Australia ( 7.5m). Given the cost involved in having these large sails I would think 7.5m-7.8m would be a good choice as a lot of us would already have sails in that area. That would be my preference . Keen to hear other peoples thoughts

Yep Im in, I have also got a longboard however I dont completely know how to drive it yet...
7-8M sounds the go to me... allowing the people with larger booms/masts to use big sails without going as far as to disadvantage the guys with standard 7m sails which most of us have...

The one big run I did from Low Head to Georgetown I can really see how much fun and tactics would be involved in this...

I think a few longboarders get out with the formula crew in the races down south. Maybe wrong, but i think some of them beat dave and steve in a race or too. Due to very light winds.

Very true Izzak, I witnessed that. The old one designs were the fastest in the light winds. Some had the Bic boards with centre boards in them and either 7 or 7.8 sails. But once the wind picked up the Formula boards killed them.

I'd be keen for sure.

I've raced on my Windsurfer One Design at Deviot before, in a howling NW, massive swell - I remember 2m in the bay.
You can sail these things anywhere. Strap some waterproof backpacks+tent on the front of the board and sail away.
I've always wanted to sail to Flinders Island like that, and hop around the 52 islands up there...dreamer...

Gday i,m a member of PDYC and race a small keelboat there but have talked to the vice commodore about sailboard racing and being a board owner he,s real keen on including them in dinghy racing, I have seen a one design racing at TYC for the past couple of seasons he just races against district dinghys and seems to hold his own against them, so to sum up i think what you suggest is a great idea i have lots of old gear and would be keen myself, i have a phone number if you,d like it for the VC but seasons over so anything we could organise couldn,t start until october.

That's great to hear Darb....would be good to set something up for next sailing season and get a few of us on the water. I've sailed a few times on keelboats and cats at pdyc and was a member of deviot for several years. Do you windsurf inhe tamar much?

well every xmas i spend about a week on my boat (providing im not racing on someone else,s) and take a board, if the weather permits i have a sail every morning and basically drink cans in the afternoon, other then that i sail up trevallyn dam during the warmer days, so not nearly enough really....I need motivation!

Does it get any better? Sail in the morning, drink cans in the afternoon...

I think the launny crew is growing