I am just getting into wave sailing and contemplating purchasing a second hand wave board. I'd like to have a crack at forward loops this summer.

I'm an intermediate sailor currently riding a 92 litre JP FSW with sails between 4.2 and 5.8. I'm about 83 kg so could definitely go smaller as the board is a handful on a 4.2 sail.

I was thinking of picking up a cheap older wave board of around 80 litres, probably a single fin (say 2005 - 2008). That way if it gets bashed around I won't get too worried and I'm covered when it's windy. Bit wary of going too small as it may get used infrequently in Sydney seabreezes. Alternatively I could save my pennies and get a multi fin board around 85l, as I believe these have a bigger range (would have to sneak that passed the wife into the garage). Any thoughts?

My FSW board has a 27 cm fin on it and I have been struggling to bottom turn. Would a smaller fin, say 23 cm, make much difference or am I better to just get a specialist wave board?

Smaller fin would help control things in higher winds, but won't help the wave turning ability of the board shape as much. The pre-loved option sounds good if you are planning on getting stuck into forwards, bound to have a few crashes and nose/rail dings from the trial period. A single should get up and go easy so you can try in more windy bump and jump stuff too.

And then once you've got things somewhat sorted, sneak a shiny new tool into the garage. When you do be sure to use old boardbag as disguise. DO NOT purchase new boardbag with new board ;)

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McSmurfin said..

Smaller fin would help control things in higher winds, but won't help the wave turning ability of the board shape as much. The pre-loved option sounds good if you are planning on getting stuck into forwards, bound to have a few crashes and nose/rail dings from the trial period. A single should get up and go easy so you can try in more windy bump and jump stuff too.

And then once you've got things somewhat sorted, sneak a shiny new tool into the garage. When you do be sure to use old boardbag as disguise. DO NOT purchase new boardbag with new board ;)

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I think I will go the second hand route... The nose of my bigger board has already taken some punishment.

And on your last point, I got caught red handed last year sneaking new sails into the garage. Doh!

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McSmurfin said..

When you do be sure to use old boardbag as disguise. DO NOT purchase new boardbag with new board ;)

Brilliant!!!

Your FSW is not very loose but will carve well in a long-ish (drawn out) bottom turn, so work on good laydown gybes with it and it will help the bottom turn. I think the fin is not killing the bottom turn, just needs practice.

Going to a smaller fin in that board will make it looser and easier to slide tail in top turn, but at your stage it will NOT be a help. Tail width is greater in a FSW, so using a small wave fin can be nice for looseness but it will want to let go (skip out) in bottom turn.
In my Goya One FSW, I can drop from factory 29cm fin in the 105L to a 25cm wave fin. In the 95L I can drop form 27cm factory fin, to a 23cm wave fin. That is about smallest possible, it will just go upwind with care (no backfoot pressure) and the bottom turn needs more care.

If going to a smaller board, I'd say get a FSW about 80L and a wave fin a little bit smaller than the factory FSW fin. Getting a more wave oriented FSW, like Quatro, Goya One, or RRD will be a help. They are all more wavey than most FSW's, but not as rockered as a waveboard so you will still have a familiar easy planing feel. Going to a 2005-6 waveboard could be a bad vibe, lots of rocker in those babies.

Hi gone bush

I was in Maui a couple days before the aloha classic and talked to Levi (the pro that won) abut board size he uses at hookipa.

He told us that the smallest board he uses is a 82 liter. We also talked to three other pros who were also competing. ... Same storey. None of them use under 80litres and they all look around 75to80 kg to me.

Food for thought

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Yuppy said..
Hi gone bush

I was in Maui a couple days before the aloha classic and talked to Levi (the pro that won) abut board size he uses at hookipa.

He told us that the smallest board he uses is a 82 liter. We also talked to three other pros who were also competing. ... Same storey. None of them use under 80litres and they all look around 75to80 kg to me.

Food for thought

Was Levi learning to bottom turn at the time and also uses the board for B&J?

Don't get caught focusing on volume like so many do. Width, rocker, rails and outline are far more important for how a board will actually handle when you are moving.

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Mark _australia said..

Your FSW is not very loose but will carve well in a long-ish (drawn out) bottom turn, so work on good laydown gybes with it and it will help the bottom turn. I think the fin is not killing the bottom turn, just needs practice.

Going to a smaller fin in that board will make it looser and easier to slide tail in top turn, but at your stage it will NOT be a help. Tail width is greater in a FSW, so using a small wave fin can be nice for looseness but it will want to let go (skip out) in bottom turn.
In my Goya One FSW, I can drop from factory 29cm fin in the 105L to a 25cm wave fin. In the 95L I can drop form 27cm factory fin, to a 23cm wave fin. That is about smallest possible, it will just go upwind with care (no backfoot pressure) and the bottom turn needs more care.

If going to a smaller board, I'd say get a FSW about 80L and a wave fin a little bit smaller than the factory FSW fin. Getting a more wave oriented FSW, like Quatro, Goya One, or RRD will be a help. They are all more wavey than most FSW's, but not as rockered as a waveboard so you will still have a familiar easy planing feel. Going to a 2005-6 waveboard could be a bad vibe, lots of rocker in those babies.

As a result of my earlier post a board has kindly been donated to my cause ex gratia. It's an 80l 2005 starboard evo. It's a bit beat up but should cover me on those days when a strong southerly comes through and there's a bit of swell. The board doesn't look too rockered to my untrained eye but we'll see.

In terms of the fsw, the last time I sailed it I was spinning out on bottom turns with a 27 cm fin, so I imagine it would only get worse if I put a 23 cm fin on it judging but your comments. Probably down to my bad technique but I think I was also catching rails due to it being more freeride orientated.

The EVO is a bit slow to plane but quite forgiving on a wave - designed to make the most of sloppy onshore stuff.

Best advice is to go up a fin size on it, I think it was 21cm standard - a 23cm cross-on oriented fin would assist probably.

Good advice mark