I am at a decision point where I need to decide if I continue to keep gear for flat water and bump and jump sailing as well as my wave gear. I am into wave sailing 90% of the time and only get onto the light wind flat water gear when I'm desperate and the wind is light or easterly.

So the question is... do other people into wave sailing have all the other gear too or have you cemented in your dedication to wave sailing by only having wave gear and doing something else when the wind doesn't suit?
Cheers

wavesailing would be great if there were waves all the time ,so keep your gear bring
back slalom

get a surfboard with strings
flame suit on

I had the same dilema but came to the decision of selling the flat and bump and jump gear after reading enough of jem hall stuff, I practice with the wave gear on those days when its flat or bump and jump with the wave gear, ie hard carve gybes (for bottom turns), popping as high off small stuff (aerials off the lip), tacking, heading upwind and well practicing balance in light winds helps with staying on your board when heading out in shore break where the wind doesn't fill in...

I find for me it has really worked to have a pure waveboard and a BIG freestylewave.

The FSW with a 6.5 - 7.0 and 34cm fin for flat stuff when desperate (and they can be pretty fast!) and then same board with 25cm wave fin and 6.2 on a 12-15kn grovel day when there is some waves but not full on DTL stuff.

Maybe make your big board dual use?

Bucket, I have 92ltr and 105ltr wave boards that will cover me from 5 to 30 knots. Sail sizes of 4.7, 5.2 and 5.7. If it's light cross/cross-off then I'm sorted. If it's light onshore I take the SUP out. If it's flat and windless I play golf, volleyball, go for a ride, flat water SUP paddle....

So, I'd say yes you can get rid of it but the money you get for second hand stuff is pretty low - why not just keep it?! There will always be one or two days that don't fit into my "plan"!!

One simple theory which i tend to agree with...
Wavesailing without planing: can still be awesome.
Flatwater sailing without planing: whats the point? (unless you're learning to sail)

Can still bog out in winds that most slalom guys wouldn't be planing in anyway.

just a thought

depends if you have buckets of cash, if i did id wave, speed and freestyle windsurf but my coastline and weather conditions favour wave gear/sailing. every wave is different and that alone keeps me keen. i have limited kit but id realy consider kiting as a sub 20k option. id rather one epic wavesail a month than 30 lake sails but thats just me. good thing we get favourable conditions all year round at my patch and its no biggy if i miss a sesh due to work or other comitments

No such thing as 100% wave sailor.

Most of the really good guys go out whenever it is windy whether there are waves or not. I guess that is how new school freestyle was invented. Kauli, Richardo, Brazino, etc all are expert freestylers.

My suggestion = get into freestyle or bump & jump or get a kite for really light wind days when there is no swell.

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Rad Lad said...

No such thing as 100% wave sailor.

Unless 100% of your sailing time is spent in the waves, which is the case for nearly every wave sailor I know.

I think is good to do as much wave sailing as possible but other disciplines such as slalom or freestyle are great too. it all depends on conditions , i have wave gear but i also keep race gear and a kite for flat water speed and gybing for when ther is no waves or low wind ,i cant do many freestyle tricks but i think the more you windsurf the better you get so i wouldn get rid of freeride gear it has its adavantages , and like someone wrote before the best wave sailors do freestyle or racing as well as waves.All windsurfing is great , kitesurfing too but only in low wind:P

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Rad Lad said...

No such thing as 100% wave sailor.

ooohhhh I dunno. In Geraldton it would be pretty close.........

Geraldton has waves???

I lashed out and bought a 120 litre board and 7.4 m sail for those 10 - 15 knot conditions when its too windy for SUP and too light for the wave board.

I'm enjoying it. I get to sail when I am hanging out for one, plus it reminds me of my dinghy days. And its improved my gybing. Maybe I'll yet learn to tack (never got round to that all those years ago). Plus I plane faster than the kiters. Satisfaction.

All up, I'm for it.

DEpends how much windsurfing you want to do?

For me there arent enough good down the line wavesailing conditions on offer throughout a year, and I need to sail regularly, so the flat water gear gets me sailing at least 4x per week. Great wavesailing conditions have happened a couple of days in each month in perth this summer, that would drive me insane. I need heaps of Time on Water, work out what your needs are?

On a 3 week holiday overseas I had access to some full-on slalom gear of the old days: 90L F2 Sputnik and a pryde Z1 7m (most of the time there was a good 18knts), loved blasting around as fast as I could and refining the big lay down gybes.
When you pick up wave gear again it seems so easy to slash the s**t out of any bump in your way