Hi Yall,
I am thinking of dabbling in the waves. I currently have more Slalom gear, the closest I have to wave ish gear would be 2014 JP Magic Ride 104 lt and a 6.1 Fusion Neil Pryde Sail. If I put a wave fin on this board would I be able to ride a wave, the board is pretty easy to turn? If not what sort of gear would be good starting wave gear, bearing in mind I don't want to spend a packet, am 78kg intermediate slalom kind of sailor. I live in Perth so waves are pretty scarce so prob start sailing at Dutch Inn with the view to doing some trips to Lancelin? Thanks in anticipation.

At first you don't want wave gear really, as it is too hard to get going - unless you do all the windy days for one summer on the river on wave gear to get used to it, then go out in waves.
The other way is to ride small freeride or FSW on the ocean and gradually start using the waves. That is what you will be doing on at JP.


Dutchies is an awesome place to start as you have no shore break and a good run up before the waves.

A Magic Ride is not turny (trust me, once you get on a wave board you will know ) but is just fine for the first foray into waves. Reason I say that is you will want to get used to ocean sailing with rolling swells long before you actually try to get on a wave and sail it.
Advantage is it comes with powerbix so you can put a FSW or large fin in it.
A 29-30cm FSW fin would be tops, will still plane just fine (as long as you are not using at the bottom end of its range) and make it turn a bit better.
For jumping a Magic Ride would be awesome at Dutchies.

So if you are 78kg look for a 16-20kn day at dutchies, bung on a 5.0 or 5.3 (???) and just do it.

Hey Mark, cheers that's great info, good to know Dutchies is a good place to learn. I did a sail there a couple of weeks ago just getting the feel for ocean. I am guessing winter is good for wave sailing there as there would be more swell?
Right so I will need a 5 or 5.3 wave sail and mast to suit as none seem to fit my 430 SDM mast, I have a 31 JP Freestyle wave fin. Looks like I just need to give it a crack.
Thanks heaps.

Lancelin main break is probably a good spot to learn to wave ride, you'll need smaller gear probably, at the very least a smaller sail. Plenty of very cheap or free stuff knocking about. I just gave away a wave board and some wave sails so keep your eyes peeled in the free stuff thread.

Cheers Zed, would you recommend any particular type of wave sail and board for a newby to the waves?

As Mark said a FSW (FreeStyleWave) JP, RRD, Tabou Starboard etc. Have a look around do some net surfing and research the brands. Most boards post 2005 are pretty good. look for something 20L above your body weight and then when you progress you'll look for something 10L above or less.

Starboard Kode, Kombat
JP FSW
RRD FSW
Tabou 3S

At 78kg i'd be looking for something 92-98L. Personally i wouldn't go anything larger because you'll progress and want to change down. and sails as Mark mentioned 5.0 - 5.4. Sails have a pretty big wind range these days. Look for an all rounder and ensure the mast you have are compatible with the sail you purchase.

There are a few threads on compatibility just spend some time in the search engine. The season is near end so probably plan for the next

i'm not expert but from the advice that was provided to me and my experience this is what i know.

Have fun

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Chickenlips said..
Cheers Zed, would you recommend any particular type of wave sail and board for a newby to the waves?

Really depends on budget, where you are going to sail and what kinds of conditions you are going to go out in. A 90l board is big, but will mean you can sail in light conditions as well as windy, also if you are new to waves the extra volume will be handy. Also if you get a newish quad it will handle a lot better than a single fin 90l from a few years ago. I just picked up a mint condition 2014 RRD wave cult for $750, so you don't have to spend a fortune. Ultimately you'll probably want 2 wave boards, a smaller board for when it's windy. My two wave boards are 76l and 92l.

sail wise, well I sail newish Blades which are great, but I had to use a 10 year old NP sail recently while my sail was repaired and it handled pretty well. So if you are on a budget, you could probably pick up older sails, 4, 5 years old for a song as long as they haven't been hammered or repaired. If the monofilm is shagged, stay away. Also helps if u can find one with xply like the blades, you will spend a bit of time getting catapulted into the sail so will need the strongest sail possible! If u let us know your budget we can have a look on buy and sell and make some recommendations. There is some awesomely cheap stuff knocking about at the moment.

Lancelin and coronation beach are great places to start in the ocean. I found jumping easier to get started with than wave riding. Great thing about lancelin is you can sail around on the flat bay, progress to few runs through the channel to get used to swell and then gradually shift south to start getting into the break, for either jumps or rides. Corronations is great to learn jumping because the waves get bigger as you go out, so you can turn around when they reach your limit. You can litterally choose from a ripple to mast high, all on the same day in the same place. Just wait until you hear the freight train chasing you. You will never forget it.

best advice i can give is avoid places with a shore break (like leightons) until you get used to it. Also i would definetely recommend using any new gear on the river first. You dont want to be in ocean swell as a newbie with harnes lines in the wrong spot, wrong boom height, tight foot straps and mast base all wrong on the smallest board you have ever been on. Also practice a self rescue. A lot easier to figure out how to roll up a sail and get it all on board and ready to paddle on the river, rather than at 6pm, 2km off shore in a 6 foot swell. You will probably decide to ditch your rig and save your life, if that happems, but knowing whats involved will make your decission easier.

Ps i am a pretty hopeless wave sailer and havent done it for 15 years.

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Vince68 said..
As Mark said a FSW (FreeStyleWave) JP, RRD, Tabou Starboard etc. Have a look around do some net surfing and research the brands. Most boards post 2005 are pretty good. look for something 20L above your body weight and then when you progress you'll look for something 10L above or less.

Starboard Kode, Kombat
JP FSW
RRD FSW
Tabou 3S

At 78kg i'd be looking for something 92-98L. Personally i wouldn't go anything larger because you'll progress and want to change down. and sails as Mark mentioned 5.0 - 5.4. Sails have a pretty big wind range these days. Look for an all rounder and ensure the mast you have are compatible with the sail you purchase.

There are a few threads on compatibility just spend some time in the search engine. The season is near end so probably plan for the next

i'm not expert but from the advice that was provided to me and my experience this is what i know.

Have fun

Cheers Vince, I did the Starboard "find your board" search and it came up with Kode. They look nice but I wont be buying a new one. I also like the look of the 3s but I guess it depends on what I can get my hands on for a decent price. I have noticed that the more wave orientated boards have "Surfboard" type fins so compatability of fins to my current gear gets a bit irelavent. I will take note on board size so generally something about the 90lt to start with. My windsurf "dealer" has said that the Atlas would be a good sail to start with as its stable for a wave sail. I have noticed quite a lot of crew at Safety Bay using them so they must be a decent ocean sail. I'm pumped to get into it. Thanks heaps for all of your tips, everyone has different experiences and tips and they all add up to me having a bit more confidence when starting out. I have been doing a bit of ocean sailing to the end of this season and am loving it. Certainly a lot different to the river and a whole lot less gusty which is a nice change.

Yeah the kode have replaced the kombat so to research the Kombart you'll need to go in archives pre 2009 i think. The Atlas is a good sail. I have a 5.4 and 5.8. I don't use the 5.4 because i have a 5.0 and that and the 5.8 fill the gap. So if your interested in a 5.4 Atlas PM me.

Also when i was carrying 78kg of ballast myself i was using my Starboard Kombat (2007) 87L awesome board for waves and bump & jump. which i still have not being used. Ive lost a couple of kg's now down to 72 and progressed to a multi fin board Tabou pocket wave 2014 80L. Love this board and my 96L RRD FSW. So if you're interested in having a look at the board, even if it just to gauge an idea, PM me. and maybe take it for a burn across the water.

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Vince68 said..
Yeah the kode have replaced the kombat so to research the Kombart you'll need to go in archives pre 2009 i think. The Atlas is a good sail. I have a 5.4 and 5.8. I don't use the 5.4 because i have a 5.0 and that and the 5.8 fill the gap. So if your interested in a 5.4 Atlas PM me.

Also when i was carrying 78kg of ballast myself i was using my Starboard Kombat (2007) 87L awesome board for waves and bump & jump. which i still have not being used. Ive lost a couple of kg's now down to 72 and progressed to a multi fin board Tabou pocket wave 2014 80L. Love this board and my 96L RRD FSW. So if you're interested in having a look at the board, even if it just to gauge an idea, PM me. and maybe take it for a burn across the water.

Just PM'd you.