hi all, know a lot of you also windsurf so thought it would be a good place to look for advice.

i want to start windsurfing for those days when its too windy for the rs300. looking at getting some kit (good quality but dont want to spend too much if possible)

is there any kind of board/ sail size i should be looking for? ideally thinking a kit as i wouldnt know how to match seperate bits together. i have windsurfed once in the carribean and got on fairly well (could gybe/ tack)

was looking at this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mistral-Windsurfing-Board-Sail_W0QQitemZ110229379893QQihZ001QQcategoryZ117171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mistral-Windsurfing-Board-Sail_W0QQite mZ110229379893QQihZ001QQcategoryZ117171QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem

but not sure if the sail would be to big to (continue) learning on.

alternatively if anyone has old kit then let me know.

thanks tom

will this depend on weight??? if so, im almost 11stone. but i should be steadily gaining weight.

i was thinking of possibly getting just the one sail (as advertised) then buying/ trading/ selling etc once i know what i want/ need. i wont just use it when its to windy for the 300 but whenever i can tbh.

Um yes but also strength and experience.. And fitness I guess too..

I can't get on ebay, what size sail comes with it?

Maybe try other peoples equipment for different wind strengths and see what size sail you want from that.

I've got a nice Tushingham carbon mast (40%) in really good nick that I can do you a good deal on.

Also, gathering dust in my garage is a 5.2m2 sail.  Also hardly ever used - I'm far to heavy.

Message me if you're interested.  I need to start clearing out toys that I don't use that much!!!

Tom,

 I personally wouldn't recomend that board for a newbie to the sport. Nowadays most boards are going short and fat because width mean stabillity. Older boards like the mistral flow are very narrrow and reasonable heavy. Each litre of volume in a board can carry 1kg of man and a oldish rig can weigh about 20kg (ish?)  so that doesn't leave much weight for the rider (you). Also from experience of the flow it has very sharp rails meaning had to carve and not as smooth planing also it has less volume by the straps where you want it and more up front becuse of the long nose.

Also i reckon the sail will be on the large side for contidions when its too windy for the 300. I use a 5.8m in anything between F4-6 and a 4.7 for F6+

I weigh 10stone 2, and had just about float around on a 104L board and i also have a 111L slalom (very, very short and wide!) board. I use between my 4.7m sail and my whopping 8.9m which is a heavy beast.

Mark

thanks for the advice everyone. so am i looking for an older or younger board than that? or just a wider one?

what sort of volume does the board want to be (if im say 75kg to be safe) - about 105 - 115?

and then what sort of size sail? if i can get a board to match how does ASok's mast/ sail look for a beginner?

thanks tom

I'd reckon to start off with a 2004 ish onwards 120/125L board... probably like a JP xcite ride or a Tabou Rocket

Sail sizes are probably best to start with about a 5m and same age ish sail.

I'd recomend gettting down your local windsurf shop and asking a few questions, or maybe ask some more experienced windsurfers at boards.com

Hope this helps,

Mark.

no, im located in north wales. ideally im looking at spending £200 - 300 at a push (?).

would it be worth looking at EX centre boards etc?

do centreboards really make that much difference as the one i learnt on just had the fin (skeg?)

tom

The board I used to have was a BIC Veloce 298.  It was 130litres ish from memory.  I found it good fun, but it was fairly narrow compared to the more recent styles of boards - this means you spend a lot of time getting used to riding something with lower stability and a bit of time in the water!

I've been windsurfing on lots of other kit.  More recently a Neilson break and found that wide and bouyant are loads more fun.  They are very forgiving and are all about just having fun.  I think they were Starboards that I was using.  Can't remember the volume, but they wouldn't have been lower than 130 -140litres.

I haven't sailed a board with a daggerboard in years.  Going up wind on a wider board is a bit more difficult, but then I was told to really sink the windward rail and it seemed to click.

The sails I most regulary used was 6.5 - 7.5m2.  I always found that bigger was better for me.  I weigh about 95kg and only ever wanted to blast in a straight line!!

I'm sure that someone else can offer better advice, but there's my penny's worth!

Originally posted by radixon Originally posted by Kudlinski I hate to say it but would a fanatic viper suit, higher volume and wide with a daggerboard, or am I just getting boring Not boring, sensible. If you have one, first dibs, pm me, if you don't then yes thats the right category.

nah dont have one but learnt on them, nice stable and floatey.

I have - I'll dig around the garage and pm you the details if you're interested.