Hi Jeff, welcome to SB and the sport of windsurfing. I was in your situation 18 months ago and have changed boards and gear all the way through so I have a fair idea what works at beginining and onwards etc.

As you have probably already found out, there are lots of different styles and sizes of boards and sails as well as terminology that is confusing. Don't worry though, the more you research and ask questions the more it will start to make sense.

As a general guide I would suggest being prepared to invest in and change gear as you progress. Windsurfing has fairly steep learning curve at the start but having gear suited to that stage will make an enormous difference to how quickly you learn and how much fun you have. There really isn't any point trying to learn on gear that you plan to be using after you have learned the basics.

With that, board wise, bouyancy and width are your friends. Both will contribute to the stability of the board. Bouyancy is represented by Litres or Lt and in the beggining 60-70 lts of positive bouyance, or more even, when compared to your weight is recommended. I would also highly reccomend as wide a board as possible. I started with an old, but very bouyant, skinny board, and while it was ok, the newer board I next purchased was far far better and easier.

The big board brands have specialised boards for all types which will fit the bouyancy, width, and robustness requirements for your learning as well as an optional centre board which will help with stability and upwind sailing. Boards like Starboard Go, Jp Funster, etc.

Once you have the basic and intermediate skills then you can more easily pick gear that will suit your longer term prefered sailing style.