I wish to buy a windsurfing setup that will be easy enough to learn on but also good to keep for when I am good for in stronger winds up to 20notes.

I weigh 90kg with a fare bit of upper body strength.

I will be using it mostly in port philip bay.

I found a basic rule on the net that says you have double your weight to get the right board volume. This would mean I need a 200volume board?

Can any one advise me on what gear to start up with.

im 90 kegs, my first shortboard was 155L and was plenty big enough, and if you want to use it in 20+ kts you could even go smaller.... Maybe 130ish. You will outgrow a 180L board very quickly

Mobydisc said...

Not sure where that rule comes from. For your first try of windsurfing you need something as wide and big as possible. Something that resembles an aircraft carrier is the best. However you don't want to buy this board unless you see yourself teaching others and doing stuff like lightwind freestyle.

The purpose of this board is to give you a feeling for windsurfing rather than falling in the water every 20 seconds. Once you have the feeling of windsurfing and can sail out and get back to where you started from you could start to look for a smaller board. Possibly one around 160 liters would be a good first board for you if you want to get into shortboard windsurfing. The other option would be to look for a long board such as the Tabou Windstyler.

I think the rule for boards revolves around buoyancy. The rule is something like your body weight plus 30 to work out what board will float you. So a board around 120 litres will float you.

But don't go buying one of these until you can sail pretty well! I'm an intermediate and my 'big board' is + 60 of my weight & it is still wobbly in light winds so not suitable for a beginner.

my 90-kegs beginner mate uses a Starboard Go 155litres (about four years old now). it's got plenty of float for him, and actually can be sailled quite hard if you want to (although 20knots would be challenging on the size board). it's uber-wide and has quite a bit of nose, so it's very stable. this makes it easy to learn on, as the board won't pitch you off for putting a foot wrong.

the rule of thumb i was taught was take your weight in kgs, add ~20 for the rig = how many litres to float. the board i sail is 123lt, and although theoretically should be enough to float someone of your weight, you'd still find it frustrating as it is finely balanced - very sensitive to foot pressure and will throw you if you don't get it right.

the best part about my mate's Go? Surprisingly light, but bullet-proof. go ahead and catapult the boom hard into the nose of the board and you'll bounce off without a dent (you're more likely to be dented than the board!). extremely durable, and for a beginner, you need that! that durability should translate into the board holding its value as well for when you outgrow it!

thanks everyone for the info on what board to start on. I'll be looking out for a big board.