Can anyone give me some direction on what size board that I should be looking at.I am 99kg and have been out of the sport for approx ten years.I really would like to have the security of uphauling until my mind and body get back into it.When I was windsurfing a few years back waterstarting/gybing etc were not a problem.I have brought a mistral with about 105 litres volume and 273 in length.The first time out was a challange to say the least.I found uphauling the board a real challange and am now thinking that the board is a bit to small volume wise.If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

Regards Robin

For neutral flotation you will need one litre for every kilo. So if the board is 8kg, you are 99kg and your rig 5, then the board will have to have 112L for you to be able to float statically.
Then you need to consider how much reserve buoyancy you need (if any). Learn to waterstart and you will need very little reserve buoyancy. Every additional litre of reserve buoyancy will make uphauling and slogging easier.
The answer to your question needs to take into account your skill level and ambition. 99L is too little, look for something around 130Lto make your life easier until you get back into things.

JB

I am the same weight. My biggest board is 125Lt and 80 wide. I recently got back into teh sport after a big layoff like yourself. Uphauling on anything smaller will be difficult. I agree with Vando that about 125-130 would be a good size. I comfortably uphaul on this board. I also have a 105lt board and DO NOT uphaul on this board for fear of playing submarine. Hope this helps.

eat a steak, a few packets of chips, drink heaps of beer, then you can ask the same question for a 100kg sailor, maybe that will widen the choice hold onto those double digits bro!

OK to add to your confusion...... are you sure you need to uphaul just because you've been out of it a while?
I quit sailing for about 5yrs due to injury... prior to that I was on sinker wave gear and had sailed for about 5yrs.

When I came back to the sport after the 5yr break I really was worried that it would not be like riding a bike and so I was all set to get bigger freeride type gear (but really really hoping that I would not have to trade it in after 2 sessions!).

Lots of advice later and I was told to get on what I sailed before. Man I'm glad I did. Waterstarts and getting planing were piece of cake, and it took me about 5 or 6 runs to get my gybes again.

If you say "gybes were no problem" I'm guessing you were not an intermediate. Grab a 5 or 6 y/o Carve 111 - 123 and a 6.0 in 15-18kn and you'll be away (cheaply too)

md74 said...

eat a steak, a few packets of chips, drink heaps of beer, then you can ask the same question for a 100kg sailor, maybe that will widen the choice hold onto those double digits bro!

I have done all of the above and yep I will hold on to the double digits!!