85 L is way to small for learning. you need a old long board thats what i started on you can find em in the trading post or ebay for like 150 bucks. i found one for me cousin for that price not long ago. And the sail should be ok to use.

If your learner board is 85L, then...wow. That sucks - sell and start again.

The most important things are width and volume for a learner board. A daggerboard is pretty handy too as it lets you sail upwind more easily.

The first board I ever jumped on was a starboard start, at 210L and 94cm wide.
http://www.star-board.com/2009/pages/products/v_start.php
This board is way too big to be used after the first month or two.

My advice would be to firstly see if you can hire a similar board to the starboard start from a local windsurfing place for a few weels/months, as you'll move past the "absolute learner" phase pretty fast.

Otherwise check out a board such as the RRD evolution freeride
www.robertoriccidesigns.com/y14/#home.windSurfing.startAndRestart.360evolutionduratech
I used one of these to bridge the gap between the 200L board and my current 105L Tabou Rocket. It's pretty cool and I still use it (ever, ever so occasionally).

EDIT: Windwarming was suggesting a long board. My experience with longboards is that you probably don't want to learn on them because they're less technical to sail than a short board, so when you finally make the switch you will have to learn/relearn a lot of technique. My brother started to learn on a longboard soon after I started to learn on a shortboard and that's been my observation.

zues said...
thanks for the info i thought the weight factor would be the problem.. yes the buoyancy makes it alot harder to take off on a 85L. i quess i am learning the hard way,, i have done alot of sailing before i thought it can't be that hard but i was wrong with the board i have...
so would the sail i have be ok with a new board as long it around 4 years old?
or do i have to change the mast base as well?
finding a second hand board 130L + are not easy to find... but i will start looking out for one now.. thanks guys for your help putting me in the right direction..

A more modern board will most likely have a different mast track to the old board you have, so at worst you will need to buy a new mast base and mast extension. That'd probably run you for about $60 combined, so not too bad.

thanks swoosh.. the photos i have up is not what i use.. but i will take some photo's tomorrow to show you what i have..

hey looking at ya pic that is a long board and thats not 85 litres most waveboards are 85 litres thats more like over 200 hundred litres that should be ok to learn on just get some lessons

The most important thing to work out is what sort of windsurfing you want to do. If you are from coastal WA, have no kids, and can get down to the beach every time it blows you would need a very different board from the guy living in an east coast city with a 9-5 job, 2.4 kids, and lots of other commitments.

Do you want to go planing back and forth at your local spot, or do you want to get into waves, or cruising, or social racing, or ?????

All these things make a huge impact on the type of board best suited to you.

Wide boards can be great in some conditions (chop, open water, steady medium to strong winds) and not good in others (flat water, shifty winds, confined waters) where a longboard shines.

Having spent many years at both shortboards and longboards I'd actually say the longboard is much more technical, but you get a lot more time on the water if you live in a place like Sydney.

PS that 320 in your pic would be about 150-170L, at a guess. It's what was then called a funboard or short funboard; meant to be a hybrid between the longboards and shortboards. It's normally slower and always tippier than a longer board; faster in very light winds but slower in a breeze than a widestyle board and always tippier.

oh i was looking at the other one on ya profile

that base is transferable to any of the new style boards

Jason

AUS1111 said...

That board looks to be no more than 100 litres, and is WAY too small to learn on, unless you are exceptionally gifted. You need 150 - 160 litres minimum.

Even when you have mastered waterstarts and you are in the harness and footstraps, that will still be pretty much a high-wind (20knots+) board for you, so you would probably want something in the 110-120 litre range by then.

That mast base should go in pretty much any board by the looks.

thanks aus1111, yes i thought it would be around a 85L to 100L.. its very hard to keep balance... looks like i have to get a board around the 130L-160L mark... which is not easy to find..
thats good to know that i can still use my sail and mast on a different board.