Back to the Future/Long boards

SeaDawg · Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 384

Well, I jumped in and bought a Starboard Serenity. My 1st atemped to sail it left me a good deal humbled. It was a good bit more than optimum wind. 14-16mph. I used a Ezzy Wave 6,3. I managed a beach start, the fin was a 46cm weed . The launch was Waves SoundSide OBX.

The board is a real thouhbred, just sheet in and off it goes, I tried all afternoon and coudn't tack it or gybe it. Not quite as bad as my 1st day with a sailboard 30yrs ago but damn near.

This week the wind is supposed to be 20+ all week so I don't think I'll try the Serenity until the wind gets below 10.

Sort of feels like the 1st day of school. I was looking for a new sailing experience and challange......

tstar · Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 46

Get a stand-up paddle board with a mast insert. You won't need a center board if you have sail with a deep draft/long boom. You will use it more then you would have ever imagined. Surf, Sail and Paddle. It's all about the time on the water.

DanWeiss · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 2296 Location: Connecticut, USA

DanWeiss · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 2296 Location: Connecticut, USA

SeaDawg · Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 384

On my 1st session I was hooked in and riding the fin. I had spent at least 10yrs sailing my mid 80's equipe. I really was looking for something differant in my longboard experience.

My son jumped on the board the next day with the same 6.3 in about 5knts of wind and he was ghosting along real nicely. The kid even tacked it on his 1st try. Nice to be young and fit.

BTW, I did buy the Woodie from Andy at Sailworld, so if it's a prototype that's cool with me. I had Curtis Hesselgrave make me a shallow water fin for my Free Formula 198. It's 46cm with a wide chord almost looks like a sweeper with a bit of cut out at the base.

The fin I had used was a 46cm Fox Weed and it worked very well on the sound.

The board is going to be perfect for those hot summer days with light winds and it doesn't matter how much I fall in while trying to come about.

Drink up! Yo,Ho!!!

swchandler · Joined: 08 Nov 1993 Posts: 10588

Well SeaDawg, I also bought a Serenity that I've only used once so far, and like you, I was humbled. However, much of this was due to the fact that the wind died on me after my first run out, so getting back in was a bit tough.

What was so difficult for me was the uphauling. I hadn't uphauled in years, and I found that my lower back really can't handle it so well, at least in my current condition. After the brief session, my lower back was sorely tweaked for about a month. So, it's quite clear to me that I will need to better condition my frame to handle the strain.

SeaDawg · Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 384

The Serenity purchase also had an element of making an attempt to getting into better physical condition. I plan on using a smaller spoon at meal time and all the dunking should help the mahogany stains on my elbows if you cacth my drift.

My 1st uphaul was also something of a shocker. Sorry to hear about your back 800mg of Motrin twice a day knocks the edge off my back problems.

On my 1st session with the Serenity the stillness of the board really masked the real speed through the water, and lordy! how it steams upwind is amazing!

That may be part of the learning curve in tacking, it carrys so much speed and points so much higher that I probably wasn't close enough to the neutral point to step around the mast.

I'm figuring on sail-splash, sail-splash for quite a few sessions.

OliverTwist · Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 211

I bought a used Kona One this winter and had my first session on it today in very gusty Lake conditions. It was cycling between white caps and calm. I was able to make it to the windward side of the Lake and had some good runs. I never would have made it upwind on my JP Excite or Formula. My IMCO would make it, but the Kona is much more stable. It's a great board.

jingebritsen · Joined: 21 Aug 2002 Posts: 3371

I'd like to see more long boards oriented to offering both good sailing and wave sailing. The paddle thing is a whole other sport. The stuff that's on the mkt now outside of RRD, and Kona tends to be way better at paddling and not so fantastic, yet passable as a sailor. Doesn't that lead our base away from sailing? How is that strong for our sport? Shouldn't there be more long boards made for fantastic performance with a sail rather than a paddle?

If the wind was side off and wave periods were very long, then sure a surf oriented board may be fine for a sail. How does that analogy go? In a nation of the blind, the one eyed man is king. If no one has any idea about the difference between these 2 classes, how will anyone ever find out? Seen it, time and again, folks are only as knowledgible about stuff like this by lots of comparisons. Not many get the opp to ever do the trials. Those that do often get slammed for voicing their views....

Some higher profile folks in the wind business hardly sail anymore because of this focus on paddling. Shouldn't we all lead by example? Esp those making a living at sailing.

SeaDawg · Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 384

I mess around with all types of water craft from my clasic Chris Craft to a cool sail boat called a Tasar (sort of hi-performance of Laser II).

The SUP just hasn't captured my interest. My mid 80's Equipe would do about 90% of the SUP and in some cases perform much better. I never tried to SUP the board but I spent hundreds of hours of sailing 15-25 and rode a gazillion waves with it.

I always felt that a good longboard and a shortboard with a 3 sail Quiver would take care of at least 80% of most sailors needs. Most sailors, being the ones that don't sail the Gorge, Maui. ot the OBX on a regular basis.

My two most recent purchases were the Serenity and Exocet S Cross 130, I'm thinking 5.3. 7.2 and 8.5 should cover most of my needs.