I Need New Sail

[JohnPaulA]

I bought an 87 Naish Hawaii Pro Model, 89 litres 2 years ago. Im really pissed off that I only got to use it like 10 times. Hopefully this season wont suck ass in the geart lakes. Im looking for a sail to use in 20+ knotts .... any suggestions ??

I have a Neil Pryde 5.4 v5, but its sort of falling apart. Not sure whether to replace it or get a bigger or smaller sail for my board.

It would be kind of nice to extend the range of my board to marginal conditions, but I also want to tear it up when its going off.

Dam ... being in school sucks! I need money ... anyone want to sponsor me?? Im 6 feet tall, 180 lbs and 20 years old, 10K in debt. Engineering student. I want to go to Hawaii.

Anyways, this is my first post, and Im a little bitter because my snowboarding season went to shit. Went out something like 3 times. Once again, school really sucks. Take it easy on me.....

Keep it UnReal. Tournament that is.
Its all Ive been doing for fun lately. Oh and getting real drunk and partying. But dam I really want to sail ... AAAAHHHHHHHHHH ... stupid winter.

Later: thanks for the input

[OLAS!]

First when there is a will there is a way.


Where you live your 89ltr. Naish is as small (for your weight) as you should own in the Midwest, if you are staying there, get a 5.7 to 6.2 Camless Freeride OR Freestyle/Freeride Sail like an: Ezzy Infinity or Wave SE, Gaastra GTX, SailWorks Retro, Naish Edge. So when it kicks a solid 18-25mph you will be moving good and as your skills increase you should be able to hold it into the upper 20s-low 30s as long as you rig it right and the water is just choppy(1-3ft.)if its Swelly(3-6ft.) 18-25 will be Max.
And about your frustration with seasons(winter or summer)in the Midwest, you will endlessly continue to be aggravated by them, I lived there for 17 yrs.

So after learning to Windsurf & Snowboard I became even more frustrated by Weather there. All I can say is at your age you have more options than you know, get rid of as much stuff as you can(sell) except for your Car, clothes, Equipment(Boards,Sails,Bikes,Snowboards and related accessories)start looking for jobs out here in OR(the gorge)and as soon as school is done, MOVE HERE and live in your car or camp until you secure a Apt/Home, Roomates, and or Girlfriend etc.(A lot of people your age and younger, including many Pros did exactly that).
If you get Job at a Windsurfing Shop you will score Unreal deals on gear, that eventually youll need to sail all conditions available.(Your Naish will became your light wind board)
If you make out here this Summer you will sail at least 120-150x in powered conditions.
As for school, you can attend here and learn the same shit as you would there and pay the same price, the only major difference being that when you need a break to go boarding you will not believe it(Nov-Jun is excellent)as I write this it is Sunny and in the upper 60s in the Gorge and the upper 30s up at Timberline (6000ft) and we have 250in. base that will not dissapear til July, so while going to school you could put 20-40 days of Snowboarding.
Let alone Surfing or Windsurfing the Coast in the Summer or Mt.biking, Kayaking, Hiking whatever.
Time is of the Essence, Stop Procrastinating and just Do it, believe me you have more to gain than to loose, you will not regret it.

And about Maui, if you made it there you would love it, but its much harder to make a living(it has a lot $5hr. jobs) and go to school, every penny will go to feed yourself and pay rent, with $0 left to repair all the damage gear, let alone buy or replace any of it. The other thing is you will not get the most out of Maui conditions unless you have a lot more experience in the water, most tourists go there and mainly Bump&Jump on the inside and briefly play in the waves a 1/4mi. offshore,Thats not Wave Sailing. To really do it like you have seen in the Magz. or Vids you need exceptional skills that take Yrs. to develop so you can take advantage of the waves you see.
If thats your ultimate goal good than use OR as a stepping stone.


Good Luck, Olas! to you

[JohnPaulA]

Thanks a lot for all the advice man. I really appreciate it. I live in Toronto, Ontario right now and Im going to school for Aerospace Engineering at The University of Toronto. Probably the best program in Canada. http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/apsc/engsci/ I usually sail on Georgian Bay, it only gets good rarely, but when it does, theres nowhere else Id rather be. Im doing a trip to the West Coast this summer, and I will definately be checking out the George along the way. Just to get a taste of what its like before I think about relocateing.

The 5.7 - 6.2 range sounds good, but the three times when its really blowing, I can see myself getting malled. I really havent reached the level of sailing I should be at right now because last May - Sept, I had a really crapy full time job. I was used to spending most of my summers on the water.

Id really like to live down there but my parents would probably kill me. I guess there is a real price to pay to be happy.

How old are you? What are you doing for a living over there? and was It worth leaving all of your frinds and family?

Later,

JP Adamovsky

[OLAS!]

Hey JP,

I did not know you were attending a specialized school, definitely stay and finish it.(specially if your parents are footing the bill)
Now going back to my recomended sail sizes,I know that when it really blows you might struggle with a 5.7 or larger, but dont get a smaller sail for those 2 or 3 days, I made the same mistake and missed out a bunch of days or sailed them underpowered because of small sails, the sails I recomended are tiny (in general) for the midwest, unless you move out here for the summer then get a 4.7 and 4.2 and a smaller board also.
You can still spend Summer or part of it here(even if you live on a shoe string budget for 1 or 2 mo.)this way you get to check the place out for a while not just a week or two, make friends and sail your ass off.
In the 1 or 2 Mo. you will sail more 4.7 and 4.2 days than you would in 8yrs. at home, most guys that come out here for the Summer get away with a board: in the 83-84 / 76-80ltr. range and two sails 4.7 and 4.2, you can often sail a Dawn Patrol 2 or 3hrs. then go to work and if you have the energy put in another 2 or 3 before Sunset an average of 3 to 4 days a week but sometimes for 10 days straight, and all this while working nearly fulltime.

When I lived in the Chicago Area I mostly sailed small lakes, but when Lake Michigan lit up it was awesome, as good as some of the better days in the Gorge.
As you notice that I said WHEN the lake lit up, it was so once in while that when it happened and my schedule did not allow me to get some, I stressed or if I did get to go either one of these scenarios would play out: 1) Not having sailed Hi-Winds for some time it was hard trying to figure the correct settings for everything, so I would sail somewhat out of control and kind of fighting my gear all along, making the session very annoying.

Or 2)I would get lucky and everything would work pretty good, the day would end up being so good that I would obviously want more, but I would rarely see another day like it that season or the next, so it could be a yr. or more before the next memorable session.
So at that rate I would never learn to sail Hi-Winds, jibe, jump or swell and wave ride.
I came out here on vacation and decided this was the place and just did it, friends and family tried to talk me out of it, but what I realized was they all were scared of the idea of moving and not following typical protocol(I was supposed to do the same routine that everybody does:school,career job,wife,kids,retire and die; with the occasional vacation here and there)To me it seemed boring as hell, why not do that routine,(if that is what you are looking forward too)in a more rewarding and beautiful environment.
So I just did it, and dont regret it, its been tough at times but I made the decision to come out here not based on what my family wanted or what my friends thought, its my life.

Its not written anywhere but everybody expects you to do the same as them, the world would not be what it is if everybody did exactly as told, there would be no advances in any field and the whole population of earth would be in one location following the same routine.
Obviously a lot of people said **** it, but most are still afraid.

My age? I am more than double your age.

Hey let me know when you are going to be out here, and if I have a chance I will show you around or give you some tips on where to go and what to check out.

Later

[mastfoot]

dude check out the NPR guy in the classified section I got a 55 koa for $150