Need help in buying gears for Palo Alto

[michael69]

OK, I think I am finally ready to venture out of Shoreline. I can plane and occasionally waterstart but wind there is just too weak for me to practice more consistently. So I am looking to buy some new gears for mostly Palo Alto (because of proximity). What size board and sail would you recommend? Would 110L board and 6.0 sail be right? I saw another poster say 6.8 is more typical. I am confused. I weigh 165lb. I currently own a 148L Bic and a 8.0 sail.

And I take it that 3rd/Coyote requires a different set of gears than PA, right?

If you happen to have a suitable board or rig to sell, let me know also.

TIA.

[hemmy007]

if you do not want that much gear, get a five.eight and a four.seven or five.OH, then you can sail 95% of the time and have gear you can take to other places other than PA.

When PA is good, you will be on five.five or smaller at your weight.

Get a good, all around convertible board that will be easy to learn to jibe on and plan quickly, with good float to get you home, say a F2 Style 108 to 120L (or a board with similar shape). As you get better you will see that at your weight you can uphaul a 85L or smaller board.

See you down at the dock when the ML pushes past the SM bridge.
Love the mid-summer PA when you can trunk it, and it is only 10 mins from my house, used to be only four mins...

[Wind_Boarder]

We have a fun bunch of people at PA. 5.0 - 5.7 is a typical size with 6.5 on lighter days and 4.5 on stronger days. 8.0 is definitely big for typical winds but you can still use it on marginal days. I was using my NP 7.7 Saber (old Shoreline sail) yesterday and I was one of the only ones planing the whole time.

148 liters is on the larger side but PA is generally flatter than sites up north so it is still usable. There are some other people sailing here with boards of that size. A lot of our gang are using JP Freestyle 108/109 or 100 litre boards. Those are great boards for just about anything you want to do (except setting GPS records).

You can probably start by buying a smaller sail and getting used to the site.

Some of the guys around do have boards to sell so come by and chat with the guys.

Alak.

[DonORiordan]

Hi Michael.

I weigh about 170, and sail at PA on a 5.8 probably 50% of the time, 5.2 probably 30% of the time, and there still would be a fair amount of days when a 6.5 is more appropriate or (rarely at this time of year) a 4.5 is appropriate for my size

My board is a 105L RRD Twintip (a freestyle board), which I can uphaul if/when I need to, its certainly big enough for me. I'm an advanced to expert sailor. Some of the less experienced sailors (intermediate to advanced maybe) who are still working on their jibes etc would often sail a slightly larger setup (maybe 120L board and 6.3 sail) most of the time (when I'm on my 105/5..

Like Alak said, this is a fairly typical setup for PA, where the winds are usually a good deal stronger and steadier than the pond at Shoreline.
You'll probably also find if you ask around that some of the folks have some used gear for sale, and of course there is always the iwindsurf classifieds or new gear from Helm/Boardsports as a retail option

Make sure you learn about the PA tides, the mud, the channel. Best done by just hanging around during low tide situations and watching/talking with other sailors. If/when you do come sailing (and you will be very welcome to do so), the only other thing to watch out for is the so-called "dock etiquette". This basically means that the northern half of the dock is to be kept clear of equipment at all times to facilitate other sailors launching and (more importantly) landing. Clutter the south side instead and everyone will love you for it.

Looking forward to seeing you at PA!

D

[DonORiordan]

Just thinking a little further, your current board will probably do a little longer so that you have the option of a nice stable uphauling platform until you get your waterstarts fairly dialed. But you will definitely need a smaller sail. Something in the general vicinity of the 6.0 region should be good, so maybe a 5.5 and a 6.4 would be a good option for you. Depending on what deals you find and how much cash you have to squander, you could add a 5.0 to that also for the windier days. In my case, the quiver is 5.2, 5.8, 6.3 (and that was chosen because all these sails rig on my 430 mast), and also fit my boom i.e. I only need one mast and one boom 99% of the time for PA.

Note that you will find the step from a 148L Bic to a smaller board in the 100-110L range pretty abrupt. I can almost guarantee a few days of frustration while you learn to adjust as you complain that the smaller board wants to point straight upwind all the time. Happens to everyone, and there is a good scientific reason why. Once you get used to the 100-110 (and you will), you will find a similar "issue" when you transition down to a board in the 80L range. So just prepare yourself mentally for this, and don't think you got a "bad board" or that the board "sucks" if you find it pointing straight upwind all the time while you make the transition. A few days of sailing and you will have it figured out and you will automatically adjust your stance etc. to deal with it.