Looking for help choosing the right volume for my next board

[3-phase]

In a place like your's I would sail a 140/125 liter Slalom board like AHD SL1
and a 93/103 B&J board like the AHD new Rebound, this pretty much covers you from 12 to 30 miles wind. I am 195 lb. The 140/103 will make every day a fun day as the early planning of the 140 is amazing it can carry a 9+ sail easy.

Where do you sail we may have a demo board there for you to try.

Jurg

www.kasail.com
www.a-h-d.com
www.windsurfdeal.com

[greyghost]

hey all, thanks again for the input. Very helpful.

I sail mainly at Kalmus mainly because my parents live near there. However, I live in Central Mass so am looking at places that are a little closer like Pleasure Bay in South Boston or Duxbury Beach.

Sounds like something in the 130-140 range would be perfect and that 145+ won't gain me much except extra weight etc and a 125 too small. Now the search begins, ha!

SWChandler: The Mistral is indeed from 1991-3 or so, and thinking about it, you're correct, that fin is pretty small relatively speaking. I can't recall the exact cm's off hand.

thanks again!

[d0uglass]

Greyghost-

For 9.0, you want to make sure whatever board you get is fairly wide, especially at the back footstraps, and that the sail range of the board goes to at least 9.0, preferably a little beyond. (As you know now, a board can feel awkward when you get to the upper end of it's supposed sail range.)

Also, you can't always tell just by volume if a board will feel good with a 9.0. Like with the Futura, a 133 would hold a 9.0 great, but with the Rocket you'd need the 145 size.

Big boards won't really work for jumping, but you can go FAAAAST.

-James

[jingebritsen]

See the Windsurfing Magazine Board Test August 2009 issue. The boards I liked best were oriented a bit on the flatter rocker and racier. Too much double concave too far aft makes for a sucky board for east coasters.

Gotta get something that breaks free onto a plane. Out west, in a more powerful wind venue, esp, the double concaves aft hulls may be an asset in rougher water. Still, they tend to top out at lower speeds. E,F, M, and T all had the early planing marks from the stand point of where I'm coming from. I tend to use a 7.5 sail in 8.5 to 6.5 winds. So a board has to be good at pumping onto a plane under powered then stay in control really maxed out. That shortens the list of boards that I like pretty quickly.

BTW, volume has become ever more unimportant in using for boards sizes. Width ends up being more so. Also, that bottom, if done wrong for your winds can be something to really watch out for. Seen some 125 liter boards out plane/perform 140's.....

[3-phase]

John from Airotech/Exocet,

""Too much double concave too far aft makes for a sucky board for east coasters.""

Please explain that a bit more and detailed for me and some interested Windsurfers especially why will be a difference on the west or east coast. I am sure I can learn something that makes me a better sailor.

Jurg

www.kasail.com
www.a-h-d.com
www.windsurfdeal.com

[greyghost]

sorry, don't know much about board shaping/concaves here, LOL.

found a 2006 Carve Woody 145 locally

sounds like it'd be a little a tad big for my needs, but perhaps I could get that as my only light wind board and sell the mistral.

Maybe too big a gap between 145 and 103, maybe not? But as people have said, perhaps the best way to maximize my time on the water?

thanks again for the advice

[jingebritsen]

Double concaves giveth and taketh away. Stability in high winds for a lack of a cleaner planing release. Picking on the Carves of old or the AHD Free Diamond 77 for example. They never allowed for pumping onto a plane with a barely big enough sail or fin. Combo of too much rocker and double concaves do that esp bad. The way most have over come that set of liabilities is with more sail/fin. After some adaptive sessions, lots of folks never could tell the difference until their equipment finally wore out, and they've moved on. Some still consider the newer gear to be too powerful.

Some cases, people seek out to repeat the very attributes most pro's come to avoid. Mainly, because they think their old schticks were as good as it gets. Double concaves make a board adhere to the water too much at the expense of top end speeds, and early planing. East Coast sailors seem to have a less dense wind or something, since we end up using sails of much larger size even with larger, wider and more efficient hull designs. Dunno why, it just is.

Wind strengths E vs W. Example, friend of mine has been sailing in Maui for the past 2.5 months. Ge's been using a 3.7 to 4.2 in winds hovering around 25-35. Same winds here, he'd be on a 4.7 or 5.2. I'd be on a 5.0 to a 5.8. The wind is stronger over the Pacific? Dunno why, but it seems to be....

Another example Josh S. used an F2 Guerilla 88 for a couple of years. In the gorge it was quite the handful in those 28-48 mph dayz. Meanwhile, he'd be stuck with his Exocet Cross 118 over here in FL. The F2 suited him fine only very rarely when the wind was over 30 in FL. Strange but true. That very same F2 over in the Maui test was rarely used by the light weight testers. Too powerful was the simplest reason I could hear.

Clinical case after case, I've noticed over the years of where I'm sailing. The differences become very easy to spot. Maui/gorge specific stuff rarely gets used here in FL. Even when the sailor is willing to keep dragging it about. If the sailor only has that type of equipment here, they soon stop bothering to come to the beach.

I can't go any farther than those explanations. I get too much flack as it is anyway. Like politics, the truth deployed in the wrong way just backfires. Want more info? pm me.

[PeteCress]