Windsurfing and fat bastards

[stringp]

Increasingly envious of the 150 pounders that can zip around on small sails and boards. At 205 pounds I'm on large boards and sails the size of Rode Island. The large boards tend to beat you to death. Ready to pitch it all and kite full time. What have the rest of you fat bastards out there done?

[GarryW]

I have 6.2 and 5.4 wave sails along with a 106 ltr freewave board. I also have a fin quiver that includes a 28cm and 32cm fin.

[dllee]

You're tiny, but living on the East Coast, maybe too big.
My windsurf bud living with me was 275 lbs., and 5'9". By his third year, he was timed faster than Roddy Lewis, Laird, and Freddy at the Ponds Speed trials.
Dave Leahrs was 6'4" and 245, another regular bud.
Ferris Hamilton was 6'3" and 235.
Bob Bogdanovich was 5'7" and 235.
Victor Zuffla was 6'3" and 200.
Jeff Bayles was 6' and 192.
All guys I regularly sailed with, who could sail any day I could, and were always a bit faster in the gusts.
I"m 5'10" and 145 lbs.
Bigger plows thru chop, even with much bigger flatter boards, because bigger is heavier. Bigger allows carrying a bigger sail, which is heavier and blows thru chop with hardly a care.
Bigger is normally faster, except for Glen McKinley and me.
And bigger jibes better, because chop is smaller for bigger guys.
But go kiting if you need that. I did for one year.

[stringp]

You must sail some where windier than my site. Stevenson is my best option due to work. When it's blowing 20 there (which is a lot of the time) I'm on 115 to 122 liters with sails from 6.2 to a sailworks 7.1 NX that must weigh 20 pounds.

[isobars]

At 205 the biggest board I used was 96 liters, and then only when the wind was full of gaping holes. The vast majority of my sailing @ 205 was on 75-80 liters and sails from 5.2 to 4.2. I don't sail if the average is < 21, simply because I need that much to plane consistently with my biggest sail, a 6.2, and wave boards. I'd plane much earlier on slalom boards, but they aren't my cup of tea.

I'm down to 170# now, and not much has changed regarding my gear. I still consider 20 mph average and 6.2 sq meters too much work on a sub-100-litre board, and very seldom bother with bigger boards or flatter water.

Bottom line: work less, drive more, lose weight, and/or accept the results. All three are choices we make every day, month, and season, based within reason (6'6" and 160# is a mismatch, but 10% body fat is within reach of any guy) on our preferences. I was stronger at 205 because I lost muscle with the fat dropping to 170, but I still have all the strength I need for WSing, and my gym performance tallies don't matter on the water.

[dllee]

You're in the Gorge?
I"m in San Francisco, mostly Larkspur and Crissy Fields those years.
We hardly ever get winds over 27 mph, so a little tyke like me, biggest sail for years was a 5.7 and a 90 liter board.
I thought the Gorge was windier. Is Stevenson out by HomeValley? Where the river is wider and the wind is lighter?

[isobars]

Stevenson wind statistics show it to be among the Gorge's windiest venues year in and year out .. on average. If a person is confined to sailing statistics rather than cherry picking, Stevenson (or Viento) are good bets. If, OTOH, they try harder to find better wind, it's available. It all boils down to one's priorities, and maybe kiting IS the best solution for some individuals.

After all, it is often calm in Portland, breezy at Stevenson, and windy in Hood River ... as Andreas Macke finally realized, to his chagrin after sticking his wet finger in the air year after year when working in Portland during the prime east wind season each Fall, when we were wearing board shorts and sailing 3.2s in the heat (or shorties later in the Fall) at Stevenson. Of course, on those days, it's also calm in Hood River, so one has to be alert and flexible.

Then there are the hard core days in the dead of winter when Stevenson flat-out ROARS, but that's Deadliest Catch stuff, and them orange suits look cumbersome.

[starfish]

Accept it and go with kiting in light wind. I am also 205 and hate sailing my 5.2 and 94 liter freestyle wave. It just beats your knees and hips.
The only bummer with kiting in hood river is the crowd. Too many people like me trying to learn at the event site.
If you see yogi or bob send them up here.

[dllee]

Yogi is a confirmed kite boarder the past 5 years, even kiteboards at Rod and Gun.
Most of the old windsurfer's of Larkspur, Rod&Gun, and Tomales became kite boarders, including KennyHartz, MikeWhite, KenBoyd, BobStevens, and several other's.
Boggy tried kiteboarding, but his shoulder's are his weak link, especially lifted upwards, so he barely windsurfs nowadaze. I got two of his higher wind boards, the Tiga 90 and the Naish 8'5".

[starfish]

Yeah I knew bob was retired from windsurfing/kiting. Jeff posted on face book once that he was a kiter. And mike white was just starting to kite when I escaped California. Miss some of the people but not the place.