[Closed] Talk to me about getting back into windsurfing... What do I need to know?

It is cold. Really cold.
There are 10 days sat waiting for wind and one day of fun.
It exists for one reason. The. Need. For. Speed.

I used to really enjoy it - could just about carve me a turn more often than not - great on days when the dinghies were starting to get overfaced....

I thought kitesurfing had pretty much killed windsurfing.

I thought kitesurfing had pretty much killed windsurfing.

Still a reasonable scene here on IoW, but def more kites.

FWIW the sea here is unseasonably warm at the moment, but I've still not been surfing since November.

That was my thought at Mui Ne - kitesurfers outnumber windsurfers about 200:1

...But kite surfing - although it looks fun - doesn't seem to be keepin' it real enough to me 😎

Besides - it seems bloody expensive to learn how to do, whereas I can already windsurf.

20 years ? best past of 30 for me 🙂 I was actually sponsored by Mistral, Gul and Tushingham through my local shop, but had to say no to a big event 'cos it clashed with my Uni final year exams...that was the end of my sponsorship 🙁

I had a lovely Vitamin Sea custom waveboard that the guy who ran them, Tad, made specifically for the prevailing conditions for Troon South Beach 🙂

My claim to fame was me and a mate were the first windsurfers on Tiree, in I think '83 and we raved about it so much we got the Scottish Funboard Cup to move there from Macrahanish, and it then became the Tiree Wave Classic.

Memories !!

Ooooh... Vitamin Sea custom boards - always lusted after one of those!

Tiree - looked absolutely epic in the magazine photos..

You don't need to spend fortunes, have a look on Facebook there are some good 2nd hand groups on there. Couple of questions; where are you likely to sail and how heavy are you? Old days of sinkers are gone. Your small board is likely to be +5/10 litres of your weight in KGS.

Ooooh... Vitamin Sea custom boards - always lusted after one of those!

I think it was about 255 long, with asymmetric skegs to suit the wave and wind - I was usually going out on port tack.

I sometime wonder whether I could still do it !!

I hired a 100l board at Mui Ne - but I don't weigh anywhere near that much. To be honest - it felt just about 'right', albeit a little bit 'skippy' shall we say, over the chop.. and a little bit uncontrollable in the air.. 😆

I'm based in lovely, land-locked Oxford at present - there's a man made reservoir nearby though, so could give that a go. Poole harbour looks promising - great to practice carve jibes, if you can simply stand back up when you fall in!

Thanks for the tip about FB groups..

By the sounds of it you'll be flying in no time. Assume you are waterstarting? 100 litres is a nice size, still got plenty of chuckability. Multi fins are very popular now and allow you to use a relatively large board without it getting over boarded when things pick up. I have a tri fin for the windy days and a larger single fin for summer sea breeze type days.

It's a great sport and goes hand in hand with riding. Bloody frustrating at times but when it's good....

Welcome back!

Keep thinking about getting going again - been 16 years almost to the day (last sail was just before daughter #1 was born). Still got my Screamer II and a load of Gun sails in the barn - people would probably laugh if I took them out now.
Still a decent amount of sailing going on at my local (West Kirby) - I'll get back on one day.

[oh and back in '86 I was northern agent for Hy Jumpers kit and Lightwave boards .... you can keep your Vit Sea's 😉 ]

I believe that, like bikes, kit's moved on massively. I say this because I dabbled while working for Neilson 2002-04: a mate from that period recently joked about digging out his Starboard and was roundly mocked on Facebook.

Not that sure how you can improve a board *that* much, but I imagine there's windyriggers saying exactly the same about the advancing technology of the mountain pushbike.

Ohhh lovely, another windsurfer..

I'm on the South Coast and have been hacking the waves for quite some years (waves are my faves)

You are right, kit has really changed over the years. I have some advice and I'll bullet it..

Ignore any kit older than 5 years - Ok, so this is moot with a lot of folk. But really the design of boards and sails has moved dramatically over this period, well earlier but it's settled down a bit more recently.

Boards - I guess you'll look for Bump n Jump boards so anything from 115-125ltrs and 58-65cm wide and 230 - 240 long. We all quote "volume" now as opposed to just ltrs and length. It's still a bit of a minefield when kits being decided upon but you'd do worse than a Starboard Kode from 2013 and about 120ltrs. This will give you stability and carving, dual footstraps at the tail and a single fin.. pick them up for about £350 s/h. Great boards these, always have been. Its an example only but most big manufactures have something like this.. JP, Goya, Quattro, Mistral, Fanatic, Tabou all have great stuff. Steer away from triple fin/quad fin setups no matter what anyone says all you really need is a single fin board. The multi fin option is something to consider in about a year when your feet and hands have warmed up.

Sails - ahhh, tricky. Well not really. Gaastra and North IMO are the most stable build and feel, something no older than 2 years if you can. Go for 6.5mtr or 7.5mtr and I'd say no bigger and no smaller. That range will do you for 18knts through 30knts with a bit of tweeking. North E-Type for free ride, Gaastra Pilot or Matrix for free ride.

Mast & Boom - stick with the main brands and get as high a carbon content as you can, you'll need something of 75% at least and probs 460 to fit the sails, all trends are for Skinny masts, it's moot at this level whether they're better or worse at bump n jump but you'll be fine with a Std Diameter. Don't forget a mast foot and one to suit your mast dia. Booms of 240 alloy will do, robust and reliably strong and bash proof.

Wetsuit, Harness, towel - yup you'll need at least a 4/3 autumn suit, we're all out in winter steamers at the moment but that'll pass and we'll all be back out in 4/3's until May when we'll still be in 3/2's thereafter. VERY RARELY do we go out in board shorts and a grin.. this is the UK and if you get cold or feeling a bit knackered and fall in the LAST thing you want to do is GET COLD and LOOK COLD and be unable to get back in.. It/shite happens we all know, so just saying'. Harness - yup you'll need one. seat harness are back in fashion from a 15 year no-no, waist harness are the best for me (but I'm a wave head) seat harness let you lock in and blast outright into the sunset comfortably, waist harness are all about manoeuvres and short intense wave type action. Don't be fooled into thinking waist harness are cool for the cool kids because thats both horse shite and limited view on behalf of the on looker.

If you choose 1 board, 1 sail, 1 mast, 1 boom all s/h you'll pay about £1000 for the lot, maybe a little less if you are not too worried about condition. But you'll get something good for that price and it'll last you until you get bored or a few years of summer hacking.

You? Can you waterstart? if yes then great, if not practice. Can you upahul the sail in shore dump? if yes then great if no, practice. Are you bothered by Brown shore dump of about 2mtrs? if yes then go somewhere else to launch from.

Places - I've mentioned the South Coast because it's ace. Hailing Island, West Wittering is my home pond. We've got waves and flat water in all types of conditions. Come down the Solent a bit and you've got Hill Head where you'll find me if I'm short on time.

Right, I know a bit about windsurfing. However I'm not going to say "do this", "do that" because it's all subjective and everyone has an opinion. It really comes down to what you want to do with your windsurfing, if you are happy blasting off a beach then the kit (brief examples I've given) will be the right stuff.

Uk water, some places are great, some not so. At the moment water temps are about 6C-10C and they will get colder until about April then rise quickly to about 16C - these are South Coast conditions. Waves, most Sth Coast beaches are ONSHORE/Cross ONSHORE as it follows the prevailing South Westerly winds, this means you can blast off the beach in most places at about 45deg to the wind, turn around/fall off and blast back.

Kitesurfing - Have to mention this. Its a great sport, the lads and lasses I know, and those I don't are all wonderfull people who over the years have learned to get on with each other. Yes we all went through the pointy finger "ponce" phase and it ruined both our sports. Now we all look out for each other, help and assist where/when we can. Be mindful they need more room because of low flying lines and enjoy watching them teabag themselves occasionally.

Windsurfing - back to us. We're actually a slightly increasing participation sport again you'll be glad to hear. We one through a period of decline when kit got extortionate in price, and kitesurfing came along. But we're back on the up and most South Coast beaches in good conditions will be an equal mix of Kites and Boarders.

Magazines - yup you'll need this months Windsurf to read, it's got exactly the range you are looking for in it and this is the time of year the mags devote a lot of time to bump n jump and blasting boards and kit. You'll be a bit shocked at the cost of some new kit these days (a full new quiver of what I mention above, but new will cost you easily £3k)

Any help?

I may add more when I've gotten off the loo.

Welcome back, you have been missed 8)

Just back in from a nice refreshing session this afternoon - plenty windy 😀
Modern kit is hugely improved in terms of usability and wind range, as are modern wetsuits. Cold is just not a problem.

Lots of really good value used kit, start here on FB

Mark Gehogan will probably be able to sort you out.

here for chat:

(think you may need an invite)

and here for the STW equivalent: http://boards.co.uk , but the forum is a quiet backwater compared to STW

I'm also landlocked, in Warwickshire, sail locally at Draycote (similar to Farmoor but better !) and head to south coast when possible.

Its right that kit has moved on a lot since you stopped, boards being wider easier to plane and sails a lot more stable without the need for 5 cams. However not in the last 5 years, I'd say, so anything you buy thats made within that period will be pretty good.

Now windsurfers have similar debates to the wheel size one. 1,2,3 or 4 fins in wave boards and its moving to the number of battens in sails too. Just like you could probably jump on any full suss bike made in the last few years and it would generally be pretty good same with most modern(ish) windsurf kit.

If you are sailing on the sea perhaps look in freestyle wave board class as a potential one board does all. Not as specialist as a dedicated wave board but fun to sail in most conditions.

Good thing about the state of the windsurf market (be that down to kites or not) is you can get some pretty good deals on new kit i've new seen boards 3 years old well below half price.

If you fancy getting back into it in the winter this one is a pretty good one in terms of temps.

Where you based?

ahh bikebouy said it better than me 🙂

Astonished to discover I could still waterstart! Good thing too, as I was about 1km offshore in open ocean at the time.. 😆

Im glad to see that seat harnesses are back 'in' now. Always used to use one, and it just wouldn't feel right without one.

Great - thanks for the pointers there! I might give this a go.. 🙂 Does anywhere rent or cheeky demo this kind of kit in the UK? Otherwise it's quite a commitment initially!

Oxford based - so quite a drive to the C

You mentioned Poole in an earlier post, there are up to 5 places to hire and three/four shops to buy yourself a suitable wetsuit (probably the best/only thing to consider purchasing right now)

Just make sure you check the tide times before heading down, an hour each side of low tide will mean a long walk....

Also consider the OTC in Portland harbour for rental. They're a good bunch and stock the latest kit. Weekend away. Riding the Purbecks and windsurfing. Sounds like fun!

Oxfordshire based you say?

Bray Lake right on your doorstep..

Go get wet on a Pond, practice, meet mates, get involved, come to the coast and lets go WINDSURFING!

Linky...

[url= http://www.braylake.com ]Bray Lake Windsurfing/Watersports[/url]

Look out for a demo day by various windsurf shops,boardwise do a couple each year at aberdovey great weekend and you can rock up and take different kit out.
Don't get to hooked up on having the latest gear as anything later than 2005 will be good.
Mate of mine still sails a 20 odd year old fanatic mega jag with a pryde raf cam slalom at West Kirby and mot many people go faster than him.

Hand brakes ahoy!!
A different perspective! I have sailed and windsurfed around the planet but based, in equally land locked Northampton sailing club.
So let's apply perspective. If you intend to travel , then the advice to date is good. If you need to grab any good breeze opportunity you can at farmore then think more to a futura or I sonic . If you frequently windsurf inland you must be able to blast upwind rather than schlep! Plus even in 20knts of breeze you are going to be using an 8m or more depending on your wieght.
I have been away for 10years or so but I would say that from a range of boards that carried 4.7 a 10m, at only 75kgs, in the past, I would spend 80+%of the time on an 8-10m rig!
I am again looking , and my first purchase would be an I sonic 104 + 8m rig, since cycling has turned my arms to spaghetti! I am sure you would get most use out of this type of set up.
Hope this gives you some food for .....

Sniff.

Ha-ha.. Yes - Farmore! This is barely a 5 minute cycle for me.. Probably a good option - didn't realise it was a 'destination' 😉

Cycling.., spaghetti arms.. Yes! Even though I do a fair bit of swimming - 3 hours windsurfing in force 5 made me ache in places I didn't know I could ache! (For days afterward). Plus I had weeping holes in my hands!

Dunno what a sonic or futura is - some kind of longboard? 8-10m sails! Keerrriiiiistttt! Huge..

Love the current wheelsize-esque debate about single-fin vs multi-fin boards - multi-fins - it's like the 80s all over again!

Ryanair Luton to Kerry. West coast of Ireland fantastic windsurfing. Spent most of last summer out there.

I still get my HiFly 300 with 6.0 Neil Pride floppy sail out every summer in Clacton. Fun stuff.

Anyone interested in Round Hayling Island Windsurfing & Paddleboarding race? I run it for my sailing club, all welcome.. it's a hoot.

linky

[url= http://www.hisc.co.uk/sailing-racing/open-events/windsurf-round-hayling-island/ ]HISC Windsurfing RTI 2016[/url]

Well if we are promoting events;

September sees the largest water sports festival on the South Coast

[url= http://nationalwatersportsfestival.com ]NWF[/url]

You've chosen just about the worst time of year to get back into it, especially for inland water, but actually things aren't too cold this winter.
Not sure you need to worry about 8-10m stuff. I'm 85kg and don't use bigger than 7m - if it's not windy enough for that I'll be biking. I was using 5.2 on 90L yesterday, and my 4.5 got lots of use in December.
Farmoor probably won't have anything other than learner kit to borrow but worth a check.
I have more kit than I need in my shed (3 windsurfing kids have flown the nest !) so may be able to help with some bits.