Which windsurf to buy

Rocks, masts and booms can damage carbon easier than materials that are a bit softer. Try before you buy! Any person is different and what feels good for somebody recommending something to you might just not be it for you.

Try boards in conditions you will sail in. That great board on a vacation with perfect flat water might not be your favourite in the choppy, gusty conditions you sail in at home. Or it might, but just in the 10 liter bigger version. Windsurf board size calculator : A little online research can deliver several board size calculators. Several recommend to add 30kg to the body weight and then multiply it with a factor to get an amount of liters as a board volume.

Online research showed me factors varying from 1,3 up to 2. Depending on the windspeed and your level of expertise you can question the addition of 30 liters.

Many experienced windsurfers sail board with volumes about their body weight in kg in high wind conditions. In very light winds, or if you are a beginner, you might want a little more than 30 liters in volume on top of your body weight. This will make early planning easier. It also adds stability and extra flotation for beginners.

Windsurfing board types : Different types of windsurf boards are produced for windsurfing in different conditions. Allthoug several brands use different category names, they can roughly be divided in:. Their features are easy planing, good control at high speed, sailing easily through lulls. Because freeride boards are a little less radical than raceboards they are more easy accessible than pure race boards. Unfortunately Not. There are just too many variables that influence the choice.

That makes it to risky to just chat a few lines and hope the advice will work. My experience is that it requires quite a bit of desk research reading test for example and some testing to make a choice. Moreover I have always found it helpful to ask local dealers.

Local heroes ,that have sailed the spot of yout choice for many hours, can also be a great source of info. If you find them prepared to chat with you about the subject, that is. Windsurf dealers close to the spot you want to go windsurfing often, know the spot well. Asking a few of them might get you valuable knowledge. Be realistic about your level and if you have the chance.. Recently I started learning Hydrofoil Wing Surfing.

Since you read this article I assume you might be interested in this new, easy to learn watersport. I found you need far less strength and wind compared to windsurfing to have fun. Want to read my blog about Hydrofoil Wing Surfing? If you could assist me on what I should look at.

Choosing the Right Board Type Most brands offer different types of windsurf boards. FreeWave and Wave boards My experience with wave boards in general is that the freewave boards are more all round.

FreeStyle Boards Freestyle boards are designed with a relatively very thick tail. Freeride Boards Looking at the segment of freeride and race boards my experience is that the names tell the difference pretty good.

What is the Right Board Volume? More experienced windsurfers More experienced windsurfers I know choose their volume based on windspeed. The primary attributes we considered for the review of the best windsurf boards for beginners were the following:.

Preferably looking for 70cm or more board width. Windsurf out of all water sports is known for being one of the toughest balance challenges and that will be effectively made easier with a board this wide. Looking for a retractable daggerboard for stability when non-planing, and versatility when planing. We were looking at premium brands, although the price was considered for the value that they have over lesser-known brands as well as with each other.

Although most board damage occurs during transportation anyways. After considering boards from about 10 different brands, we selected our top 6 choices. Starting with the basics, it has a perfect 79cm width that gives the rider extra stability and the ability to add a larger sail for higher speeds. The Techno OD is ideal for learning and leisure funboarding. The shape of the board is as all-around as it can get, so a beginner rider will be able to progress into planing, carving, etc.

The daggerboard provides directional stability and makes sailing upwind a breeze. Zray may not be well-established in the business yet, but its concise lineup has attracted some of the most devoted fan communities an inflatable stand paddleboard brand could ever have. The thing Zray excels at is variety. This is a brand that has focused on diversifying its line of inflatable paddle boards, no matter how short, to ensure that it meets the needs of the majority of paddlers out there.

As a result, Zray has it all figured out, from touring to straight-up fishing boards. Because windsurfing is not very friendly to iSUPs, this is arguably a one-of-a-kind inflatable board. The paddleboard includes a premium heavy-duty backpack and hand pump to cut inflation time in half.

The extra-wide design creates an incredibly stable platform ideal for lakes, Inflatable stand-up paddleboard added weight capacity, yoga, touring, just relaxing in the sun. Every board kit comes packed with a collapsible lightweight aluminum paddle, manual pump, stability fin, coil safety leash, among other accessories. The paddleboard is outfitted with triple bottom panel fins, steering and handling are easy offering exceptional surf control.

Recently, freeride boards have become wider and wider cm , compared to freeride boards of a few years ago cm. This let the boards the get planing more easily, and are more stable while riding and maneuvering. Personally, however, I think that if these boards are not also short eg Starboard AtomiQ , in the choppy conditions, they tend annoyingly to bump on chops.

At this level, unless you have a substantial budget but, in any case, it would be wasted money , I do not consider necessary to buy the stiffer and lighter Carbon version "Light" of the board, wich gives additional facilitation get planing. You would generally not be able to fully exploit the potential of this kind of board.

As for the sails, since your sessions will still happen with a wind intensity of no more than knots, I would suggest starting with a sail of square meters always freeride, or allround , and one on The lighter riders will choose for sails in the lower limit of the above ranges.

The largest and most powerful sail will help you to get and manage the first planings, with wind intensities around knots. The smaller one will be needed you if you want to go out with 20 - 25 knots but arrive at this goal, step by step , or with very light winds, to perform very didactic tricks eg back-winded sailing, clew first sailing, hely tack , propedeutics to learning more advanced maneuvers.

Instead, for the mast that you need to rig the smaller sail, I would choose a more tough reduced diameter mast rdm , and which you also could use for several years.

Especially in case of lightweight riders, who start windsurfing when they are young, the first board is immediately a low volume one, about of liters. If these beginners, then, show to be fast to learn, they quickly pass to modest volume boards liters , maybe with a freestylewave shape.

Apart from these specific cases, usually those who have learned to plan and maneuver decently on a medium volume freeride board will have to choose what to do in their future, also because, maybe, they will begin to want to ride in sea spots, with the first small waves. In addition, especially when the water level is too choppy or with waves, and when the wind exceeds knots, boards with volume higher than liters, with fins longer than 30 cm, become less comfortable, because they oppose too much resistance in the water you will have the feeling of a very "hard" board under your feet , and because they are difficult to manage in maneuver.

So, inevitably, it is necessary to go down with volume, and perhaps to change shape. For those who do not want to pass to the slalom boards because speed is not their passion , we highlight this detailed article on the peculiarity of freestylewave and waveboard. It is also important to point out that to ride with lower volume boards, it is compulsory to learn the waterstart.

In fact, this is not to be considered an advanced maneuver, but a basic one that should be learned as soon as possible. To close this article, and for those who want to look forward Let's say that our weight is about 70 kgs, and the we are intermediate level rider.

More advanced riders will be able to use different boards, arriving at liters trifin or quad, depending on their own choice. We also add that the freeride board option for light winds can be an optional choice, only obligatory if you want to plan all the time. Read also the article about the theory of planing. Visit Waterwind forum , and join our community. Become a supporter, to access to reserved contents!