I surf since 2 years now and am abled to do basic maneuvers such as surfing in footstraps, in the trapeze and in 50% of the time i can also do a carving jibe.
Now i decided to buy a new board and here is my question:
Can i buy a freestyle board and just put in a longer (freeride) fin to make it more stable or is it better to buy a freeride board?
But the advantage when i buy the freestyle board is, that i dont have to buy a new board when i want to learn tricks, because i can simply change the fin back to the freestyle and wouldnt need to buy a new board.
I recall putting a decent fin in a freestyle board once. Freestyle boards are designed to get up and go, You want speed to launch into the next trick. In that respect they are similar to freeride boards. The only trouble is they don't have outboard footstrap positions. The old JP freestyle I tried felt very much like a fast freeride board with its footstraps in the wrong place.
Select to expand quotepaulstnk said..
I surf since 2 years now and am abled to do basic maneuvers such as surfing in footstraps, in the trapeze and in 50% of the time i can also do a carving jibe.
Now i decided to buy a new board and here is my question:
Can i buy a freestyle board and just put in a longer (freeride) fin to make it more stable or is it better to buy a freeride board?
But the advantage when i buy the freestyle board is, that i dont have to buy a new board when i want to learn tricks, because i can simply change the fin back to the freestyle and wouldnt need to buy a new board.
sure can 
.they don't point up wind as good and not as fast ...but they are defiantly great in chop ,,and tricks of course .
I had a mistral Freemove ..great board ..it had outside strap holes as well so i got the best of both worlds.Still have it on a rack .
its just had to many moves and needs to rest.
free move boards have rounded rails ..
The current crop of freestyle boards do come with 18-20cm fins, which just means they are a bit harder to get back upwind. I would try the stock fins before you bother buying a freeride fin, you might be fine with the fin that comes with the board. They should be fine for stability, as they usually have pretty good width for the volume.
I use Fanatic Skates for a bit of old school freestyle, but mostly for free riding. I never use the stock fin, I use much larger weed fins. A 30 cm MUF Weed Slalom works great with 6.5-7.5 m sails; a 26 cm works for 5.5-6.5, and turns a bit better in Carve 360s etc.
The only reason to use the stock fins is if you are working on new school moves like the Vulcan and Flaka. However, if you are serious about learning these moves, you probably would use a fin that's even smaller than the stock fin. My wife works on Flakas and Vulcans on a 90 l Skate, and uses a 15 cm fin most of the time.
Yes you can, and they are great boards to learn on as you can progress as far as you want unlike a freeride board.
As has been said most already come with a ~20cm fin which is perfect but you can add larger. Sailing on a smaller fin is good for your technique as well if you want to get into the waves one day.
Al
Paulstnk,
I don't want to be bias, but check out the 2016 Naish Starship that Robby Naish has launched. He has a short little video describing the board. It is advertised as a Freestyle, Freeride, bump & jump wave board. The board covers most all aspects of windsurfing. I just bought the board myself and love the performance it delivers. The board is a true windsurfing machine and a speed demon! I got the board up to 38 MPH so far, and I know their is more available speed left permitting the right conditions.
I have taken the route you are thinking of. All I need to add to the comments given so far is that my JP Freestyle board is so easy to warterstart. Very forgiving and not too fussy when your technique is not perfect. The one downside with a freestyle board is the slight lack of speed. The inboard footstraps prevent getting outboard too far...stance may slightly alter because of this. By the way, I am using a 35cm freeride fin (Select) on a 107 L board flying a 5.7 or 6.7 sail.
