I would love to get a new board. At the moment I have a bic vivace (around 90-100 litres) which is less than adequate for a learner. Its a very unstable board and doesn't have enough litres for a beginner like me. I have had some fantastic fun on this board but I think I would progress far more as a winsurfer with a more user friendly board for me and my father. I am 78kg and nearly 6'5" and my father is 100kg and 6'1".
I was thinking a JP x-cite ride or Starboard GO would be a good option as it is both more user friendly but also leaves heaps of room for improvement. What do you think of this choice of board and are there any others which would be suitable. How many litres would you recommend bearing in mind that I would like to teach my little sister to windsurf so it needs to be quite floaty.
Cheers
150 - 180L with a centreboard
Brand is really irrelvant in that class, as to a beginner they all feel the same
How much does that leave for improvement? Is it an investment which I will still really enjoy in the years to come?
You will be able to learn foostraps and planing / harness use etc then go down to another board. Most people keep the 150L ish one if they can - for planing in light winds with a 8m ish (much later on, don't try that now)
With for instance somerthing like a JP Funster, how will that deal with considerable chop?
Hey Maui Meyer (he was a 90s windsurfing hot-shot), Windsurfing Tas has some Starboard "Starts" which they will hire out if you ask nicely. This would let you "try before you buy" and get a feel of this style of board. If you contact me one day when I'm heading to Lagoon Beach I can bring mine (also Starboard Start) along to have a go on. Otherwise organise to meet me up at Trevallyn Dam one afternoon and have a go.
If you come along to one of the northern Tasmania learn to windsurf days there is usually a very large range of boards there, and you can probably have a go on a few different ones that look suitable.
Have a look at this thread for everyone's point of view on the matter of board sizes for beginners/progressing sailors generally: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Buying-my-first-board-is-a-dagger-fin-important/
Clarence
Thanks Clarence, might take you up on that offer. Never actually used anything apart from an old Windrush xp and the Bic Vivace so it will be interesting to see how they differ from eachother.
Sounds like you can plane if you have had fantastic fun..is this the case?? If so you may be ready for something higher in performance than the other guys have suggested.. .. I am a big advocate of longboard with centreboard if that's your skill and direction..so can you and your dad plane?
Ps just saw Clarence's post..kind offer and a good plan. Don't discount the longboard..stil an Olympic sport last time I checked..
Went out today for the first time in over half a year and surprised myself. (I'm going to put together a video in the coming days so hopefully you guys can pick my technique apart but thats for another post 
) Once i was up and on the board planing was easy so the thought had run through my mind that maybe i should consider a smaller board. Dad used to windsurf in his youth (he was sailing the original Windsurfer and such) so he can windsurf, he's just quite out of practice.
So maybe in that case it wouldnt be a bad idea getting a 120L board maybe? Would it still be possible for both of us to uphaul on a 120L as neither dad nor I can waterstart yet. I also wonder if a smaller board would be more suited to a beach/ocean environment given the chop and swell.
There are a range of boards in the 135L size that are easy to up haul and can handle some decent power.
They also are more condusive to progression and water starts etc.
Also they will slug along when wind stops.
My feelings on reading your posts is this is as big as you want to go
