Hi!
I weigh 80 kgs , I have been doing windsurfing for about 3 years, the prevailing winds here are light ( 12-15 knts, occasionally gusting to perhaps 18 knts) and I am more interested in cruising around than in pure speed, even though I certainly love to get my board on a plane.
I have, perhaps mistakenly, bought a 145 lts Taboo Rocket last year and I find it difficult to handle, especially running it upwind, even with the proper foot-work. I find it a bit too unstable and wobbly, particularly when uphauling, tacking and jibing when winds pick up , as this manoeuvering requires swift change of the body position and shifting the weight around. I also find it particularly hard to sail the board with an 8.5, even in light winds, because the sheer width of the sail seems to destabiIize the board even more, given its short length. .
The Tabou is rated as a great board and the difficulties I have with it are surely due to my experience level, but I am not willing to defer a fuller enjoyment of windsurfing until I get to a more advanced level..Summers are, after all, very short here in Canada and I am not too eager to waste them swimming around the board instead of sailing on it… This would be my 2nd season of swimming around the Taboo ( or almost, since I do, occasionally, have some long, exhilarating stretches of real sailing)
So I was thinking to go back to an easier full volume board, with a retractable daggerboard, in order to regain the upwind capability and a greater stability. I am thinking of buying a Bic Core 293 , 205 lts board. I am sure this or a similar board ( like the Taboo Cool Rider, the RRD Easy Ride or the AHD Zen line) will give me a big gain in stability, but there might also be a trade-off in other aspects, as compared to a 145 lts shortboard. Can anybody tell me what this trade-off might be? Speed, maneuverability, planing ability? Or wouldn't rather the higher volume/floatation of a 205 lts board help it to skim over the water better than a less floaty 145 lts, thus making it easier to plane?
Thank you for your comments
Francone
Hey Franco
i too live in Montreal, butt weigh much more than you.
as such, my BIC Dufour longboard and my 8.5 sail are my most used combo.
with your weight that board and sail should be great !!
if u go to cartier, aao/l'anse a l'orme or vaudreuils you will see NO longboards
on the lake, the longboard and the 8.5 are the way to go.
if you want to see some longboards in action, go to ottawa on the weekend of 31JUL
they are holding kona one races and other longboards are welcome
information can be found at windsurf.ca/
GOOD luck !!
joewindsurfer.com
I'm not much help to you but I find it refreshing to hear someone saying a 145 ( +65 weight) is a bit of a handful for inexperienced people.Everyone here seems to recommend really small boards.
I'm not a great sailor but I'm keen and try & get out every week in a wide range of winds.I've been sailing c 20 years and used to go out in the surf. Ok I'm now old and unfit. I find my Tabou Rocket 125 ( +60 of my weight) a great board but it is tiring in light winds with a big sail and wobbly to gybe in subplaning conditions.I only sail in those conditions for TOW and practise.
I realise it's prob designed for planing conditions and I still think it's a great board but I've gone through a Dufour wing, Mistral Maui , Tyronsea 295, Windaction 9' slalom , 2 x Caveman waveboards before I started sailing it.
I suppose it depends where you sail.
If its a nice consistent 15 - 25kts all the time one of these boards could be conquered easily but if its gusty marginal conditions a more stable one would really help.Maybe you can keep the Rocket for when you have improved or can sail somewhere with more wind as they are a buzz in the right condtions!
Hey, Joe Windsurf! Canadian, eh? How do you know I am from Montreal?
Maybe I have even seen you at the L'Anse-à-l'orme. I am easily recognizable because I am the only ( oldish) guy doing windsurfing most of the time swimming around the board!
According to my Seabreeze profile, for some strange reasons, I should be in Australia, Wa! Love to be there, though! Australia must be a wonderful country and an even more wonderful windsurfers paradise! Unfortunately here, in this part of the Commonwealth, we are stuck with the ice for many long months , even though Canada, too, is very beautiful, in other respects.
Going back to windsurfing, I have heard, too, people extolling the good old and almost vanished longboards!Some even deplore that the manufacturers, in search of ever increasing profit venues, have killed the longboard market in favor of pricey shortboards advertised as true gates to heaven, when in reality these boards are a mixed blessing, catering to a specific segment of the market, i.e. those who love adrenaline, speed, aerial acrobatics, etc., which is not what a substantial part of windsurfers go for. Not only this, but short boards, with their lack of a removable daggerboard, are in reality crippled boards as you can hardly sail them on a close haul, no matter what the shortboard gurus try to make us believe, when they claim you can easily keep them on a close-haul upwind course just with foot-work and banking on the rail. Yes, it can work for a while,( with a lot of footwork and possibly an extra-long fin ), but when it comes to some serious upwind , how can we seriously compare the efficiency of a 60 cm dagger board and the powerful lift and lateral resistance it creates, with a shortboard rail biting only a few inches into the water? Anyway, it is a question of taste and style, after all. So let people have and enjoy their shortboards!
However good the longboards may be, there is a major problem, though: their size and weight. I used to have a longboard many many years ago: I was already exhausted by the time I reached the beach, just carrying it! My Rocket is marvelous, if only because it weighs a mere 8.5 kgs and you can easily lift it with one hand. With a 245 cm length, I can even fit it easily inside my car. So may be I should be looking for a compromise: a board midway between a shortboard and a real longboard. Bic offers the Core 293 with a 293 cm length, substantially longer than the typical shortboard, with a retractable daggerboard, a 79 cm width and a weight of only 11 kgs. Would such a board come close enough to the performance of a true longboard? I'd love to hear your comments on this, if there is anybody broadminded enough to be willing to come out of the shortboard cocoon. Probably more easily said then done, though, when you have the bliss of planing your shortboard at bullet speed !
Cheers
Francone
I've ridden a bigger Tabou (around 160 L) and I noticed that they have a lot of vee in the bottom shape to make them smoother in chop and this also makes them less stable side to side.
may be wothwhile getting some lessons to help you progress on the existing board, may be cheaper and easier than a new board.
145 is a massive board, biggest i use is 121 with a 8.0 and get going in a fart and im 105 Kg, but i guess experience helps, but still 145 is a lot of board to try hold down in any thing over 13knots
From my personal experience the smaller the board the faster the progress is.
Pretty much I wasted years on on bigger board to find that small board you can just "feel"
everything counts, foots on the board to the sides or forward or back.
With bigger you could do same mistakes for years.
There is no margin for errors on small one but since you have this right you never looking back for bigger.
That just me.
Windsurfing is an accessory sport, there's a setup for every condition and you could own a different board and sail for every 5 knot wind increment on the wind scale. This is all fine and dandy if have plenty of coin but for most of us it's about compromise and finding something that works for us in the conditions we sail in. Everything makes a difference, the wind strength, flatwater or chop and fresh or saltwater. The learning curve is steep but how steep is up to the individual and only you should set it. Coming from a freshwater lake background I started on a 180 beginners board for a few months and then switched to a 145 which at the time I found super wobbly, but now it seems like a monster. When your getting the hang of everything you need the floaty board and the lighter winds, but to progress you need to get out in stronger wind but when you make mistakes on the bigger kit you tend to get spanked big time. The 145 normally has a big fin(45-50cm) and when you get these up and rockin they tend to get very lively under foot. Until I got myself fully sorted with the straps and harness the 145 gave me some scary moments and some back slapping, nose crushing catapults. You would benefit from a smaller fin on the 145 for the windier days, say 5-8cm shorter...It will make a big difference to the handling of the board. Once I was sorted I switched to a 120L board which became my everything board on fresh water, didn't matter if it was 10 knots with a 8.5 or 25 knots with a 5.0 I just sailed my 120L, just had 3 fins 42cm, 38cm and 34cm for different wind strengths. Modern boards are short and wide but the float is still only around the middle of the board, if you step back, forward, left or right you are going to sink the board and end up in the drink. Everything you do while underpowered needs to be done right around the mast base and it needs to be done fast. If you spend a week getting from one side of the board to the other you are going to end up back in the water, Speed and with the least amount of steps as possible will keep the board stable and you dry. As soon as you step to the left, right, front or back on a modern board you tilt it, loose your balance, pull the rig towards you and splash your back in the water again. Quick steps around the mast base while keeping the rig away from you will keep you in balance and dry. Try and keep some part of your foot touching the mast base pad at all times, If you do you know your close enough. Only step back when you get wind in the sail and start to power up.
If your into just cruising and only get lightwind you might be better off with something like a SUP with a mast tack, I took a Nasih SUP for a ride one day(I think it was about 11 foot)and had a ball. They float very well and glide along in light winds better then any windsurf board I've ever ridden, Keep your 145 for days when its planing conditions and ride the SUP all other times, I think the SUP will be a better option compared to going back to a 200L windsurfing board, Don't set yourself back..Plus you'll be able to paddle when there's no wind.
Yep smaller boards will make you learn quicker but It's also frustrating as all hell spending all day swimming around your board, uphauling and falling in again and again but it's all part of the learning curve and the rite of passage we all must take. Have 2 boards, the one your good at sailing and the one you want to be sailing next. Rig the both if you can, go out on the smaller one first and get in some practice and when you've had enough come in and change to the bigger kit and then go have some fun....Only you will work out what's right for you.
with the 8.5 you should be using a long fin - around 48 cm.
this alone should help with heading upwind,etc
when i use my 53 cm fin i find steering like a longboard works
perhaps this is your issue with the Tabou 145 ?
this board with the 8.5 should take you far in 13 knot winds.
for me and my 100 kilos that's a 10-oh with the 53 cm fin !! and it is FUN !!!
in Montreal
as you have said - schlogging shortboards is NOT fun
overpowered is killer
so, very difficult to be in the zone
example - yesterday at OKA with a 7-oh - only planed about 35 % of the time - in the gusts, butt would have died with the 8.5 - on AHD FF 160 - lighter, smaller people were boards as small as 105 !!!!
as someone said - KONA ??
go to ottawa on the weekend of the 31st and check em out !!!
put some details on my blog --> joewindsurfer.com
Me the one who mentioned Kona as a possibility for the gent.
Not sure I get the drift in this thread, as I have a short attention span.
However if it is about sailing all conditions with the least possible equipment, then a Kona or an old-style modern Windsurfer will do the trick from 5 to 20+ knots easy.
Nothing wrong with a 1-string banjo (mine has 2-3 strings, not much better).
(going somewhere to check out Konas: same mileage, YouTube is all ya need to see the product.)
