Select to expand quoteB_Rudge said..
I'm in a similar situation to yourself and I'm currently buying kit and made another thread asking for advice.
Reading the comments in this thread and some others It seems that we are not alone. It's great to hear about others doing the same thing and I would love to hear more about people returning to the sport after a long absence.
Nice work mate, it's bloody great fun. Enjoy.
Cheers Robbo
Loved this thread so much that I had to join seabreeze and post hoping to reopen. I'm 58, last windsurfed in anger about 20 years ago and finally going part-time at work so aiming to get back on the board. Got my old kit out of the garage at the weekend and thought I'd initially try that before modernising. It was pretty good kit back then. I'm interested in the idea of different fins as that wasn't a thing when I last windsurfed. Also like the idea that it is easier to gybe on modern kit - anyone know why?
Select to expand quoteBerne said..
Loved this thread so much that I had to join seabreeze and post hoping to reopen. I'm 58, last windsurfed in anger about 20 years ago and finally going part-time at work so aiming to get back on the board. Got my old kit out of the garage at the weekend and thought I'd initially try that before modernising. It was pretty good kit back then. I'm interested in the idea of different fins as that wasn't a thing when I last windsurfed. Also like the idea that it is easier to gybe on modern kit - anyone know why?
Nice work Berne, it's an amazing feeling being back on the water. The volume distribution of the modern boards is more user friendly from my experience. My 1980's Astro Toy vs a 2008 X-Cite ride clearly shows this 
Select to expand quoteBerne said..
I'm interested in the idea of different fins as that wasn't a thing when I last windsurfed. Also like the idea that it is easier to gybe on modern kit - anyone know why?
It's good to match fins with board and sail, wider tail really need longer fin. larger sails also go better with bigger fins.
For downwind speed smaller fins are faster, for heavy chop longer fins are better.
A quiver of fins gives you more tuning options and more confusing decisions to make.
When you talk about gybing, are you referring to carve gybes?
and is it easier to sink the rail to carve tight. Or is it to have more stability when sail flipping and coming out of the gybe.
There's so many aspects to a good gybe, a certain amount of precision is required when comparing the merits of any boards.
There is also a large range of modern boards, wave and freestyle will always gybe tighter than freeride, slalom or speed. Due to rocker line and profile shape.
So when comparing new and older boards you need to compare apples with apples.
Modern wave boards possibly turn better with multifin setups.
Old slalom boards had very hard rails, this made them very technical to turn.
I think all modern boards have a certain amount of "tuck" starting from about the front foot strap and increasing towards the nose.
This is much more user friendly.
Seems like I've given you the long answer, hope it's a relevant to your question.
