Hey,
So my 21st Birthday just passed and now I’m the new owner of some pretty neat gear...
I’ve been blessed with a completely new board and rig.
2009 115L Naish global free ride board
2009 6.1m Neil Pryde Firefly
As well as a new boom, mast, mast extension and mast foot.
So up until this point I’ve been sailing with a 1985 hifly 700CS which is plenty big enough to float about without the whole sinking feeling... but with the sail I had (a big Dacron bag with no shape whatsoever, 1985 vintage aswell..) I only ever pulled off a few very shaky water starts.
I’m 198cm and 94kg... And I’m starting to think that I might have bitten off more than I can chew with the 115L free ride board...
I’m not allowed to go sailing with it till after this weekend (not actually getting it till my party.. actually maybe not a few weeks now.. small tear in one of my knee ligaments from oztag last night..) and when I do I don’t think I’ll be good enough to sail it..
Can I please have some other people’s experiences with progressing to smaller boards?
Cheers
Simon.
oooh nice new gear 
I think you'll be ok Simon
My experience - Started on a 150 litre (thereabouts) heavy old Tyronsea and sailed it for about 8 or 10 months on week ends and then moved onto a 90 litre board. It was a struggle, but a pleasant one. I was about 65kg then. I felt like I'd taken a step backwards at first. My water starts on the big board were still a bit sketchy, but it was a barge. As long as the wind was sufficient to lift me out of the water I could manage it. When I tried on the little board it wouldn't stay put. It shot backwards or forwards and left me baffled and frustrated. It just took a little patient perseverance to get it. The tacks and gybes were totally different too. The ride on the smaller board was infinitely better and much more fun.
If you can water start with your old kit, you're going to find waterstarting this a LOAD easier (because of the rig rather than the board).
Yup, it will probably be a bit of a challenge for your size, but you're young and keen if you learned to sail on that old stuff!
Suggest you go and find somewhere nice and safe to play with it at first - somewhere where if you screw up you're going to wind up back on the beach without too much drama.
It'll make you progress quickly - I say go for it - as long as you're somewhere safe.
ALSO - suggest that you get someone to show you how to rig your sail properly. Maybe the shop it's come from? A well rigged sail will make a massive amount of difference.
Good luck!
EDIT - agree with Notwal - shiny kit! You're going to progress fast on that.
Good luck downie2.
When you get that new board going you will be hooked after the rush from the acceleration and speed compared to the old gear.
The boards are shorter and wider now so less tippy.
You may need some rigging tips too but I am sure at the beach or bay there will be guys to help you out.
Cheers guys,
I'm from Kiama so ive got a few options on sailing locations; Lake Illawarra, Gerroa, Shoalhaven River, all depending on the conditions of course. Eventually I want to be blasting off Gerroa in the big NE’ers, like I’ve seen so many people doing.. But I want to get use to the new gear first. 
I got my kit from wind-surf and snow; they gave me a quick rigging lesson before I lugged it all the way back down south :) amazing how much downhaul there is on modern sails... Im still a bit unclear on trying to rig to conditions tho (all the +-1cm stuff..) the old gear i just pulled till I couldn't pull anymore! but with the 2:1 ratio i had on the downhaul and outhaul it doesn't even come close to the modern tensions.
I can’t wait to get out on the water...
Simon.
Hi Simon,
I'm sure others can answer this better than me....however I also started on a HiFly, and then BIC 293 so similar to you. I used this combo for the first year or so.
Then for the past 6 months I've been using a JP 145 excite ride. This wasn't difficult at all to get used to, although without dagger board, you need a different technique to get upwind.
I just got a 109 litre JP super sport a few days ago. Going to try it out tomorrow afternoon for the first time, if the wind picks up a bit.
At 80kg I have 29kg of bouyancy for the board and rig. You are 94kg (including harness, wettie etc?) so have 21kg of bouyancy. Kind of similar. I think the rule of thumb is +30 for it to be comfortable to uphaul, but you mentioned you can waterstart just, so I reckon you maybe alright.
Got a feeling I could have gone straight to the 109 litre board, so will let you know what I discover tomorrow 
Andy.
I don't think you'll have much of a problem, will certainly feel very different at first, but at your age you should have no trouble adapting to it. You should still be able to uphaul it if the conditions aren't to extreme anyway.
If your pulled off a few waterstarts you will be fine. That size board will force you to master it properly, you will still be able to uphaul it when the conditions are calm and waterstarting isn't an easy option. But it will be hard to uphual on the open sea, if not impossible when the wind really picks up. So keep that in mind :-)
My recommentation is to make the effort to learn to waterstart properly by finding somewhere with shallow water, and smooth wind, sand banks are ideal and where the downwind is somewhere safe and you wont regret the effort spent. Since you managed a few before, two or three sessions like this and you will feel quite comfortable with waterstarting, and then you can concentrate on sailing without the worry.
Thats what I did when I got your stage, and was worth the slight detour.
Hey Downie,
After not sailing for 15 years I went out and bought a 118 supersport and a 6.7 hellcat. i was about 105 kg when i got it and now im down to about 95 :)
It took me a few sessions to get the feel of it and was doing some awesome stacks to the delight of the onlookers on the beach.
With a few good winds you will progess really fast and after 3 months you wil wonder how you ever sailed anything bigger.
with the 115 its very easy to water start since the board will support you as you make the transition. just need enuf wind to get you out of the water then can move off at your leisure. versus a smaller board where you need to come out of the water in a forward movement or you just sink the tail.
As the board gets smaller and smaller you need more forward momentum to stop the tail sinking which turns the nose up into the wind and depowers your sail.
If ya ever up sydney way drop into kernell and say hi :)
Craig.
Hi mate,
Go to the boat ramp at Sanctuary Point in the St Goerges Basin, its not far from you at all and it has a large section of water which is only waist deep.... Perfect for learning to waterstart! A session or 2 of this and you will be away and loving it!! good bye uphauling...
I was down at Sanctuary point a few weeks ago now, we decided to have a sailing day (2 windsurfers and a hobbie 16).. pity the wind never arrived.. it was still a great day of doing nothing ^_^
The shallow water there looks like a great place to get going tho.
Cheers
Simon.
^_^ ive always thought about playing AFL
but i guess i just followed my brother into volleyball, i play oztag in a low grade mixed team for my weekly social sporting event..
I am starting to get a bit tired of having to travel so far (AIS in Canberra) for volleyball training so thats why ive started sailing :)
Cheers guys for the comments, im feeling a lot more confident about getting out on the 115L board now.
Simon.
You'll be fine, I weigh just a few kilos more then you and made the same move last year. 120 to 113 and there was hardly any difference as long as there is wind, The thing you will notice is the acceleration...It's very noticeable. I can still uphaul on the 113 with no problems but if there's enough wind there's no need to but it's nice knowing you still can. It becomes a bit of a drama if the wind drops out, you can limp back but your balance has to be perfect, You will learn heaps very quickly and before long you'll be looking for a smaller board again, I went to a 95 next and am now looking for an 84, small boards rock. Your gybes become easy, the smaller boards carry more speed and turn heaps better and they are better for jumping, you just have to have a good tack, super fast.
If you ever come back to Canberra drop me a PM and I'll take you for a sail at LBG, It's something you will never forget. As some of the other guys have said, go for sanctuary point...I'm there every chance I get. It's probably the best place in Australia to learn the water start, you'll have it perfected within the day...Then the small boards will be totally unlocked and then the waves....Bring it on.
Hope you enjoy your new toy...
Jase.
Ok so i managed to get the new kit wet this afternoon!
initial thoughts.. MY ANKLES ARE GETTING WET!!!
With very little to no wind to get me going, i was stuck trying to balance on the board to try not to sink either the front or back to much..
i think with a little bit more of a breeze ill be good as gold.
Cheers
Simon.
I'm nearly 110kgs, and I went from a 165lt to 135lt in a couple of years, then to a 109lt (my main board now). I even got on a mate's 92lt evo a couple of weeks back with no probs...except when coming into shore! If I had half a chance, and if we got more consistent winds, I'd go smaller again!
You've got youth on your side, so stick with it, and you'll find that getting out on days with a good consistent wind will make it a whole lot easier!
went for a sail on the lake this arvo, really gusty and horrible, managed to get blown down wind and i cut my foot on an oyster :(
Feeling a little down but still got high hopes for my new gear..
thinking ill get some booties too...
Cheers
Simon.
Don't worry about it, when you make a big jump in equipment you going to have some difficult days! I just recieved my new board yesterday, which is a big jump for me, so I am getting set for some big swims...
Seriouly though, use your experience to make it easy and safe, you will be fine.
Hi, i tried my 109 litre JP last weekend.
Got planing on it and felt really good, but then the wind dropped right down and felt goddam aweful!!
I can plane in 12 kts on a 8.0m sall on either the 109 or the 145...but when the wind drops further, the 145 would still feel comfortable, whereas the 109 would be urgggh. Wasnt sinking, but just didnt feel nice, and required a lot more work.
So I'm defo going to keep my bigger 145 JP for crappy light wind days, and the 109 for when it might be a bit more windy.
Definitely keep at it...but if you want to get out when there's not much wind, I'm not so convinced the smaller board will be as much fun as something as little bigger, even after you get used to it.
Not sure if others would agree with this, but it's what i've found so far....
but TOW.
Keep perservering & when summer comes with the NE's youll find it so much easier!At least you have the Hi fly to cover you for the crappy days..I know that's not much comfort when you want to try out the new one![}:)]Im getting a 'new ' smaller board this week so I'm hanging out for some decent wind but I suspect I'll be in the same boat as you..
Downie,
Agree with hanging onto the bigger board. Yesterday was light, and very offshore, and if I had used my 'sinker' board I wouldn't have even made it to the wind-zone, (we've got built up land masses around here which make it horrible to get out sometimes), so I threw in the 165 and ended up having a blast! The only prob was, I couldn't judge the wind strength from the shore, so I chose a bigger sail, and was way overpowered for the most of it, and ended up about 500m upwind.
Besides...why would you get rid of any gear? "He who dies with the most - wins!" 
So I managed to get out on the water today, just before midday at the Illawarra yacht club.
I managed one very well timed waist deep beach start before not finding the wind to keep the rig flying (for either a beach or waterstart) but atleast im now confident uphauling the smaller board. I almost got onto the plane but quickly lost speed in the lulls.
I think I would have had a great time on my old board but with the ancient rig i would have gotten upset way to easy. Im looking at making a bracket to put my new mast base into my old borads mast track, then I can run my new rig on my old board!
i don't think I'm rigging up right either, the recommendations on my NP firefly calls for
mast 430 imcs 21
Luff 453
Boom 184
gear ive got:
2009 NP firefly 6.1
NS red series 430 mast (30% carbon)
X3 UXT 48 mast extension
Prolimit assault 160-220 boom
so I set my mast base to 24cm and my boom to 160+25cm, now today when I was rigging I down hauled till I couldn't down haul anymore, about 2cm between pullys. then with the boom set to 25, the sail was touching the boomend even before i had done any outhaul! so i moved the boom out one more notch and outhauled a little.
So I'm not sure if its the way I'm rigging or if its a mismatch in the gear ive got.
im noticing black lines on the side of my board, These I believe are from the bottom edge of the sail, anyone else get these? or easily get rid of them?
also, mast foot positions? Ive heard 135cm from the tail is a good starting point? what are the pros/cons of moving it forward/backward?
Cheers
Simon.
Grrr just heading in for a full day of uni now
tomorrow i get off at 1:30, so i might see whats happening then
Cheers
Simon.
I get the same thing with outhaul of my NP gear, I need to extend the boom several cm more than is specified, otherwise theres not enough space between the sail to apply any outhaul and also makes it difficult to tie off / untie afterwards.
Never quite sure how much outhaul to put on but nornally only a few cm (from when you can feel it begin to tighen). Less outhaul gives a bit more power when its not windy, or if it's really windy rather than re-rig on a smaller sail I just tighten the outhaul some more. Try playing around with this, and you'll get a good idea of the difference it makes.
Also...a mistake I've made a few times when inserting the mast into the sail, the two halfs can easily come apart by a few cm and you might not notice, of course this messes up everything. I normally tape up the two halves of the mast to prevent this, also helps stop sand geting in and the mast sticking.
