Like many on the forum it seems I'm a bit of born again windsurfer - after in my case a hiatus of almost 20 years! Here in Tumby Bay I'm surrounded by kitesurfers but I resisted the urge to cross to the dark side!
Thought I'd offer a review on my re-entry kit!
Didn't want to spend too much so picked up a Wood construction Exocet Sting 124, a Maui Sails 7.5m Pursuit freeride sail and Al boom and combined it with a mast and harness I found in a mates shed that was only about 10 years old! (along with a like new 6.0 m KA Stealth Race Sail) Windsurfingshed did a bloody good on the board and sail!
Took a few sails but finally feel like I've almost got things dialed in. Board feels super stable and very quick across water for the volume and width (73 cm). Just enough volume for my 95 kg to uphaul - only did it once to see if I could! - thankfully I hadn't forgotten how to waterstart! The board does tend to really want to round up into wind when waterstarting - can counteract it a bit by moving mast back but then doesn't plane as early.
Took a bit too get used to having leach so floppy - I probably started with too little downhaul - only had leach loose to about third batten - but after set mast length with tape measure leach was loose to boom and sail felt much better. Seem to need 16 knots minimum to start planing but will hold plane in less than that - with better technique hoping to plane in a little less than that! Starting to get overpowered at about 22-24 knots but not out of control - board just starting to "lift off".
I sail a bit in shallow weedy water and the 43 cm RS7 fin seems to be a bit of a weed magnet and once you get even one strand of weed it is a unrecoverable spin out. Otherwise fin is great - very stable in sloppy chop and board goes well to windward.
Decided to invest in a 38 cm Makani Hahalua weed fin based on recommendations on this site. First impression looking at it was it was a very big fin for 38 cm - wondered if I should have gone a size smaller. I also like that the fin is "pushed forward" giving it a similar balance to an upright fin. It bounced across shallow weedy bottom without clogging up and felt very secure - a little more drag than RS7 and not as quick but still more than quick enough to be fun. The board also carved better on the gybe with the laid back weed fin. Couldn't sail quite as high to windward on Halalua and it did start to "slide out" as pushed to windward but was a very gentle spin out that could be easily recovered by rolling board away with feet.
Hope this might help someone else considering re-entry or any of the above bits.
Welcome back to windsurfing Stan, we certainly are outnumbered by kiters on the west coast so good to hear someone getting back into it, if your looking for someone to sail with pm me!
