Here is a small description of what your choices will be as a beginner (find your description in the previous section). Please note that we haven’t gone into all of the characteristics in detail. This is only a guide to hopefully point you in the right direction.
These boards either have a dagger board or a center fin and are the most stable and easiest boards to learn on in light-winds, and will get the rider going in an hour or two. Being the widest and highest volume are also suitable for heavier individuals to learn on, as they provide a maximum amount of buoyancy. Schools also find them fantastic for general use for teaching due to their all-round voluminous support. 
These are good boards for all first-time sailors except extreme heavyweights. They offer more in terms of higher wind or intermediate performance. Some have dagger boards or center fins. These boards are perfectly geared towards the cautious beginner as they offer a more stable and secure path towards future higher performance windsurfing goals. The center fin ensures that the sailor will always get home regardless of the wind conditions. Rather than being sold as beginner boards they are usually targeted to intermediate sailors and very rarely have dagger boards or center fins. HOWEVER, depending on your weight and long term goals many of these boards in this size range are very suitable purchases for ambitious first-time buyers.These boards offer enough light-wind performance for beginners to get their “sea legs” on and putter around quite happily on them during their beginning stages. They are wide enough to offer the stability that a beginner needs without being too beginner-oriented that an ambitious individual will not quickly outgrow.
If you are an ambitious beginner and want to purchase a board such as described, be aware of a few points before you race to your local shop demanding a free ride board.
If there are foot strap inserts located near the centerline of the board, the board is suitable for beginners. It all boils down to how easy it will be to get into the foot straps and how easy it will be to control the board You must keep in mind, that the learning period will be slightly longer and less easy on this type of board due to the lack of center fin or dagger board. But so long as you learn in an area of limited current and light-wind, you’ll be on your way easily enough.
Older Style Boards:
Unfortunately, the beginner board picture is clouded by the existence of a massive range of older-style beginner boards on the used market. Since the first days of windsurfing, boards have evolved from long, narrow, heavy things to short, wide and lighter things. So any older beginner boards will lie somewhere on this continuum. You would be almost crazy to learn how to windsurf on the very long, narrow and heavy boards just because of a sheer lack of balance. The older-style boards are the reason why there are not more windsurfers or female windsurfers out there. These boards were just too difficult to learn on. Period.
Just to make a point, we are not making this statement to increase the sales in the new market, as there are a few classic beginner boards out there from more recent times which are still quite good, and widely available on the used market.
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