Most boards are designed for specific conditions and it all may seem very confusing to you at the beginning with all of the selection that one has nowadays. Fortunately for everyone, there are clear categories for boards.
1) Beginner – These are wide, stable boards that are forgiving of lack of balance and clumsiness associated with beginner problems. They generally come with dagger boards or center fins, and have soft EVA foam decks to protect the board from damage.
2) Formula – These boards are designed to be raced around a course and deliver maximum speed in the lightest possible wind. They were designed for a very specific job: Carry enormous sails, plane in next to nothing and go upwind and downwind competitively well. They were not designed for beginners even if they are wide and voluminous.
3) Freeride – This term is used to describe most of the larger non-specialist ranges that are appropriate to sails above 6.5 m² and/or to intermediates who want a board for marginal-medium winds. In other words, for the vast majority the term Freeride is the most relevant board for progressing on from beginner to intermediate and for carrying 6.0-8.5 sails.
4) Freemove – These boards were developed to satisfy the sailor who wanted the best of all worlds – meaning freeride, freestyle, wave.
5) Freestyle – These boards are considered intermediate flat-water, trick boards for moderate winds.
6) Freestyle Wave – This is the newest trend on the market since 2003 that takes the maneuverability of a freestyle board and combines it with the reaction time of a wave board.
7) Wave – Obviously the first deduction is that these boards are made for sailing waves. However, they are also used in high-winds with sails below 5.4 m².
Here is a basic visual guide to the different boards for their classes.
What kind of windsurfer do you want to be ?
What are your ambitions ?
1 - The Weekend Warrior:
This category covers those time-challenged people who have family or job commitments that keep them from having as much time off as they would like to have. Their goals are not necessarily to be sailing the big waves of “Jaws” any time soon. They just want to have some fun and go out when the time comes. These individuals will most likely be going towards a board that will work in whatever the conditions and will be easy to ride such as a Wide Beginner or Free ride board. I will expand on choosing a Free ride board in a later section.
2 – The “At My Own Pace” Learner:
How cautious or reckless your natural attitude is will determine the equipment that this individual should buy. Cautious learners tend to have a healthy sense of self-preservation and tend to take things “slowly” and THAT’S OKAY! These individuals will tend to go at their own pace and learn gradually as they become more comfortable with changing conditions. In this case, a beginner board will be the source of many years of happiness and the stability will be a godsend.
3 – The “Bring it on” Learner:
The “Bring it on” learner will have a reasonable amount of spare time to fully commit to the sport and intend to progress as quickly as possible. They whole-heartedly embrace the windsurfing mantra of “practice, practice, practice”, they pray to the wind god as often as possible and look for sacrificial virgins and volcanoes to appease the gods on a regular basis. These individuals will not necessarily want a beginner-style board, but instead favor spending a little more time “practicing”. So, they will want a free ride style board that they will keep as their eventual light-wind board.
Where are you going to be sailing ?
Where you plan on sailing is also an important part of the equation. As you know or will quickly learn, Montreal wind is typically gusty. Consequently, sailors will need a little more width and volume to their board to cope with less consistent wind and the reduced buoyancy of fresh water.
The Categories of First Time Boards:
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.
Very Wide Boards (+90cm wide):
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.
Wide Boards (80-89cm wide):
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.
General Free ride Intermediate Boards (130-160 ltrs. 65-79cm wide):
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.
Foot strap Placement:
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.
Boards, Volume vs. Width:
You may have done a little of you own research in this fabulous sport of ours and discovered that nowadays both BOARD WIDTH and BOARD VOLUME are coming up time and time again when referring to how a board performs. Yes, it is confusing! However, to simplify things a bit, nowadays the far more important factor of the two is BOARD WIDTH.
Unfortunately width is also the factor which is less easily grasped as an indicator of size particularly if the variation is small (does a 62cm wide board perform differently than a 65cm board?) See what we mean?
Fortunately, many manufacturers have a fairly set standard volume to width ratio for a particular size of board (i.e. 145 liters / 75 cm) making things somewhat easier to understand. However, some manufacturers still use different ratios; some offer thin boards with less volume while others go in the completely opposite direction.
In cases such as this, the width should be taken into account before the volume. Certainly, we agree that it is important to have enough volume under your feet in order to float your body-weight, but it is mainly width that determines ease, stability and sail-carrying ability.
As for sail-carrying ability, take a look at this rough guide to the maximum sail size that a board of a certain width can carry comfortably. For arguments sake, we are using an individual of average weight (160-180lbs). You may be able to squeeze out an extra 0.5m of sail if you are lighter than average.
Boards, The Width Factor (Part 1):
As if choosing a board wasn’t hard enough, now you have to consider the width of the board. If you have been doing any reading of past windsurfing oriented magazines, you may have noticed a trend in board widths. They are getting wider.
Why are they wider, you ask? Good question!
The difficulty in determining what width is best for an individual comes in due to the fact that when individuals are learning to plane, by definition, they spend an enormous amount of time NOT planing. Until these individuals come to terms with all of the other factors involved in planing; such as learning to be gentle with your footwork and not stomping all over the board like an elephant, using the harness and getting into the foot straps. In other words, until you understand the finesse involved in planning, the extra width on the board is a definite bonus.
There is also the factor that not all sailors will be in a constant state of progression. Many people don’t get the chance to hit the water every given breezy day and can’t pick and choose the conditions. For such people the wider boards may well be the better bet because their progression may be a little slower than the individual who lives for the next windy day.
Then you have the individuals of slightly above-average weight who sail in gusty conditions. These individuals definitely benefit from the added width.
In this section we hope to give you an idea of how to choose a board that works best for your goal rather than the actual process of learning. So we’re giving you some pros and cons to help you decide what board width is best suited for your goals.
For arguments sake, we are using an individual of average weight (70-83kg.) a board width of 75cm and a board volume of +/- 145 liters. Lightweight and heavyweight sailors have their own set of special needs (we covered the importance of bodyweight in a previous section).
Pros:
Stability: Width does make a huge difference in stability. A 100cm wide board will obviously be more stable than a 65cm board for any beginner depending on that beginner’s weight. For intermediate sailors, the fact that a board is wider makes planning in light-winds easier.
Early Planing: Width gets you planning earlier and allows you to use bigger sail sizes. In other words, extra width would allow a sailor to carry a 10.5m sail instead of an 8.5m sail. While this factor is of dubious relevance to most ambitious beginners or intermediate sailors, a little extra width gives the beginner a bit more help to get planning particularly in gusty winds.
Increased Sailing Angles: Extra width also allows the sailor to point slightly further up-wind or down wind. However, this point is only relevant from the intermediate and up, or if you want to race upwind or cover long distances cruising. If you want to maintain your position and get around locally, this point is moot.
Cons:
Board width isn’t simply a case of wider = easier = better: Depending on your weight, Very Wide (90cm +)and Wide Boards (75cm +) are considerably less maneuverable, therefore control and general fun decrease as the winds pick up and the water gets bumpier (the chop increases in height and consistency).
Yes, a 77cm wide board is easier to stay on while you get yourself together, but as soon as a planning state is reached, the action of piloting the board becomes a little more difficult. Boards below 70cm tend to track better through the water at planning speeds, offering a feeling of increased security and foot steering.
Boards, The Width Factor (Part 2):
As if things weren’t already complicated enough, lets throw another factor into your decision making. The question of board width is only part of the width equation.
A board that is 65cm wide may have a TAIL WIDTH (measured at 30cm from the tail) which can range from anything between 39 and 46cm. You also have NOSE WIDTH (measured at 30cm from the nose) which can range from anything between 34 and 41cm. Variations in these measurements can also make considerable differences in the way a board performs.
Just to give you an idea, here are some rules of thumb when it comes to the width game:
EXTRA TAIL WIDTH:
Pros: Gives a board better sail carrying ability and early planning.
Cons: Stiffens the ride a bit, and is bouncier in stronger winds and choppy conditions.
EXTRA NOSE WIDTH:
Pros: Makes a board more maneuverable and stable, particularly in non or semi-planing conditions.
Cons: Tends to reduce comfort and tight maneuvering at high speeds.
A Visual Guide to What it all Means:
It is all very nice to be talking about things, but if you can’t visualize them you’re no further ahead. So here is a visual representation of where the measurements are located on a board. We are using a Freeride 160 litre 78cm wide board here as the example.
The Importance of Your Bodyweight in Determining the Correct First Time Intermediate Board
If you plan on taking this sport of ours to the next level and are an ambitious learner, then you have to pay close attention to this. Your bodyweight is crucial in determining the board that is right for you. When we discuss the average weight windsurfer, we are talking about individuals that are in the 70-83kg (+/-155-185 lb) range. But obviously, a 13kg difference can be enough to make a difference in your own needs. So, in order to fine-tune the figures for board volume and width to your own bodyweight (lets use the average 120 liter / 65 cm board as an example).
A 120 liter / 65cm board is ideal for a 77kg individual. But if you are lighter or heavier, Add or subtract roughly 1 extra liter of volume for each kg of bodyweight above or below the median of 77 kg.
Should your weight be towards the lighter end of the average weight range, your needs will focus more on the 112-116 liter 63-64cm range to get the ideal performance for your weight.
Should your weight come outside the average weight range, say 90kg, then things change and you will be looking at a bigger board size of 130 liters / 69cm.
In conclusion to this particular section, before you get out there and spend your hard-earned money. Almost everyone wants to learn to windsurf is initially going to learn things faster on the very widest boards around. We however, don’t necessarily recommend that this is what they buy. Why? Primarily, because some of these boards are so easy to learn on that some people can grow out of them literally in a matter of days. It would be crazy to buy a board that you will only need to sail for a week!
Think about what your goals really are. Give your local windsurfing shop owner all of the details of what you really want and what you can do. Be honest, this is not a competition to have the hottest gear on your local beach.
After Word:
Beginner Boards as Formula Boards:
Many manufacturers will have you believe that their very wide boards can double as light-wind “early planers” or even Formula Boards for when you’ve developed into a skilled sailor. Although these boards do have similar shapes, beginner boards are usually so much heavier that they are not really on the pace for competition sailing in light winds.
When you improve sufficiently to intermediate levels and above, you will find that your “beginner board” does make a great platform for non-planing freestyle maneuvers or puttering around, ut do not expect them to be high-performance boards and beginner boards rolled into one.
If your goal is to have a board that may take you a little more time to master but will carry you into your next step as a light-wind board, you are better off looking at the maximum width and literage that your bodyweight permits and having that as you beginner board. Like we said, it will take you a little longer to learn on, but you will be able to use it as your light-wind board in the future.
The same can also be said for Formula Boards being sold as good ambitious beginner boards. Do not be fooled into thinking that a Formula Board will do the same job as a beginner or free ride board. These boards were designed for a very specific job: Carry enormous sails, plane in next to nothing and go upwind and downwind competitively well. They were not designed for beginners even if they are wide and voluminous. A BEGINNER WILL NOT HAVE ANY FUN ON THESE BOARDS. If swearing and repairing your investment are your goals, then by all means go ahead and spend the money on a formula board.
THIS IS NOT A BEGINNER BOARD
No comments:
Post a Comment