From: eric@quantum.on.ca (Eric Johnson)
Subject: Re: Transition Board or Short Board???
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 15:11:51 GMT
Organization: Quantum Software Systems

In article <BtAH43.F4@watcgl.uwaterloo.ca> pjolicoe@watcgl.uwaterloo.ca writes:
>In article <1684810D21.EPLUS17@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu> EPLUS17@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans) writes:
>>>>I'm a beginning windsurfer with a 12' beginner's board.  I've
>>>>become pretty comfortable with it and am looking for my next
>>>>board purchase to learn more advanced skills, such as waterstarts,
>>>>high wind proficiency, etc.  Some friends have suggested boards
>>>>as short as 9'4", and as long as 10'6" (usually *their* old boards ;-)
>>>>
>>For those of you who have been reading this thread and don't have unlimited
>>wind, I would vote for the transition board.  I have a course board, a
>>transition board, and a grand slalom (9' 4"?).  The course board gets used
>>about 40 times per year, the transition board about 25 times and the giant   h
>>slalom about 6 times.  I can use up to a 7.4 on the transition board, and in
>>slightly choppy inland water conditions, it is quite a bit easier to handle
>>than the course board (if there is enough wind to power up a 7.4 or smaller).
>
>My recommendation is to go to a giant slalom (9'9" or so, with 130 to 135L
>volume).  This amount of floation is plenty to uphaul and sail in low
>winds, but can be used in much higher winds (all the way to 4.0 conditions
>on small bodies of water where the waves remain very small).  Furthermore,
>giant slaloms can be used with very large sails (I use a 7.0 often [oh,
>too often]) with mine.  Finally, having sailed with this board for 1 year,
>I never using the transition board (10'6", 173L) that I purchased 2 years
>ago.  I suspect that I could have gone directly to this board without
>the other one.
>PJ

This year I just made this same decision - I was all ready to go out and buy a
transition board but found a used Randy French 9'5" Seatrend (125l) at a good price
and made the economical choice.

For the conditions I sail in, and my weight (180), I find that this is not quite
enough board in that I don't get enough wind to sail it most of the time. 95%
of my time on this board is in 13-20kt winds which for me means a 7.5, which is
just a little too big for this board (given the mast track and footstrap position).
And most of our days here have wind which is really marginal (5-12kts) which means 
I still spend most of my time on the big board.

If your weight is similar to mine I would suggest something that is a little
longer and floatier (just a _little_ bit) such as the previous poster suggested.
Seatrend has big floaty giant slalom board something like 9'9" and 150l which I'd
be taking a good look at if I was buying a new board for 'marginally planing'
conditions.

I strongly recommend you do get something under 10' and under 160l or so, since with the
bigger boards you just don't learn enough about board dynamics. I am 1000% better sailor
on my big board now, even though I could do longboard jibes and all that before, mainly
because I am now vastly more sensitive to where I am putting my weight on the board, and
what attitude I am putting the board in.

Since your situation sounds so similar to mine, you might also be interested in knowing
that now that I'm sailing the 125l Seatrend I'm dying to get my hands on a race board
(e.g. Fanatic Ultra Cat or Mega Cat) so that I can junk the beginner longboard. If your
conditions are like mine, you will find after sailing the shortboard that you really 
want a little less sluggish longboard for the marginal days (you can move ok with
a 10kt wind, raceboard, and a 9.0)! So if anyone has a used Fanatic Cat for sale (Ultra
or Mega) for next season (and you're located in the East, North of NYC or are in Eastern
Canada), let me know and maybe I'll buy it from ya.

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