From: knabe@ECRC.DE (Fritz Knabe)
Newsgroups: rec.windsurfing
Subject: Re: windsurfing for beginners
Date: 12 Nov 92 07:22:39 GMT
Organization: European Computer-Industry Research Centre

Here's a repost of an article by Juri Munkki on getting started:

From: jmunkki@hila.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Subject: Re: New to the Sport?????
Date: 23 Feb 91 23:51:29 GMT
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, FINLAND

jat@mitre.org (Jim Teunas) writes:
>I am planning to get into board sailing in a big way this summer!

Great. I thought I'd answer your questions publicly, since we haven't
had a basic introductory article in a while and I guess others might
also be thinking about starting windsurfing now that summer is getting
closer.

>In any case in hearing people talk and looking at the magizines and 
>advertizements i am getting a little confuzzzed...
>Just what is a "wave" board a 'course" board a "salome (?)" board?????

Windsurfing is not a single sport. Saying that I windsurf doesn't tell
anything more than if I told you that I occasionally use skis. Also,
you can make the sport just as expensive as you want, so you should
carefully plan what you are going to buy and in what order.

First, the board:

Since you told that you are an experienced sailor, you will probably
have no trouble _sailing_ a board. Your racing background suggests
that you might probably be happy by starting on a course racing board.
Course racing boards have high volume and you can go surprisingly
fast with them. They are most useful in winds of less than 15 knots,
but become less interesting in higher winds. If you get a course
racing board, plan on keeping it for a long time.

Another possibility is to get a _used_ and very floaty board. This
option is definitely worth thinking about especially if you plan on
sailing in the surf or in higher winds. You'll find less need for
a large board in those conditions and you can save a lot of money
buy buying something that you can just throw away when you're done.

Just keep in mind that sailing a large board is like cross country
skiing. It's not really exciting, but the risks of getting hurt or
killded aren't quite that high and you certainly can use part of
the experience for more interesting things (like slalom and wave
sailing). Course racing in itself can be interesting, but you have
to like competition and most of the fun is probably in the tactics.
I've never really wanted to course race, so I'm biased.

Then, the rig:

Choosing a sail quiver can be much harder than choosing your first
board. Obviously you can start out with just one sail, but that choice
will affect all the other choices you are going to make. The original
windsurfer came with a 5.6m^2 sail and I still think that that is
the best size for a beginner. Of course all this depends on what the
winds are like in Boston, but judging from what I've heard, 5.6 or
6.0 might be ok for a beginner.

Unless you learn very quickly, there's the danger that you might
ruin your first sail, so I would probably recommend a used sail.
Once you learn how to windsurf, buying sails will get a lot easier,
since you'll be able to try them out yourself. Right now, you'll
just have to be lucky to get a good sail.

There are a few rules for buying a good used sail as your first
sail:
  1) Buy a sail by a well known sail loft like Neil Pryde, North or Gaastra
     (There are plenty of others, but these three are the largest.)
  2) Make sure the sail is no older than maybe four years. Sails have really
     improved lately, so older sails aren't usually worth anything.
  3) If it has 4 full length battens or more, it might be ok.
  4) Don't buy a speed sail as your first sail. You might not like it.
  5) Wave, wave slalom, speed slalom, slalom and especially race sails
     are usually very good. A wave slalom with a removeable camber inducer
     (ask the salesman to explain the term to you) will probably be ideal
     for a beginner.

You also need a mast and a boom for your sail. The mast needs to be
matched to the sail, so the safest bet is to get whatever mast the
sailmaker recommends. Mast stiffness and strength are the most important
parameters. A stiffness between 7.0 and 7.8 (a DIN measurement standard)
should probably be fine. Some sails require a constant flex curve mast,
some require a flex top. It's extremely hard for a beginner to tell if
a mast and sail work well, trust the charts.

Buying a boom should be much easier. There are a few important points,
but these are easy to check. The front of the boom should open at an
angle of 90 degrees or even more. All new booms have a quick locking
system to connect the boom to the mast, avoid anything else. The boom
length should be adjustable between 175 and 240 cm, if you want to use
it for the most common course race sail sizes.

You will end up needing a harness and harness lines, but you can learn
the basics without them. Once you are comfortable sailing, you should
start training with a harness. Everyone uses them and it's not macho
not to use one. (You will of course also need a wetsuit and booties,
but in this case you'll just have to imitate others who sail in your
area.)

For the basic stuff, I suggest you either take lessons (before you buy
your own board) or get a good book. I was only 13 years old when I
started and I was very small, but with the correct technique, I did
ok.  My sailing background helped a lot in the learning process and
yours will help you too.

A quick review of board types:

 1) Course Race:
    a) Div II (Lechner, or olympic class).
       Very large, should work ok even with almost no wind. Mostly boring.
    b) Funboard Course Racing
       >200l (about 240), about 370 cm long. Quite nice even for beginners.
       The best funboard course racers are probably the Fanatic Ultra Cat
       and Mistral Equipe. (Just IMHO)

 2) Recreational boards:
    a) Cheap "Family boards":
       About 200l, very broad, very dull, extremely easy. Ok for beginners.
    b) Transitional
       130l to 180l, 320 to 340 cm long. Not very good for anything specific,
       but extremely popular for some reason. I'd stay away from these though.

 3) Slalom boards:
    Slalom boards are different from the two categories above, since they
    have no daggerboards. You can sail upwind, but you need some wind and
    you should know how to waterstart before taking up slalom or wave boards.
    A slalom race is usually a figure 8 or a downwind slalom (imagine slalom
    ski races with downslope being downwind and you get the idea).

    The first time you really sail a slalom board feels absolutely incredible.
    They are fast and often quite maneuverable.

    a) High volume slalom boards
       >115l, about 300 cm. Usually very nice in light winds, but quite bumpy
       in higher winds. Probably ok as your second board, considering your
       weight. I'm very light, so my first slalom was a 108l/285cm board.
    b) Medium volume, light wind or medium wind slalom boards
       100l to 115l, 270 cm to 295 cm.
    c) High wind slalom boads (only for experts)
       70l to 100l, 250 to 270 cm.

 4) Wave boards:
    Wave boards are for playing in the surf and jumping. You should probably
    learn to sail on flat water before attempting waves. Waves are really fun,
    but they are also quite dangerous. Wave boards are usually about 250cm and
    the volume is in the same class with high wind slalom boards. The main
    distinction is that the rails on these boards are usually quite round and
    the tail section of the board can look quite exotic (with multiple fins
    or even an asymmetrical tail). Read the magazines and watch videos to learn
    about wave boards.

Magazines and books:
I only have a few issues of WindRider, but what I've seen has been good.
There are some free magazines for the West Coast and Hawaii, but I don't
if they'll be interesting enough for you. Windsurfing magazines are
highly biased by their advertisement sales. Beware.

Almost all books are out of date. You'll be able to learn useful things
if the book was originally written in 1987 or later, but anything older
than that will probably just give you misconceptions.

Get a good video to teach you windsurfing. I've heard that the Maui Magic
windsurfing videos are good. Just for fun, watch Neil Pryde's Rigmarole.

If you can afford it, go to Maui for a few weeks, take lessons there and
skip all the waiting for wind that we have to do elsewhere. In two or three
weeks you should be able to sail and waterstart, so you might be able to
skip large boards. Being able to sail every day should accelerate your
learning a lot. Maui has the best instructors, the best conditions and
the best equipment for learning anything you'll ever need to know about
windsurfing. I've been there, I've seen it.

Welcome to rec.windsurfing.

   ____________________________________________________________________________
  / Juri Munkki	    /  Helsinki University of Technology   /  Wind  / Project /
 / jmunkki@hut.fi  /  Computing Center Macintosh Support  /  Surf  /  STORM  /
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