I’ve grown up around boats all my life and I’m fairly proficient in sailing.

I’ve done windsurfing a couple of times on holiday and can make the things go, tack & gybe and I understand wind tides etc. The thought of having a board at home I can fling on the car roof and head out for an hour or so of a summer evening is quite appealing.

Anyone any experience of windsurfing as a hobby?

STW loves a good windsurfing thread! 😉 There’ll be some people along shortly to fill in the gaps.

FWIW I recently hired some kit while on holiday and got planeing on a board in strong winds for the first time in 20 years! I was instantly hooked (again). I am planing on getting some more practice in this summer (at Poole Harbor this time), but will probably hire the kit again, as it’s too much commitment for me at the mo’ to invest heavily in another hobby.

That said, s/h kit seems to go for buttons – so if you’ve got the time and space for it – I’d say go for it!

DON’T DO IT!!!

It has the potential to cost you far more money than biking, as n+1 applies not only to boards, but to sails too, and to fins, and to booms, and to wetsuits, and to vehicles…

BUT…nothing beats the feeling!!!

EDIT: Here’s a good place to start looking, I’ve bought stuff of several different folk in this group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/130039663788470/?ref=nf_target&fref=nf

Yeah I love it. 😀

It’s great. I did it alot in my youth and often think about taking it up again. It is a kit sport so lots of stuff to spend your money on, but given how much I managed to muster on eBay for my old kit a couple of years ago you should be able to pick up some perfectly decent used kit for little money – it might be ‘out of date’, but will be perfectly functional and perfect for learning on. If you’re going to invest in one decent bit of kit then it should be a decent wet suit. Can’t really tell you how the sport has developed as i’ve not done it for about 20 years but go for it, you’ll love it.

@scruff @bikebouy is being very discrete. A good mate of mine was really into it and as a result only really sailed in the autumn / winter when it was windy. That makes it a bit different temperature wise. Others can comment better than I but I get the impression kite surfing is where all the cool kids / fun is now.

Depends where you live. I’ve got a lake half an hour from me which works in every wind direction and I’m only 80 mins from West Kirby. And I live 20 mins from Boardwise which is the biggest windsurfing shop in the UK. So I do it all the time, and all around the northern hemisphere on holiday. I just had my first pension payout as I’m 63 next month so spent about £700 on a new 8.4 RRD rig to go with my RRD Firemove 130 Ltd.

Used to do it a lot but became a fair-weather (Med and Red Sea) windsurfer many years ago as I got fed up with sitting by miserable lakes or cold beaches wishing the wind would blow. 2 boards and a load of 20 year old kit are about to go down to the recycling centre. If we lived near the coast and could take a more opportunist approach then maybe I’d take it up again in this country, it’s masses of fun when conditions are right. I understand kite surfing can be fun in a wider range of conditions and of course the kit fits in your car more easily so I think it’s largely taken over from windsurfing.

Recent kit I’ve hired is vastly better than the stuff I’m getting rid of so if you’re buying second hand make sure you know what you’re getting – really old stuff could put you off the sport.

Can get very frustrating when the forecast wind/swell does not turn up. Someone will inevitably say it was awesome all this morning/yesterday/last week. You will want to kill them.

I have not been for about 4 years. In UK i used to bunk off work if it looked like it would be worth it. Over here in Aus I can’t be chewed. I think I realized that it was actually the mates rather than the activity. When it is good there is nothing else like it. However like any drug you end up needing more for that high and it gets hard to obtain.

Cheers all, good to hear. I already have a wetsuit, boots & buoyancy aid from dinghy sailing days which is in good condition & I also live about 2km from the nearest beach.

*heads off to peruse ebay*

If I was told I had to give up all sport except one, I’d choose windsurfing. Been doing it since the late 80s. I go less now as it’s less tempting to go out when it’s cold but I do go to warm places now instead (off to Maui in a few weeks).
Kit is much more user friendly now and you can get good stuff second hand.
Do it.

@scuff as you where a sailor you’ll appreciate the angle of the beach to prevailing wind is important but 2k to any beach is cool

I just had my first pension payout as I’m 63 next month so spent about £700 on a new 8.4 RRD rig to go with my RRD Firemove 130 Ltd.

🙂

Still got all the kit but have turned into a holiday surfer, need to sort my own kit out and use it! I used to spend all my time at coast or brogbrough lake. One non wind day someone talked me into having a ride round Woburn woods and here I am!
Great feeling when planning nothing beats it but so much easier to jump on a bike

As said previously n+1 can and will soon get out of hand if you get the bug

Go for it.

Careful on eBay we have the wtf are they selling threads on here windsurfing forums have the same threads boards.co.uk is the single track version

I used to do a lot many years ago …
I have just been given back a late 90s F2 Lightning ( and considering I live near the sea, a long board will initially be fine).
Is there any merit in using it …. or is it bette to buy something new?

I am guessing 20 year old rigs are well outdated ….

@rio

Send me your old sail, for the open canoe . 😉

I’ve got a mixture of ages in my sail quiver. A couple are over 20 yrs old but because they were pretty good new – Pryde V6 – there’s not a massive difference between them and their newer replacements. Last year I took my 1992 Tiga 257 and 4m Combat to West Kirby when it blew a gale and I was having as much fun as anyone.

I had a 1993 Bic Vivace that used to go like the stink. You’re right, the feeling is hard to beat and I still miss it. BUT, it is the most frustrating sport in the world. Waiting for the wind. Then when it does arrive it is a squally mess, which has you quickly changing down to smaller sails whilst getting battered by the wind on the shore whilst trying to find your downhaul tool that you bought last week leant to your mate and has now disappeared (do they still use them?). Then you get on, nail a jump and a perfect carve, and you’re top of the world!

Scruff, where are you based (general location only) ?

If you want my opinion then I’d offer up a free ride board of at least 120ltrs, but these days Ltrs is only part of the equation as it’s all moved on a bit.

So, 120ltrs & 68cm wide and 245cm long at the very least, (well until you fancy a 85/90ltr bump and jump board.. but we’ll leave that for another day) A board that is reasonably recent, something form the last 2/3 years will be fine and steer away form triple/quad/twin fin setups (but on free ride boards it’s rare you’ll find that setup) look for single fin only boards with at least a 38cm fin.
If buying secondhand then check the finbox and fin for damage as the owner could have hit a sand bar at speed (not unknown) or slammed up a shingle beach (as happens often down this way)
Check the mast foot slot to make sure it’s all in one piece without gouges taken out of it.
Check the Air screw is removable and if you can unscrew it to make sure the board is dry inside (some folks release the airscrew to let pressure out of the board and forget to tighten them back up when they go out sailing and as the board flexes it sucks water in through the screw hole) IF the screw can’t be unscrewed you take the chance that it’s never been undone and therefore don’t know whats hidden inside the board.
Check the nose of the board for repair work, often when folks go over the front (happens all the time) the mast hits the nose and either takes chunks out of it of causes cracks. Don’t be worried if it has had a repair, but make sure it’s been done professionally. If not some folk do it themselves and forget to dry the board out properly first and the foam core retains water and the repair won’t last.
Check the footstraps for stress and excessive wear, check you can get your feet right into them too, footsteps placement is pretty crucial for blasting but general playing you’ll be fine with a three strap setup, make sure a board of 120ltrs has the option of four and three because that will extend the range of the board as you progress.. of course 3 is fine, 4 if you become a speed freak and can handle the bounce.
Thats the Board sorted.

Sails, I’d suggest you buy whatever is being sailed at your local beach. Here where I am we’ve all got ranges from 4.5, 5.3, 5.8, 6.4, 7.2, 7.8 and you can go a lot bigger than that (and smaller) So to match your board and the conditions I’d suggest a 6.5 or 7.2 or 7.8 or something in-between those three. Get something with NO CAMs and at least 5 battens (most of that size will be 5, but some brands have been known to go down to 4 and upto 7) If someone offers you a CAM sail, then don’t dismiss it just check the batton cams and the leach grommets for stress/wear and sometimes CAM’ed sails can be a pig to rig hence my option for no cams.
You’ll need a mast and boom, masts are sail dependant, for the range I’ve given it’ll need to be 460 at the least, but masts go up in 30cm increments (or close too) so make sure you buy a mast that fits the sail, also don’t get all het up whether to go with a skinny or std mast, just make sure you get a mast extension to fit it (the sail will have a patch on the foot with the rigging instructions on it outlining mast and boom length) The boom will probably be 240/260 of something like, again check the sail for the length. Some sails of 7mtr plus have cutaways around the clew, these allow smaller booms to fit and there are a lot of folk that like the feel of leach cutaways (I’m not a huge fan myself but hey)

Conditions, well hey we’re in the UK and we’re all different. No idea where you are but first step is always to go down your local spot where you intend to sails and check out what other folks are sailing. For instance down here we have a mix of flat water no tide, flat water estuary, bump and jump solent slop, small waves, large waves, 1-2ft fairly flat slalom waves, strong tides, slack tides and shore dump and shingle.. All this makes for a huge range of boards from 65ltr waves boards and 4.5 sails right through to 140ltr free ride and 8.5 sals through 100ltrs slalom boards and cammed 6.5’s..RSX race Bods and old school BIC centreboard hippies. On windy days (or sea breeze days) you will find the beaches packed with a mix of abilities and all are out having a blast. If you just watch them on a mix of conditions, take notes of what they sail and look out for similar abilities you’ll soon get the right gear..

Of course there are new deals for full rig kits from places like ROHO and Boardwise, do check them out because you can get all the kit you need in one final swoop for about £1800 new all in. Also these guys sell ex hire kit, some of it’s in excellent condition, some not so so be picky if going down that route.

It’s worth buying either Boards or Windsurf Mag with free ride kit in it, I think March’s version of both had these on test (normally do, as they get ready for the spring/summer season)

A bit of local knowledge now:
Over the years we’ve had some pretty dramatic changes in kit and quality and shape and size, but most notably price. Like MTB’s manufacturers keep pumping out the latest design and with it comes cost. We’ve lost a lot of windsurfers over the years due in part to kit price increases, what this does mean is s/h boards and kit are way cheaper and the boards and sails are way better quality. All you need to remember is if s/h is the option down’t go for anything older than 3years max, 2 years is optimal. Therefore if s/h is the option then a board will cost about £400-£600, sail £300, mast £80, boom £120 so you will get all your kit for under £1000 easily. For instance I have for sale a 4.5 and a 5.8 wave sals for £120 each with hardly any use.
Theres a lot of local knowledge on your local beaches, ask around we don’t bite.

HTH’s
Any more info, PM me if you like.

Oh, have fun. 8)