Returning to Windsurfing
Oliver Richard Astley,,
again. I used to sail a Klepper 320 as a teenager. I
am now, however, 26 and 6Ft3 240lbs. I will be sailing
inland in upsate NY. Since I am much stronger and heavier
than 11 years ago the whole board-sail equation has changed,
not to mention the changes in technology that I assume
have occured.
I was planning in Mistral SST type board, but I have no idea
when that was discontinued. Klepper does
not even seem to exist! What has happened in 11 years!!
Any suggestion on the board and sail type and size would be
greatly appreciated. Also, a summary of the last 10 years
would probably make for interesting reading for me and
for others.
Thanks
Oliver
Email: oli...@cim.mcgill.edu
Oliver Richard Astley
Research Centre for Intelligent Machines
McGill University,
3480 University St., Montreal, Quebec
CANADA H3A 2A7
Tel: (514) 398-8206
Fax: (514) 398-7348
Elvin Long
William Fragakis
> Buy some magazines, you tunahead...
>
> Oliver Richard Astley,, wrote:
>
> > After a 11 year hiatus I would like to start winsdsurfing
> > again. I used to sail a Klepper 320 as a teenager. I
A most edifying remark. If I get lucky enough to see you on the water
after you've broken a boom, I'll be sure to hand you the recent copy of
Windsurfing Mag that had an article on self-rescue. Hope you sail with
bifocals.
Oliver, cooler, nicer heads will prevail. In the meantime, you may wish
to do a search on www.deja.com . One recent thread, something like "Too
old to windsurf?" may help.
regards,
william
Don
pass on what I think I learned :-).
I assume by upstate New York you would be sailing on finger lakes,
Cayuga etc.???? For lake sailing, I thing the best one board setup is
probably the GO or something like it. Lots of displacement and still
planes, and jibes albeit with a little effort. Match this up with a
modern "Big Rig" 8-10 meter RAF sail and you would be set for 10-20+.
The changes in general over the last 11 years (any corrections
appreciated)(maybe somebody could clean this up and FAQ it????? Marc???
Roger??????)(maybe trash it and start over ???;-)
Boards,
88'-92' Lighter boards, more production short boards and epoxy. ASA ABS
go out of fashion due to UV vulnerability and mold costs vs. production
costs (i.e. not enough cheaper to build plastic than the much more
lucrative epoxy boards)board classifications like slalom board and wave
board separate the old "short board(percieved as sinkers)" category and
start to blend the differentiation from transition board and sinkers.
92'-95 Mast tracks start to move back in response to more stable sails
with draft further forward finbox options open up with cavity type boxes
showing up. "no nose" designs start to popup in some designs. New
classifications for boards like freesail, convertible and bump&jump
supplant the classic "short board".
Present: Somewhere along the way the volume distribution moved way back
to the back of the board. Slalom boards tend to have lots of thickness
at the tail and lots more volume in a shorter board. Tails on slalom
boards are wide enough to put 2 footstraps on which is now necessary to
keep the huge fins in the water. (12" is short now) Shapes are much
more specialized and differentiated, just look at the Mistral web page
to see how many different sizes and models it takes to produce a "full
line" of boards these days. F2 has a similar lineup. Basic
classifications seem to be : Wave - sort of obvious, mostly wave
oriented, not speed oriented, more rocker and thin tails,
Convertable/FreeRide - these are by far the most popular boards these
days and they range from almost wave boards that are faster to what some
call "Yuppie Sleds", just nice boards that go fast in moderate wind,
Freestyle - trick oriented boards, no not the old sail on the back side
of the sail stuff, were talking jump jibe, monkey duck jibe, Vulcans, I
know, it's like a whole new glossary is required :-). The familiar
sights would be the "All Around" category, a small but continuing
portion of the market that would be direct decedents of the "Transition"
board, Lots of volume, usually a centerboard, includes longboards. Now
there is also the "Wide Boards" like Bic Techno, Go, AHD 72?,F2 Thommen
CRL etc. latest craze for early planing, and they do work. Board are
lighter. A 270 (classic short board size) seems to come in the 15 to 17
lb. range, about 5 lbs. lighter than the old days. The bigger boards
are still under 25 lbs. except some poly boards that are still made.
Sails:
88'-92' Transition from dacron to mylar to scrim to Monofilm with all
the triumphs and pitfalls of rapid advancement.
92'-95 With the additional stability of materials, sails formed with
draft much further forward and fixed. RAF vs. Camber debate rages on,
many different solutions and enhancements to both technologies. Sails
get very light
95'-present Monofilm is still the dominant material, but some companies
are going back to heavier scrim type materials for durability and others
still are trying other new stuff. The Camless sails are greatly
improved RAF sails that approach the performance of Cambered sails, but
the debate continues. Big sails are much more common, the old 7.5 is a
typical sail rather than an oddity, and the 8.5 ot 10.2 range is not
uncommon, although most stick to the 9.0 or 9.5 as the top end. Sails
can handle a much larger range of wind conditions. I was out sailing
on my 5.5 comfortably powered up, and another guy (approx. same size)
was out tooling around on a 7.5, strained but comfortable. The rigs are
much better at dumping extra wind, which brings us to....
Masts,
Carbon, carbon, carbon, that is about all there is, all that matters is
how much there is. More carbon is less weight and more control or
"snapines" to the mast. 20% carbon is a lower limit, race masts are
80-100(rare)% and spring like crisp spring steel. Wave masts are
usually in the 35-65% to maintain durability. Most masts now are
Constant curve (early 90s were "flex top") for a complete dissertation
on MCS IMCS and mast naming conventions see the windwing website.
Fins:
Today fins make the world go around. I have been told order of
importance for fast equipment 1 sail, 2 FIN, 3 board!!!! Fins are much
longer and pointier. New finboxes can handle a lot more load, Tuttle or
deep Tuttle leading the pack for capacity the GO comes stock with a 54cm
fin (woof), with Powerbox and Trimbox left to battle out the low end
with the old A-box still used in lots of wave boards due to limited tail
thickness. Most people have a fin "quiver" that parallels the sail
quiver, I forget the rule of thumb, something like take the sail area,
divide by two and mult by 10 and that is the area for the fin. Look at
the fin websites for more pointers on that, (I still have't invested in
the fins yet)
Lots of other changes, but you'll have to find out some of them yourself
(thats part of the fun, right???) Good luck, I'll have to say, it is at
least as much fun as it was back then, and the better equipment means
less re-rigging time, easier setup, and much easier sail handling.
Take care
Don
BTW I am not associated with or employed by any equipment
manufacturers, distributors or retailers, I'm just your average old lame
ass boardhead engineer.
"Oliver Richard Astley,," wrote:
>
> After a 11 year hiatus I would like to start winsdsurfing
> again. I used to sail a Klepper 320 as a teenager. I
MTVNewsGuy
wrote: Shapes are much
more specialized and differentiated, just look at the Mistral web page
to see how many different sizes and models it takes to produce a "full
line" of boards these days.>>
That's a little misleading. One general purpose board made today can handle a
much wider range of conditions than a comparable board of a decade ago. Like
the sails. There's plenty of variety available, but you need less equipment to
cover any given range of conditions than you did back then.
Michael
US5613
Anton
> I found myself in the same basic situation last year, and I'll try to
> pass on what I think I learned :-).
> The changes in general over the last 11 years (any corrections
> appreciated)(maybe somebody could clean this up and FAQ it????? Marc???
> Roger??????)(maybe trash it and start over ???;-)
<snipped>
Pretty good, although you missed the mid 90's obsession with race gear that
almost killed the sport. The development of freeride gear for flatwater
sailors that don't race & freestyle gear for wavesailors that don't get good
waves, has been what the sport needed. And recently the widestyle boards
have taken the ease of use concept even further.
Basically everything is bigger and has more control and versatility. 11
years ago, a 4.5 was my most used sail, these days that would be something
like a 6.5 or a 7.0.
One downside though ;-) you now probably wouldn't get quite the same immense
feeling of achievement that getting a short board planing (never mind that
first carve gybe) gave you 11-15 years ago. Don't get me wrong, it would
still be a big thrill these days, but there wouldn't be quite as much effort
invested in it now.But there's no way I'd want to go back.
Cheers
Anton