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time for a smaller board.


Question
I am an active 185lb, 6'1" 52 year old windsurfer with two years experience. I windsurf on Lake Ontario in the summer, and lake George, FL in the winter. Both location have 2-4 ft chop and 10-20 knot winds.

I currently sail on a Tiga Hyper-X 130L with a Gastra 8.5 and Maui 6.4m switch. I can water start with about a 30% success rate. I can tack and jibe, but not a planning jibe.
I'm almost in the foot straps, but it just seems like by current rig, wants me too far forward.

I love speed, and aggressive sailing (I sail catamarans in crazy conditions also). I want to get a smaller board for heavy wind days. 20-25 knots. It would be great if the switch 6.4 could be used with it. It's a great sail (almost new) that was raced with by Kevin Pritchard.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.  

Answer
At your level you should really be demoing boards to get what you really want.  You are at a more advanced level than most so you should be able to judge a board by trying it out however it is not very easy to demo a board in the right conditions.  Try borrowing a board from a friend with a smaller board to see how it feels.  I would recommend a board in the 85 to 100 liter range but at your weight it will be close to a sinker.  I have a friend I sail with who weighs the same as you and he can sail an 85 liter board but can barely stand on it when not in motion so waterstarting is key to going down to a smaller board.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to be able to waterstart in 100% of the situations you will be in. 20 to 25 knots is a lot of wind.  Sailing a smaller board without having the full skill to waterstart can be dangerous. Most likely your 6.4 sail will be too big for a smaller board.  I think a 5.5 to 5.7 would be your best bet and then a 4.8 to 5.0 for really high wind.  I hope that helps.  Practice those waterstarts!
Good Luck and Good Wind!
Patrick

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