Suitable board for a 130lbs 16yr old?

[cmbeck]

I had a Bic 283 which was similar in dimension to the smallest volume F2 discovery, except without the daggerboard. It was a great all around board for winds from 5 - 20 knots, although 10 - 15 knots was the sweet spot. I never had too much trouble getting upwind even without the daggerboard. At your weight, depending on your athletic ability it may be OK to learn on, although the higher volume discoveries are wider, which would make learning easier.
A longboard would also be a good choice for learning, and for progressing into higher wind conditions. I now have a Bic Jungle (longboard/SUP crossover) and a 126L Fanatic for higher winds. So far this summer I've been out 4 times on the Jungle (not including SUPing) and zero times on the Fanatic. So if you are only going to have 1 board, a longboard may be the way to go for more TOW.

[tyler4bu]

Which size is it and how much are they asking for? All three will be plenty stable for learning and will give you all the TOW advantages of longboards by virtue of floating well enough to be easy to balance on in sub-planing conditions, they just won't glide as well as a longboard but will plane earlier, which will be great for your progression because the ability to plane is instrumental in most of the important skills for windsurfing (early on that will be the harness and footstraps). You'll also probably find it easier to tack than a longboard.

Anyway this board will do a lot better in lighter winds than heavier (aka when you'll be learning anyway), probably good until 15-20 knots of wind depending on how sheltered/open the water is where you sail, but if its over that amount of wind you won't want any board you're currently considering because an ideal board for those conditions is a board you don't have the ability to ride at all as a beginner (gotta be comfortable with the basics before you can think about waterstarting/gybing at speed)

[rlemmens]

The nice thing about teaching lighter people on modern freestyle boards (100-110ltr) is that they're wide, relatively responsive, plane really early, and give enough float. My gf took 4 lessons on a beginner board, and then I put her straight on my 100ltr freestyle board. A summer later (only sailing maybe 30 times), she's fully planing in the harness and footstraps and learning to jibe on a 80 ltr wave board. The problem with freestyle boards is they're more fragile, so try to get about two or three years old, on the cheap, and don't lose sleep over new cracks in the nose. Also, the bigger sized freestyle boards can take a bigger sail than wave boards of the same size. The size, other than the width, is similar to small boards so the transition won't be as big of a deal.

[jingebritsen]

giving advice is tricky on forums. telling people what may work for some in a windy spot, may not apply that well in far less wonderful venues.

[tyler4bu]

Especially given that everything you said is completely relative and in comparison to the board that the OP is checking out none of those things are true. Wider than other 70-110 L boards yes, but at MAYBE 70 cm wide they won't be nearly as wide as the beginner board OP is checking out, same with early planing, will still plane slower than a modern gargantuan beginner board. Plus, OP is concerned about TOW, and such small boards are a nightmare to ride if you aren't planing.

[2000hpbob]

Thank you all this is incredibly helpful. I'm most likely going to get the f2 discovery soon just because it is only 200$ and seams ideal for me and the other two boards have already been sold, but the board is sold without a sail. So on a completely different subject could someone explain sail selecting to me, as well as boom and mast etc. And from my understanding i would be around a 5.5l and bigger but are there different sails for different types of boards. And lastly someone is selling a "2 windwing sails. A 5.5 and 6.1 interface. Also comes with a powerex complete carbon fiber mast. And chinook carbon fiber boom" but the board they are selling it with "270 prowave advanced hull dynamic board" is from my understanding to advanced of a board for me so would these sails be ideal or do i need to look elsewhere. Thanks, Eric.