General Questions about Windsurfing from a beginner

advance420 · Joined: 05 Jul 2012 Posts: 24

Hey everyone,

At the end of the summer, I will be moving to Hainan, China to study Chinese at the local university. Hainan is a tropical island in the South China Sea, and I've read that windsurfing is very common there. I currently live in Wisconsin, USA.

Since, I have 2 months before I leave, I thought I would go out and buy a kit, and spend the rest of my summer practicing on the lake near where I live.

I found a really nice kit for 450 dollars. Could anyone experienced tell me if this is worth it?

http://madison.craigslist.org/spo/3106164873.html

Now, the university is about 1-3 km away from the ocean. Is it feasable to carry all that gear to the ocean? Obviously, I won't have a car, so I'm wondering how much it all weighs, and if it will be easy to carry back and fourth from the beach.

Also, does the board need to be in a travel case when I fly? The board is 138 inches. Do you think this is too big to include as a checked bag? I found on the website that for Hainan Airlines:

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

inlandsea · Joined: 29 Sep 1996 Posts: 174

I second that. Better to take lessons locally now and rent gear for the rest of the summer if possible. If you are in Madison you can also check out the universitys sailing center as they might have gear. Also check with ithmus sailboards as they area near you. They might have a program or a better option for you.

As for traveling with that craigslist gear, forget it! It will cost a ton to due so if it is even possible .

Philip

npiankov · Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 82

The gear you are looking at is pretty ancient. I would even say that $450 is a little bit too much money for it. Stuff like this is worth more like $300-350 nowadays.

You can probably learn on this gear. However, it's not clear whether you'd enjoy it beyond your first 1 or 2 months. It's clearly not worth taking to China - it will cost more to transport it there than it's worth, even if you are allowed to bring it on the plane (those old boards are long and quite heavy).

Lessons are useful. The other thing you may want to consider is renting for your first few times. See if you even like it! Then, once you sort of know what you are doing, you can make a more informed decision about what to buy. That's what I did. Yes, it costs 50-70 per day, but it's worth it. You don't have to transport anything, you'll get the right gear for your level. After a few lessons you may find out you don't like this at all and it would save you quite a bit of trouble. Or you may find you like it a lot and would rather spend $1000 to get something modern.

Good luck! It's a fun sport and hopefully you'll like it as much as most of us.