Beginner need advise PLEASE!

[mrchocky]

[cgoudie1]

Fanatic Mega Cats and Mistral Ultralights are clogging garages from
coast to coast. They are large, floaty and have a dagger board, plus
they can be had for a song. They will be harder to learn on than current
wide modern boards, but they have a real performance aspect, and can be
used (especially by heavier guys) as low wind performance boards.
5-15 Knots is what they were designed for. If you run across one for
< $100, it might be worth a shot just as an experiment. Or,
this one is kind of a beater, but it's a board you can learn on and also use
later for 5-15 http://www.windance.com/product.php?productid=4662&cat=381&page=2

I am not affiliated with Windance, but I've bought a lot of stuff from them
over the years.

-Craig

[KevinDo]

Forgot to say learn at alamitos not cabrillo unless you want to be waving to the fishermen at the pier lol

[beaglebuddy]

If there are any places that offer windsurfing instruction, contact them and see if they want to sell any of their old gear.
You might be able to get a complete beginner kit for really cheap and maybe they will throw in a lesson.
I got a giant beginner board that way for $100, it was completely waterlogged and weighed 50 Lbs but it served it's purpose then I sold it to someone else for $150, I still see it around.

[NOVAAN]

Go to the seal beach swap meet. Last I heard its Oct.7th. Lots of stuff cheap. Might even score a free board or two. Just don't buy junk. You must be sure that all the parts work with each other. Bic boards like the larger Techno are great to learn on and are not going to break every time you set it down. Ask for Tony at the swap meet. I will be glad to give you my input...

[SeaDawg]

225lbs, is not the end of the world. Think in terms of progression. Lots of us learned on the older longboards with center boards, Equipe, ultra Cat etc.

The Starboard Go, more or less revolutionized learning to windsurg 200+ liters can float almost 400lbs.

I have a 1999 Tiga Free 79 thats 205liter, its a version of the Bic Techno 293 of that era. These boards are still great to learn on. Get a 5.5 and a 7.0 and those sails and a board like I mentioned and you should be good to go.

Plenty of windsurfers at the beach should be more than happy to share the stoke with you.

[dsgrntlxmply]

Your best way in, by far, is to try to locate a school or instructor with beginner gear.

The easiest boards to learn on, especially for a sailor in the 225 pound range, are 200-250 liters and very wide. RRD Easyride Large, the larger Naish Kailua, and Fanatic Viper 85, Starboard Start all come to mind.

Very few people would want to own one of these personally, unless you have no possibility of renting. An exception might be one of the smaller sizes in the same board family. I know of people who own and sail the Naish Kailua 180, and I owned this board in 160 for a while (and loved it). The smaller boards will not be as easy for the first stages of learning.

HiFly Mambo (no longer made but the appear in the used market) is a nice beginner board (apart from being a bit heavy to carry) worth owning personally, if you can get a few lessons first.

Instruction is highly recommended. All of the written material on the sport was written 15+ years ago. Videos can help on specific skills, but in the early stages, they're not a usable substitute for hands-on with a good instructor. I am deeply allergic to instruction and coaching in any other activity, but strongly recommend it for windsurfing.

Instruction would most likely start you on a small sail (3.2-3.7) to get an initial feel for sail handling. You would almost never want to personally own a small beginner sail. At your weight, this sail will not get you going very fast, and you will most likely have trouble getting enough headway and power to stay upwind. It's just for the earliest stage of learning to balance, uphaul, tack, jibe (downwind turn), and tack (upwind turn).

You'd might then move up to 5.0-5.5, which is OK for next-stage learning, and for cruising around in a wind range that will move upwards with your skill. The first sail that I owned personally was a 5.0, and the next was a 5.7. I still use the 5.0 in suitably high winds.

Your results and learning curve will depend upon whether you are 225 fairly muscular and conditioned pounds, or 225 fat pounds. Windsurfing was very difficult for me at 240 fat unconditioned pounds, and vastly easier now at 197 somewhat-conditioned (age: late 50's) pounds.

I first tried windsurfing at age 40, but only restarted after a lot of conditioning effort, and made it a regular part of my life around age 55. The good news is that beginner gear is much easier to sail than it was 15+ years ago. The bad news is that the shrinking sport now has left us in many areas, with limited or no opportunities for instruction and rental.

Opportunities that I'm directly familiar with: instruction and rental are readily available on Maui (expensive, somewhat challenging conditions for beginners, but that's were I took initial instruction, several choices available), Bonaire (expensive and harder to get to, two choices available), and seasonally (roughly mid-April to mid-October) in the San Francisco Bay area (Boardsports School at Alameda and Coyote Point / San Mateo).

[cptn_picard]

Michael - welcome to windsurfing. I am a SoCal sailor who started in Alamitos Bay - a great place to learn. Contact Christopher, he is a fantastic teacher, has an XL Ntrance beginner board and gives lessons in the Bay.

http://cfwindsurfing.com/

[KevinDo]