Board and sails - which should I buy new

[jgerke]

isobars, funny you should mention the gorge cause I might be able to pull off a trip up there next week. Just found out today that it is a possibility. Where are some good places to look for used gear in Hood River? The only place I am very familiar with is Windance.

[isobars]

The July 5 swap meet, Windance, 2nd Wind, and Big Winds all have used and/or closeout boards (the latter pile gets bigger at the Labor
Day Sunday swap meet). This site's Buy/Sell section lists lots of gear from local individuals likely to be at the swap meets or willing to meet you there. Portland Craigslist is also a prospect for sellers willing to meet you in HR.

If you come looking for a specific board or sail or mast, you may be disappointed; ya just never know what will show up besides piles of JP FSWs of all sizes. But if you do some homework first, build a prioritized shopping list of several or many boards, sails, masts, booms, etc., you'll hit the swap meet and consignment shops feeling like my Labrador retriever when overrun by a jackrabbit stampede during a two-state rabbit drive north of the Great Salt Lake: overwhelmed. Research, preparation, a pocketful of cash, a plan, and readiness to decide and act are your friends when in buying mode. My board wish list alone included at least 30 target boards; some swap meets were a bust, but at one I bought 5 boards on my short list. I searched for a 2006 78L JP FSW for two years, then found two 20 feet apart and bought the best one. And although I'm in a major board SELL mode now (sold 8 last swap meet), I still bought a board on my VERY short list from Windance by phone just this week. Some deals are just that good.

I often see great deals on lightly used sails go unsold, and I have no reservations about buying used booms or masts if they look good enough. I wouldn't pay $10 for a boom that creaks when stressed or a mast with a visible or palpable impact mark, but will pay hundreds for either that looks solid and is a model I want.

I should add that I'm not hurting for money, and can get some good deals on new gear; I just don't like throwing it away. Example: when I decided to sail only NoLimitz Skinnys because I was fed up with long swims from breaking less sturdy masts, at one swap meet I sold all my others and bought 7 new Skinnys for about 55% of list price. Some things are worth the price of admission. OTOH, I've felt that strongly about only two different boards this century.

At your stage, regardless of your finances, there's no way in heck I'd advise buying new boards or sails. Damn near any of those jackrabbits of the right size and type will work just fine, your taste in rabbits will evolve at the speed of light, and if you empty your gun at the first wave of rabbits, you'll be out of ammo and/or freezer space when a fine cottontail or even a mink catches your eye.

If your WSing goals are having fun and progressing rapidly rather than outrunning the other WSer at Willard Bay, go for user-friendly rather than demanding, fidgety, racy boards and sails. You don't need no steenkin' cams or knee-busting flatbottomed ego-boardz with 50-cm fins until and unless you've learned from extensive experience that ultimate speed is all that matters to you, and even then along will come some better SAILOR on a frigging wave board/sail/fin who will blow your doors off. Go for fun and ease of sailing first and the rest will follow, sooner and more readily.

At least that's my opinion, biased by my 36 years, most of it full time in windy places, of WSing.

[U2U2U2]

Funny... Yup