How do we get longboarding back ??

[DelCarpenter]

33 seasons of longboarding, because I never left. My longboard progression was Bic 250, Alpha 180, Bic Dufour Wing, Bic Veloce 328, Bic Bamba, Mistral Equipe XR, Kona One, Fanatic MegaCat, & F2 Comet Slalom. I haven't had fewer than two longboards since 1987 and I still have the last three.

The wonderful ease of tacking a Dufour Wing was entirely due to the ridiculously tiny, crappy and unchangeable fin. The Wing was great in very light wind, but not at all good for duffers like me when winds began to become strong, such as 12 to 15 mph (or maybe even less).

Kona One vs Bic Dufour Wing?.... I would keep the Kona. I think it is easier to learn on and it is great fun in a much wider range of wind speeds.

[joethewindsufa]

in today's times the KONA has definitely won - pun intended
is it the ideal lake board in light winds ?
i am NOT so sure...
it does many other things well tho !!
guess the longboard revival will remain a dream
a vision without a plan is a dream anyway ...

[wynsurfer]

There are plenty of modern longboards available. Most of them can also be paddled and surfed. Yesterday I had a great time on my Starboard windsup whopper 10' x 34" 180 L. in 5-15 mph winds sailing with a 6.5 surfing boat wakes practicing jibes and just cruising around. I'm thinking of getting something closer to 12' in length for better glide in lighter winds and no wind paddle mode.

I do not miss my old Fanatic Ultra Cat at all, which went up wind fantastic and was very fast off the wind as well, but turned like an aircraft carrier, could not surf waves, was too narrow to be paddled easily, and lacked stability in very light wind due to it's narrow width. Everyone I tried to teach windsurfing on it gave up. At rest it was like trying to stand up in a canoe.

If you like sailing longboards you really owe it to yourself to try a modern longboard, especially one that can also be paddled.

[Darbonne]

Longboarding is alive and well. Go to the Kona Worlds and you will see. You will also see many excellent, skilled windsurfers who will leave you far behind. I saw people flying on Konas in 20 knot winds. If I ever recover from my house flood I will be there.

[coachg]

Joe,
There is no "Ideal Board" in light winds, longboards do not need a revival and if you are not having fun while windsurfing you are having problems that no type of board will cure.

Here is my list of requirements for a light wind board:
1. Glide
2. Up wind ability
3. Plane ability
4. Durability
5. Weight
6. SUP ability
7. Surf ability
8. Float ability (enough volume to float an adult & child)
9. Teach ability
10. Comfort
11. Race ability
12. Portability

I could not find a board that would satisfy all the requirements. Every choice is going to have a compromise, even if you factor in inflatables. I have three light wind choices, each being fun in their own way. Kona, surfing Windsup & Fanatic Falcon.

Coachg

[joethewindsufa]

i am not having issues with the FUN factor myself

and my questions, observations and hopes are based on local situation
in Montreal we now have way more kiters than windsurfers
when there are light winds, i seem to be the only one on a longboard
there is Sailboarder with his KONA and now Francone with his WindSUP
they sail at other locations - which i sometimes visit

at the chalet i am the only one on the lake
there is the occasional SUPper or someone attempting windsurfing
young ones seem to prefer bumper boating or water skiing

from coachg's list - i don't SUP, surf or race
the Mistral Equipe II XR works for me
Georges, a windsurf buddy, appreciates the benefits of my MEQ II
yet he has chosen to go the kite route in light winds
and people have started foiling locally as well - on kite boards

for teaching not sure what the "ideal" is yet
people get the FUN factor, but prefer to use my stuff
driven away by storage/transport and cost factors

[GURGLETROUSERS]

To add to Coachg's list. (He deals with the board -I think of the rider.)

Proper longboarding isn't just a poor lightwind substitute for short board action. That's the role of short fat high volume boards. i.e. planing at all costs.

Anybody who's truly fascinated by movement should be able to appreciate what longboarding is all about. That purposeful sense of gliding motion, and the bit faster semi-planing galumph, which, to me me, about sums up our own unstoppable glide through life itself. (Purpose, but we know not what.)

To best sum up, I always remember standing at the stern of a large car ferry as it nonchalently and drivenly, pushed at its fixed 15 knots (a very nice longboard speed) into a long smoothe swell. The ferry was in its natural element, and was there by right.

That's precisely how I feel at that magic longboard galumphing speed (12 knots or so) on my longboard. It's a world apart in meaning from frenetic shortboarding or surfing.

(Will continue - coffee spilled over computer!!)

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Continued - the computer has been thoroughly dried out for a couple of days, but it keeps going wrong at intervals.

The single most enduring winsurfing memory is from 1987, when I took my then longboard (Bic Bee-Bop racing board) out to Staffa (Fingals Cave) and back to the mainland of Mull. The journey back was a magical and glorious galumphing reach, for 47 minutes, at that perfect 12 knot-ish speed across a wonderful long smooth rolling swell. I just wanted it to last for ever.

AQ single highlight was on looking up in the haqzy sunlight, at the tip of the mast, as it seemingly touched and tore its way through a high herring-bone type of sky. (The area is well noted for its weird and wonderful atmospheric effects.)

That kind of experience, which, in windsurfing, only a longboard can truly create, is a world apart from frenetic adrenalin, challenging of the elements. It's not challenging nature, it's fitting in and being as one, by rights!

[coachg]

I left out the rider & focused on the board for obvious reasons. One man's bliss is another's bordum.

Coachg

[scargo]

I wonder if folks are still sailing the SB Serenity. I sailed one a couple of times. It's a speciality item, to be sure, but the long, narrow displacement hull is really something. If I lived on a lake with predominantly 5-12 type conditions, that'd by my huckleberry.