lightweight sailor in light wind

[Arrgh]

[adywind]

It's not that complicated after all. All those super light, wide boards like the Ultra Sonic, XFire Lightwind, Super Lightwind are great for what you are looking for-as early planing as possible without the bulk of the Formula and their huge fins and sails. There is a 2013 Ultrasonic at Isthmus:
http://www.isthmussailboards.com/Superlight-Wind-_-Formula-Boards/products/351/
You may try to negotiate and get a good price. A "wanted "add in Craigslist may turn up something too. I've seen this board in action and its amazing-the guy was making circles around me on a SuperSport 79 and a 9.0 Retro. You can go as small as 7.0 on this board. The downside-chop handling in the Big Lake and the long 58 cm -very fast but fragile in small shallow lakes. So if you get a board like that make sure you pad it's nose good and use some old or a weed fin for shallow waters.
Your other options are : performance longboards like this: http://www.isthmussailboards.com/Performance-Windsurfing-Longboards/products/332/
Or WindSUPs like this:
http://www.isthmussailboards.com/Wind-SUP-Crossover-Boards/products/357/
Longboards have no long fin problems and because they ride slower will not have control issues when going over steep chop /don't know for sure just guessing/, they're main issue is storage and transportation as you know.

[gvogelsang]

[fathomfathom]

I like Adywind answer.

I'm 145lbs. Sail the Great Lakes.

I can plane without too much effort 10-12 knots, and with no effort above 12 knots.

Old set up Retro 8.0 and Bic Nova 180 (with a 60cm race fin)
New set up Retro 8.0 and SB Formula and a 68cm race fin
I considered also an Ultrasonic which I think would plane at my weight just as fast as the SB Formula.

However for marginal 10 knots , I actually plane faster without much pumping with the Bic Nova (which is really the old Bic Formula board shape but in kids friendly top), once going the Formula (and the Ultrasonic) are much more lively. They are also a LOT more fragile.

I tried a friend's Speedfreak, for the same size, the Retro has a lot more low end (and is a nice slippery sail when rigged right at the top end).
I owned a bunch of Superfreaks so nothing against the brand (off topic but SF are the lightweight sailors best friends above 30 knots).
I did buy a 9.5m Sailworks NX but can't even lift it off the ground and was a real pain on the water so sold it after one run! The extra grunt and the huge gain in weight too all the fun out of it at 145lbs.

For 145lbs, Bruce recommended a 460 mast for the 8.0 Retro, which is more forgiving in the gusts and I agree.

Here's an old video of me on the old set up (when I was 130lbs lol)

http://youtu.be/ThgTKTFAY1I