In part 1 we introduced the subject of buying your first windsurfing board. Part 2 discussed the the different parameters you need to consider when buying a board.

Now for some recommendations:

As a general rule of thumb,you want a board with at least 150L of volume. And it has to be wide,I would say 60-70CM, at least. There are some great boards out there that will last the average recreational windsurfer at least 2-3 years.

Some boards in that range:

• Bic techno - was (and still is) my first board. Long (283L), Large (152L) and wide (69CM). It’s heavy,though.. The popularity of the Bic Techno comes from it’s price/performance ratio - it’s the cheapest board we will find.
• Starboard Go - it’s much wider and shorter than the Go but I got some good recommendations from sailors who used it. Will last you a long time, can carry large sails. It just looked to wide to me, I was afraid of its performance (or lack of) in stronger wind.Price is in the mid range
• JP X-Cite ride - if you can spear the money and lucky enough to have more than 30 windy days a year,I would go for this board. Was my dream board, but couldn’t afford it because I was a student when I bought the Techno. This board got great reviews. You could go for the smaller ones : 120-130L will guarantee you many great moments on the water.

Basically, all manufacturers have at least one board designed specially for the beginner-intermediate sailors so check their websites,ask around or post comments here, we will be happy to help you with your decision.

One last question - buy new or used board? It’s a tough question. I bought a brand new Bic Techno and I love it. Some would prefer to by a used wide board, ride it for a year or so and then buy a smaller, new board. Don’t forget that if you buy a new one and sell it after a couple of years, most shops will offer you a trade-in for your old board.

That was the last post of this beginner series.

Feel free to leave your comments.

Tags: beginner, board, sail, wideboard, windsurfer, windsurfing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Beginners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.