How and where to buy windsurfing equipment? Buying a windsurf board

As I said before, my first windsurfing equipmnet cost me 1300 EUR + some 150 -200 EUR for wetsuite, shoes, gloves, ... I thought I did OK, but later on I found out I could really save a lot of money. Especially when I was buying my first equipment. 

Lets go in details throug what kind of equipmet you need when you are a beginner. What you have to get? Where can you get it? How can you get a good deal? What to be aware of?

If you are not 100% sure that you are going to become a windsurfer, not sure if you are going to like it or not, don't buy windsurfing equipment! First Borrow it or rent it if possible! Here is why! (about the beginners boards)

As an adult beginner, you will need a really large board. Probably somevhere between 160 and 200+ liters of volume (see table for reference):

Beginner Board	Your Weight
	50 kg	60 kg	70 kg	80 kg	90 kg	100 kg	110 kg
Volume (liters)	145	160	175	190	205	220	235
Width (cm)	72	78	83	89	94	100	105
Length (cm)	285	292	299	306	313	319	326

The idea of the first / big boards is to give you a lot of stability, so you can focus on learning instead od having to worry about how to stay on the board and keeping ballance all the time. But such really big boards are only good for a few hours. Let's say 10-20. This is an average time needed to learn the basics: seting up and handling the equipment, keeping balance - standing on the board, lifting the sail, riding, turning, etc. If after those 10 hours you decide that this is the extent of your involvement in windsurfing then go ahead and buy the beginners board.

But If you decide that you want more, this will definetly not be your last board. Also the sail that you will learn with in first hours will be way to small to progress with later on.

So again ... borrow equipment if possible until you are not really sure of how commited you are to windsurfing. This is an expensive sport even if you take care!

You can Buy second hand - used equipment. It is perfectly safe if you take care!

If you haven’t got lots of money to spare and even if you do, there is absolutely no need to buy all new equipment. That especially goes for the windsurfing boards. Buying your board second hand will spare you tons of money. For example, I bought my first beginners board new for 800 EUR (mistake) and sold it for 600 one year later, I lost 200 EUR.

Later I bought one bigger board for my ex. (first was to small) - a famous Starboard Start. But then I already new better any I paid only 250 EUR for a second-hand one. It wasn't a perfect board visually. EVA foam was scratched at several places, but technically board was 100% OK. No leaks, no cracks, etc. 



Starboard Start was a family fun. My daughter could lay flat on the board while I was cruising around. Ex. could ride it as well since it was super-wide and she could easily keep balance and my friend actually rode three kids at once with it :)

Last board that I bought was 280 EUR second-hand (board bag included). It was a JP Super Sport PRO - carbon board. I had to repair it a bit and that cost me 80 EUR. But this board retailed at 2000 EUR when new.



This is at the moment my favorite board. It is easy to ride, super-fast and very light. Model is 2009.

Where can you buy second hand equipment?

If there is windsurfing in your country, there are for sure forums and internet pages where people sell used equipment. Check the internet. Check also second-hand prices internationally. Windsurfer generally do not sell equipment because it is busted, they sell it because they outgrow it, or they want to try something new - different. Some have the habit to sell it when it is one season or two seasons old - like cars. There are also fairs where they sell new and used equipment. People sell used equipment also in windsurfing resorts before they leave.

You have to be sure that equipment you are buying is OK which is difficult in the beginning. If you are not sure about it, get help. Talk to someone who has experience. Ask him/she to help you. Windsurfing community in my experience is quite friendly.

You can buy a repaired windsurfing board

If a board has been repaired it does not mean it is not still a good board. A good repair is 100% safe. If you don't know anybody that can help you evaluate the board, find a board repair shop and ask them if you can bring a board for inspection. Usually if the seller agrees to this he has nothing to hide. This is something I really did with my last board :)

Beginner’s boards are made from epoxy and fiberglass which is hard to break. Also they are more robustly made (thicker) and therefore much heavier. They are intended to be used also in windsurfing schools and can handle abuse. So, even if the beginner board is a bit older, like 4 or 5 years or even older it will most probably be quite OK and without any cracks.

Besides from epoxy models advance and PRO boards are made also from lighter materials like carbon fibers. And because shapers want to make boards as light as possible they make layers as thin as still acceptable. But very thin boards are more prone to breaking. Mostly boards break at the nose where they get hammered by the masts and under foot straps where there is lot of pressure from feet. This can happen from lots of jumping or lots of hard riding as well. Usually when service repairs the damaged part of the board, that part is now stronger then when new. Board can be a few grams heavier but average windsurfer will never notice the difference.

And repaired boards, even if they are 100% OK, never sell as good as boards without any damage - you can negotiate the price!

Cracked nose!


Board after repair.

In my next post I will write more about sails. What to keep in mind when buying one.

How I bought my first windsurfing equipment and how I spent way to much money doing it?

As I said in my previous post, I was new to windsurfing and I had no equipment. So what to do? First as I always do, I checked the internet and found some stores that sell windsurfing equipment. Since Ljubljana is not a big city, we don't have many stores. I visited a few and explained to sellers what I was looking for. A windsurf that my ex. could use, my doughter and me ... 

They advised me to buy a board at around 160 L. At the end of research I bought a brand new starter board Tabou Coolrider 160 with full EVA deck and also removable center fin (not a dagger board) which they said it is better compared to dagger-boards, when we will start to plane - back then I didn't know what that really meant :) With the board there came the foot straps. So that was the board. As they said, it was a bargain of 800 EUR and it was the far most expensive piece of windsurf equipment that I ever bought. And this was "a really good deal" on the board. I had the price lowered quite a bit with a few contra-offers.

Tabou Coolrider was a nice board to learn on!

Then I needed a mast base, a mast, mast foot, sail and boom with a rope. I bought:

• new Amex MOVE aluminum boom, + rope for lifting (in use at the moment)
  
  
   
• new RRD EPX 430 epoxy mast, (mast broke first season, was replaced and immediately sold as new)
• Pat Love base and, mast-foot (stil in use)
   
• and Gaastra Pilot sail 5.0 m2, which was actually a test sail from Gaastra test center at Lake Garda. (did my first steps with it and then occasionally used it for two seasons and later sold it)
  
    
  In this video I was riding the Gaastra Pilot 5.0 right before I sold it.

All this equipment cost me additional 500 EUR. 

So having no experience in windsurfing I spent alltogether around 1300 EUR for my first equipment! I thought I didn't do all that bad. Which I actually did. I just didn't know.

Since then I owned all together 8 windsurf boards, 11 sails, 8 masts, 2 booms, a few mast extensions, bases, bags, harness lines and bunch of other windsurfing equipment. It was a path on which I found the type of windsurfing I want to do and the right equipment for it. And some of the equipment was also for kids.

All this sounds like I spent a fortune on windsurfing equipment, but I actually didn't. Mostly I cycled through the equipment sometimes losing a few euros but sometimes earning a few. 

During the time leared a lot. I was reading all the time, learning from the resources from the internet (video, text), joined a few forums and got some really good advice and of course did windsurfing as often as I could. 

And what is now already obvious - I was hooked on windsurfing.

How to learn windsurfing? My beginnings!

With windsurfing it is more or less same as with any other sports. You can learn very fast to a degree that will be more than enough for most recreational and vacation windsurfers, but it can take really long to master it.

In next few posts I'll try to go through my personal experience and learning process which I hope will help you start and progress faster. And yes, this is not a guide for kids.

My current level of windsurfing is ,.. Well I have no idea how to define my level of windsurfing. Let say I can't always execute a carve-jibe :-) I'm still learning and I hope I will be learning for a long years to come.

But let us start with the beginnings.

I started windsurfing really more by accident then by choice about good 4 years ago. It was my ex who complained a lot about going to the seaside and how there is nothing to do, etc. and lets buy a windsurf so she could windsurf ... me, I'm in love with the sea and everything connected with it. I don't imagine any other vacation than something related to the sea. Tried it many times ... did not work. I just have to get my dose of salt each year I guess. It charges my batteries like nothing else, and my daughter loves the sea as kids generally do, so windsurf it was.

So what to do now?  I had no experience in windsurfing. Did some back when I was a kid but that was a good 30 years ago. Technology has probably changed ... Where to buy? What to buy? How to buy? Actually if you are a total newbie you really don't have as many questions at all. If you have some money you go to a surf store and they will advise you on what to buy and you will almost for sure make your first mistake :)

To be continued!

Discovered a new windsurfing spot in north croatia

Back in october I went to Croatia island Krk again with a friend of mine. We actually wanted to go to Punat, but as we were getting closer, the winds were picking up more and more. When we got to the spot winds were too strong for the equipment we had with us or. had at all for that matter. It was for 3,7 m2 sails.

After some waiting and feeling sorry for ourselves there was suddenly a rumor around about going to another spot on the other side of the island where it could be better. Apparently when there are very strong winds - too strong to windsurf in Punat they can be just right in a little village of Klimno.

Since we had no idea where it was we were following a guy who is sort of a local, and after reaching the spot, after some 20 minutes or so, we found little windsurfing heaven on earth. :-)

At first it didn't even seem that there was any wind, but this guy assured us that it was. And in a few minutes we really saw someone on the water - cutting a strait white line. There were only three of us there at the beginning. Later one some more people came but it all looks like Klimno is not really known between windsurfers in that region - there was also a hint from our 'guide' - not to talk about Klimno around to much. I guess they would like to keep it that way. :-)

Anyway ... I rode my knew old JP Freerace 118 in combination with BuggFins freerace/slalom fin 37,5 cm. I decided for the smaller fin and larger sail Challenger sails Fluido T3 7,8. It was a good combination. I did a few hours with the setup and recorded the session with the GPS and the sports-tracker app.

Max speed was over 45 km/h which is I guess ok for me and the big sail :)

http://www.sports-tracker.com/workout/gregorpi/56350dcee4b05c3147aa57d7

Sports Tracker Session at Klimno

Here is a nice video about JP Australia Super Sport 2009

While im waiting for my first windsurfing day this season :-)

Riding CHS Fluido T3 6.6 in combination with Fanatic Hawk 93 board

On 16 8 2014, I was windsurfing in Punat at island Krk in Croatia

Watter was a bit choppy for this spot which in a bit lower winds has almost no waves.

First I was riding Fanatic Hawk 93 with Challenger sails Konda 4,7. Then the wind dropped and I changed to my Fluido T3 6.6m2 sail which I got resently. Sail has 3 cams.

I was riding this combination for the first time. My fin was a freeride 36 cm one and I was a bit anoyed by it. I would prefer a freerace or a slalom fin which would keep better direction. Freeride fin in combination with freerace or slalom sail does not work. You put a lot of preasure on the fin when riding such sail and the board turns instead of holding direction.Well I didn't have a freerace fin of that size at the time :D