WIndsurfing gear maze

Question
Hello!
I have just moved from the Midwest to the Columbia River Gorge area after visiting here 6 years ago. What an awesome and beautiful place!! I have always wanted to learn to windsurf but never had a place that was close to learn at. So now is the time!

I have taken a couple of professional lessons and now I am ready to buy some gear. Which comes to my question - I have been a little overwhelmed by all the different board sizes, sails, booms, masts and all the different opinions that I am about to go crazy! No one can seem to agree on anything. There are carbon booms, alum booms, regular masts, skinny masts, long boards, short boards, fat boards, skinny boards. Then there are all the different liter sizes. I can't make sense of it all. All of my research has just added more complication. Can you help me sort through this maze of gear? It has become so frustrating that I am almost ready to walk away from the sport entirely. Some shops seem more interested in making money then giving any real helpful advice to the new guy.

My background is this - I have been active in the outdoors most of my life (biking, whitewater kayaking, climbing) so I am in reasonable shape and athletic. I am 5'10" and weigh about 155 to 160. I want to primarily sail in the gorge for a few years then see where it goes from there.

This is the gear list a lot of windsurfers have sort of agreed on so far (opinions vary) ?an alum boom up to 198cm, 4.0 & 5.0 sail, a regular 400cm mast with extension and base plate. I'm not sure if this is reasonable or not since I don't know much about it. Then or course the last piece of gear is the board. This has caused a HUGE amount of debate!! In one camp you have some windsurfers who say get around a 125L freeride board that is good for intermediates. Other camps say get something over 200L. Still others say get 100L or smaller and grow into it. It is quite a maze. Can you help me sort this out?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!


Answer
Hey Van,

I got to thinking about your situation and I have some gear you may be interested in checking out. I have a long board for learning basics, some small sails, extra mast, and a fin or two that I would be willing to part with for a very decent price. I could set you up with most of what you need to get going. I also have a short board that is great for learning waterstarts and jibes on that I will toss in for no extra. You would be looking at $100-150 depending upon what you might want. All you would need is a boom and a mast base/mast foot. Let me know if you are interested. As mentioned before, I'm in Vancouver. email me @ [email protected]

Windlover aka:Kevin