Sport Today

Throughout my 2 years or so of seriously windsurfing, i pretty much
avoided any concievable injury or bodily trauma, which is amazing,
considering the amount of times i fully deserved it.
My gear, however, has not been so lucky, in particular, my boards.

I'm curious as to if anyone has an opinion regarding the best board as
far as durability.

Basically, i want a board i can jump the living shit out of and not
have to worry about snapping it in two.

Obviously, no board is unbreakable, and some of the more durable
construction types will be lacking in performance enough that ya just
really don't want to sail em.

so i guess my real question is which board has the best combination of
performance and durability.

and if anyone cares to alleviate my pyschological pain, pictures of YOU
and the boards YOU broke will be sure to help :)
mucho apreciado.

                j

also -

for the time being i am using an old junker someone gave my local
sailing club.the mast track is really close to the nose, it seems. any
advice on setting up/tuning differences with this older kind of board?

(think like an old priesterbuilt, or windandsurf)
joshagain.

Well, you need to put the mast as far back as you can  ;*)

But seriously, you want to rig your sail so the the draft is as far aft
as you can get it without totally screwing up the sails perfromance.

I think I might try running the fin as far forward as possible also.

This ain't a great solution, but you're the one who has to ride the older
style
board.

I think Bruce P. is building a jump sail with the draft back these days,
or you could just find some pre 95 sails.

Bummer about your board.  If you're that *** them, you might
want to get a custom layup.  If you're breaking them in half, I'd
recommend
additional layers on the botttom with a rail wrap.  If you're putting your

feet through them, then more layers under the straps (carbon be your
friend for saving boards, but can be a bit harsh on knees and ankles).

Or you could go old school, and have stringers put in a polyester board.
I've got 3 of these still operating, after jumping the ***out of them.
They do heel dent after a few years though.

A custom builder is a good choice here, and can usually price you
something
in the ball park of a high end industry manufacturer.

-Craig

--
Craig (Go Short or Go Home!) Goudie
Sailing the high desert lakes of Utah on my:
RRD 298, RRD TT and Cross M 8'2" with
Sailworks/Naish Sails and Rec Composites Fins
Sailing the Gorge on my: 9'1" RRD Freeride,
8'3" Logosz Squish, 8'0" Hitech IBM with
Sailworks/Northwave Sails and Curtis Fins

Great solution.  I was talking with Rogue Wave last year and their
prices were very competitive, but I ended up buying used.  He will make
you a board as tough as you want it and is not afraid to give you the
concequences up front.

Email them, I communicated with them daily on design before even
calling them.  

Thumbs up for Rogue Wave.

How/where are yours breaking? Noses & front rails are easy to preserve with
pads. If it's midsections, it's time for tougher constructions and more
controlled landings. On second thought,***gentle landings; buy tougher
boards and have fun. BTW, I presume you're regularly hitting 20-30 feet
altitude and landing your forwards flat? Otherwise, how are you breaking
boards?

Mike \m/

mostly, big air and flat landings - i'm really trying to work on
getting the nose down lightly, but am having a lot of trouble with the
timing.  i think a lot of this is due to the fact that i was using a
100 liter screamerII  in  powered 4.5 conditions, which became really
cumbersome in the air, not to mention rough on the water.    (i was
using that after snapping my 82liter fanatic skate completely in half.)
i think 20 feet is about the max height of my jumps, although
sometimes it feels like more  .  i weigh in at about 220 though, and
the gear i have been using has been pretty wellbroken in before i got
my hands on it.  i'm not rotating forwards yet - the closest i've come
is halfheartedly sheeting in, which usually results in me sticking the
nose straight into the water (and once into a sandbar).   i keep
telling myself that next session i'm just gonna go for it, but
something (mostly my hidden timidity) usually conspires against it.

i appreciate everyone's advice.  i spent some time on the roguewave
website, and their stuff looks really sweet. if i decide to spend any
real money,i may go with a custom.                

            josh

I have a buddy who is around 145lbs.  He was and probably still is the
hottest sailor around my old launch in Florida.  He bought Rogue Wave
exclusively.  But it seemed like he would still break an average of one
board a year.  At 145lbs.  He would go huge and occasionally land on a
piece of chop funny or just flat land.

Rogue Wave would always stand behind the board and he must have had 3
warranty replacements while I sailed with him.  Of course I think he
was originally from Ontario where the boards were made at the time.
That might have helped getting the warranty's honored on  repeatedly
broken boards.

For what it is worth he also broke one of those Tri-fin Gorge Animal
set ups that someone loaned him.  The one with the Carbon layup.  I
think the owner  was betting him that he couldn't break it.  That was a
dumb bet!  Took him all of 15 minutes to snap it.

So anyway my point is that you should definately let them know you are
*** boards if you go custom.  But improving your technique is your
best bet to avoiding board replacement costs.

If you have any control over your jump elevation work on shorter jumps
and focus on rotating the nose down into the landing.  Three or four
successive jumps sheeting in and rotating for a nose first landing
repeatedly.  You have probably already thought of this but I thought it
might be beneficial to mention the obvious.  Nose first landings from
20ft would be pretty intimidating.  But they are obviously the easiest
for the equipment.

A true custom board offers the ability to change structural characteristics
in a way you want, and at a level you can afford.  My 2 cents:  get only an
EPS/epoxy board (or hollow, like a Doyle) and simply explain your concerns.
The  maker will meet your performance requirements in almost every case.
From an extra layer of cloth to heavier divinicell, going custom is the best
way to get the toughest boards.

-Dan

Everyone, thanks for the replies.  Really helpful. i will take all
these into consideration when i finally get a new board.

         Tom,
             we gonna get the formulons together at BRR next weeekend?
tune up for midwinters?    i'm sure ron will send an email soon.  i
have sailed formula only once since we were all at BRR in november,
just doing waves,  so i wanna get some TOW on big gear. and it's just
frickin chilly up here.  been doin some sailing on the club's new FJ's,
down at the rez. fun. see ya soon.

              josh

"Carbon layup"?
Tri-Fin?
Broke easily?
Uhh . . . I'll bet that's an Open Ocean, not a Gorge Animal.
GAs  have 5 fins, not 3.
Carbon GAs are extremely rare -- mine may be the only one in existence.
Almost all the OOs are carbon.
I've never seen a GA break in half, and their shaper skies 'em ALL the time,
but I've seen Open Oceans snap (or peel back from nose to tail, some owners
have reported) in minutes.

BTW . . . for ultrasoft landings before you learn to nail the nose-first
landings, look upwards whenever your fin clears the water. It rotates your
nose way up (presuming you're hooked in), converting forward speed to
altitude. Then when you look back to your touchdown spot, the nose drops
back where you want it for an extremely soft tailfirst landing . . . like a
feather from over mast-high.

Mike \m/