VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I am a beginner and just getting gear together. I will sail mostly at Nitinaht for first year at least before I venture to Cook Street. The school recommended a 138 length. Some folks recommended smaller and others bigger. Will it make that much difference? Does the brand, age or shape impact a beginner very much? Would I notice the difference between a performance board and a simple less expensive one. I plan on upgrading in a year or so anyway so Imay just get a cheaper board to start. I have good North kites and bar. Didn't skimp on quality there. Any advice would be welcome.

Jim, whatever you decide to do, make a plan and follow it. Here's some ideas to consider when acquiring boards :

- it's not just length, important design characteristics that affect how a board handles are a combination of a) width b) length c) rocker or amount of curve fore-aft and others ( outline, stiffness, concave or shape across the width, weight, damping ) to a lesser extent. A simple summary is a board with more surface area ( width x length ) will work better in lower wind than a board with less surface area. Flatter rocker works better in light wind but you sacrifice turning response, more rocker needs more power from the kite and hence higher wind, and has better handling in the turns.

- it's a lot quicker to switch boards than kites when the wind changes a bit.

I'd suggest you get a bigger board when first learning, as it smoothens out the power fluctuations when first learning how to keep power in the kite. Then once you are riding nicely powered all the time and you start finding your board too big and bouncy in the chop, time to add a high-wind smaller board.

Keep your first big board to have when the wind backs off some, as with a quick board switch you can be back out riding while others are pumping a larger kite.

For what it's worth, i used my 148 Cabrinha Prodigy prettymuch my whole first season, despite having a 135 on hand as well.
The bigger boards really do make life easier for the first bit, especially when you're mostly trying to get and stay up wind.
Width is a huge factor, 1/4" extra of width provides about the same additional planing ability as 1" of length (or so some oldschool surfboard shapers told me)

Looks like 138 and up is the way to go. I'm leaning that way but will also look at width as well. How does one figure out or compare the rocker on different boards when buying second hand? Thanks for the help. I'll be posting a wanted add on the buy and sell forum soon. I'll have to see what used boards present themselves before mid Feb when I go to the Tulumn area for 3 weeks in Mexico. I'm getting excited!

I am a big believer in the Ocean Rodeo Mako for beginners and beyond. Easy to start, easy to ride, eats up chop, nice and carvey.

The old original 150x35s go pretty cheap....$100-200.
More for the newer 140x40 or 150x40....harder to find used, people tend to hold onto them.

And get yourself a GoJoe or make an equivalent....saves a lot of body dragging in the learning phase, and less likely to lose your board.

I'm with Juan & Greg Jim. The magic of the MAKO is 18mm of concave If your of average size 10m is the kite to watch for. Plenty of O.R. RISE & RAZORS available. The PRODIGY 9.5 is user friendly. I honestly know nothing about other brands. Island View is a great spot for learning with a great catchment area & a field for launching & landing

+1 for the GOJOE when learning, it will help you get more time on board and less time body dragging.

For Tulum, I would recommend a wider board because the winds can be a little light there at time.

I work at OR so I will recommend the Origin board which was designed with students in mind to help them get to plane early and drive up wind faster. Once you are riding upwind, it is still a fun board to keep in your quiver. New this board retails for only $499. http://oceanrodeo.com/products/origin

Mako is a board worth considering as well but it does need a little more juice in it and Tulum may be a little under powered for a Mako.

Before you buy a board, perhaps post a link to the ad, or write the type size, and year, of the board in this post and we can give you our opinion. There's a lot of boards out there that would be great for you and others that should have never been produced in the first place.

Todd

Bring a big kite and a big board to Tulum. I lived there for 6 months and rarely got a day over 20kn. If you are a diver make sure you hit the cenotes. Be prepared to do other activities because it is just not that windy there.