VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Hi, don't want to shame this guy, or to be shamed myself! I found this gear in usedvic, and would like to get gear for my daughter. My background: I'm a kiter, daughter is just starting out, has had a lesson from Hijo (I think) and so I would like to acquire some 'beginner gear' that she can shed, as she improves (already bought her an 8' 10" Roberts higher performance board up at the lake end of last summer season). I also 'get' Kus's remarks about buying gear for family, in the hopes that they develop more love for the sport than I have, point well taken.
Regardless, the person selling the gear said there is a sticker on the board, from Jericho dated 1989, so I know the board is not exactly "brand spankin' ". The mast is carbon fibre apparently, the sails are in the bag, so cannot see, board measures 12' x 24". Bottom line, every time I see our neighbors who lent us some of their WS gear I feel guilty, so I'm keen to get some gear of our own, knowing that the board at least might be cast off sooner rather than later, but hoping the sails and boom will last a bit longer.
The usedvic fellow listed below told me the gear was his father's (perhaps he passed away??) but please save your wrath and vitriol for me, and leave the poor guy alone!!!
http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified- ... r_26525810

All thoughts and advice appreciated,..... or if you have some gear that would be appropriate for female, 25 yrs, 130 lb. thx - jb

I'm a kiter too, who dabbled in windsurfing before switching to strings...so I am not that well qualified to respond (but I don't let that stop me).

My guess is this is vastly overpriced. Most retired ws'ers have a garage full of gear. They may have paid $xx,000 for it back in the 80s, but today it is worth somewhere between "$100 for the lot" or given to a neighbour for a bottle. Maybe a ws'er can confirm if this gear is actually worth something.

How far advanced is your daughter? If she's nearer beginner than intermediate, I can say that a starboard start style board was a godsend in my world. Shorter and wider, pretty much like standing on a boat with a sail. They can work up to intermediate...with straps, retractable dagger board, etc. I'd say splashing out a little on a really good learning board would be $ well spent if you're hoping to encourage your daughter in fun non-frustrating way to chase wind. You can then seek deals like above to get the cheap/free sails, masts, booms etc. That's a good father-daughter DIY project for you, rescue and repurpose old gear.

I moved this into the Windsurfing Discussion forum since I'm sure it will help others that are starting out. The Buy and Sell posts get deleted.

I agree that we shouldn't shame the usedvic seller. I agree with Juan, the gear is about $700 overpriced and should be passed on to someone that can use it. There is also better gear to learn on, especially for that price.

I'd avoid this kit. Old, narrow (tippy) board with heavy rig matched with lighter, female sailor will likely equal a waste of time, money, and effort even if the gear was $100 bucks. If your daughter is truly keen on windsurfing, look for lighter, newer sails and shorter/wider boards. Where will she be sailing? What level? High wind goals or does she want to putt around on a lake? There is so much good used gear on this site for a great price (I just sold some high tech/ high end sails for a little over 600 bucks that retail at close to $2400
. Stick to gear from the last 10 years or newer. Even that 8.10 Roberts will likely be a handful later on (narrow and unforgiving). Gear has moved on for ease of use and performance at the same time.

It would make a decent fence post... but even maybe a bit tall.

Should be able to find something better, the bic techno,(the blue board), http://bigwavedave.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8156, is a much better choice for a beginner board. which I see you already asking about!

As much as I pick on longboards, they are the more useful of old gear, you can still take them out to play on light wind dull-drum days and play around cruising, always staying upwind.

BWD, Winddoc and Juan, thanks for input. She'll be up at Nitinat with me until the both of us develop the confidence to K-ing and WS-ing in the wind and tides we encounter around vic/nanaimo. Agree that more money spent now might save $ down the road and that the technology has improved immensely. I'll look for a Starboard 'starter board' as you suggest. Our neighbors still actually wave to us when they see us, and they don't glare too badly at us at the moment. Perhaps it is worth ordering at least a new board and piece mealing the rest together (sails and mast, etc), or looking further afield for a used board than putting all my eggs solely on BWD and Usedvic sites.

Gorge shops (Big Winds, etc.) usually have great 2-year old rental learning boards, need to call them to check on it. Rig can come from anywhere.

Your neighbour sounds super cool. We should all be so lucky ;-) Keep on enjoying the rig - I've got more gear than I know what to do with.

Re: tracking down used gear, the issue you are bumping into is that pretty much the only people who still windsurf in Victoria are the diehards. This means that most of the used boards which are less than a decade old are probably too small (high performance) for you guys. Rigs are less an issue because advanced guys use more or less the same stuff as beginners.

I would agree with going a bit further afield to find a board. Looks like Windance has a bunch of Mistral Explosions on consignment now - http://www.windance.com/127L-Mistral-Ex ... UGUW00048/ . RB could uphaul this easily for now, but would be happy on it through her intermediate phase as well. CDN dollar sucks, but that is still a good price for a new board imho.

Continue to PM me with gear your considering and I'll steer you reasonably straight.

Winddude has an awesome Start board he scooped pro Bono and should just leave at the lake all summer for this exact reason!

BUSTED! Thx Gdawg, I'm hunting, and will hopefully find something suitable for RB! I was looking at the Starboard Blend and Whopper as suggested by someone who knows 'these things', but will try the Mistral as well. - Thanks! -

jbatsea wrote:BUSTED! Thx Gdawg, I'm hunting, and will hopefully find something suitable for RB! I was looking at the Starboard Blend and Whopper as suggested by someone who knows 'these things', but will try the Mistral as well. - Thanks! -

That's actually a pretty good idea. If you found a wide SUP with a mast mount, then you'd have a dual device. Just make sure it's wide enough, I got an older one that was a little narrow to use as a SUP.

On the other hand....a beginner windsurfer can also be used as a paddleboard too. Our Start is great for paddling with the dog....more stable than regular sup, so less likely we all end up in the water when dog shifts. You can't surf it though, way too wide.

Retractable dagger board may be an advantage in light wind and when learning?

That was an awesome deal in 1988. Not the gear for today though, at any price , just too old. Its like computers the 20 year old ones... you just wouldn't consider it. Go for as current as you can afford.

Craig's list Vancouver has a carve 123 for 500 $. With bag

jbatsea wrote:... there is a sticker on the board, from Jericho dated 1989, so I know the board is not exactly "brand spankin..."

Unless you're talking about vintage sports cars or Apple stock, anything from 1989 is worth $zero.

Thx spinningtony and Gwind. So far no answer for the carve, is 2000/01 still considered 'vintage' by most WS types?