Freestyle Board Size

[Michael]

I'm thinking about buying a freestyle board, any suggestion on size? 90, 100, 110?
I'm 80KG and it will probably be my Squamish board as well as some light wind days in Boundary Bay, any suggestions would be great.

[Mike]

It does depends on your purpose. For freestyle at Squamish 100l. I'm 175lbs (just under 80 kg) and mine is 99l.

[Michael]

It does depends on your purpose. For freestyle at Squamish 100l. I'm 175lbs (just under 80 kg) and mine is 99l.

Thanks Mike I was thinking 100l would be the right size for me but wanted to check and see what others were using.

[max.spock]

100 should work just fine for you!

[Ryan]

Good idea. Learning some freestyle will really help your wave sailing.

I use a 100l 63 cm Fanatic Skate. I'm 85 kg/ 185 lb. On a 5.2/ 18cm fin I can get planing in around 18 knots I'm guessing. I'm very happy with the 100l size, I can slog home in 5knots and uphaul easily.

[Michael]

Thanks for the input guys.

Good idea. Learning some freestyle will really help your wave sailing.

That's what I was thinking, actually I think it was you who gave me the idea in the first place.

[Ryan]

This thread is a few years old but still useful when choosing a board.

http://forums.boards.co.uk/showthread.p ... ard-Review

[Michael]

This thread is a few years old but still useful when choosing a board.

http://forums.boards.co.uk/showthread.p ... ard-Review

Thanks Ryan, some good info here. Is your Skate the TE model? What about yours Mike?

[Mike]

Mine is TE. Researching boards is fun and having a good board for the purpose is a must. However, I would suggest (depending on what you want to learn) a larger factor is tenacity. I'm still rebuilding from injury but have been back doing Spock's. Haven't tried anything new yet (getting back is goal 1) but if it wasn't for this type of sailing I'd probably have be all kiting.

I realize Ryan is much more advanced than I but at my level, I'm not certain freestyle on a freestyle board helps wave sailing. Having said that, it would be absolutely awesome to add another freestyler to our local mix.

[Ryan]

Why learning Freestyle helps wave sailing:

-You do tons of tacks between failed move attempts. All good wave sailors need to be flawless tackers, so all this practice helps.
-Moves such as Shove-its and Shaka's are also wave moves. Backside air, backside 360.
-Old school moves such as downwind 360 really help bottom turn speed.
-Clew first moves help onshore wave riding.
-You get really good at slogging when the wind is marginal, but there are planable gusts.
-You get really efficient at sailing on the smallest possible sail, and getting planing quickly. Good for getting through white water and any type of wave sailing since smaller sails are more maneuverable..
-You get good at being in switch stance which is what you are doing going up the wave.
-The proof is that most of the worlds top wave sailors are ex freestylers.
-I'm sure there are more reasons..