mjamero wrote:In the beginning you are in the water a lot. The width advantage of a "big board" really comes in to play as its less tipsy when frequently climbing on.
I agree for sure, but I worry a too big board will have the same effect. When it comes to "oh shit" situations I've put myself in a few of them when winging and 100% I'm most confident sitting rodeo on the board. I recently got a 26" board and while I can sit rodeo on it I find it's a bit too wide to be comfortable and I'm 5'10" (but not very flexible).
I would also recommend 1 hand rodeo starts even to beginners, they are so nice and easy compared to all the other starts. Sit rodeo, fly the wing from the front handle with your back hand (you can press the LE against your head or shoulder for added control), plant your front hand on the board and raise your hips so your feet can hook the deck of the board then use your feet and planted hands to get your knees on the board, then grab the front handle with your front hand, let go of the front handle with your back hand, grab back handle with back hand. When it's lighter wind if you wing has a mid handle or long front where you can grab near the middle you can get so the wing helps pull you up as well.
The great thing about these starts is they are super low energy and you don't have to contend with getting the wing in to flying position (because it's flying the whole time). Often it can be a challenge to go from wing on the water to wing in hand as how you do it depends on the wind strength and if you do it at the wrong angle the wing will tend to flip it and it's super annoying.
You can see the starting position here
https://youtu.be/S1lC_Yvm9UA?t=49
Where I'm sitting rodeo cross wind flying the wing with my back hand off the front handle, only difference is I'm holding the camera with my front hand instead of using it to transition to my knees.
Also when it comes to the chop and big boards I would worry about too much length in front of the mast. In these conditions chop tends to grab the nose of the board and just point it downwind. It's annoying as hell and it ends up causing you to lose ground very fast and then walk of shame.
While I like what Adam said about strong winds the trouble with Jericho is it's hard to depend on the wind strength (unless you want to depend on it being 9 knots on a pure thermal summer day). It's certainly easier to learn in 14+ knots but I think it's also valuable to go out in wind you can't actually foil in and learn to sail upwind while not foiling. These end up being very chill sessions and help build confidence that you can always sail back to where you came from (unless it gets too windy, I still haven't figured out how to deal with that one yet).
