I was Surprised...

[BooDog]

that given the hours I have spent on here over some years now, I had never joined. So now I have.

I do not sail. (I race windsurfers round the buoys though, which might be a kind of sailing)

I have however, since I picked up my first copy of Crusing World in the 90s, harboured the notion that I might some day sail or even live aboard. I admint that it is unlikley, but the prospect, however remote, is captivating.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Welcome to CF !

Don't kid yourself... Wind surfing IS sailing... Just a different boat...

A SAILING speed record holding boat at that!

[Steadman Uhlich]

Welcome (though you have been here longer than I).

I started as a windsurfer too (but limited my experience due to low winds where I was at the time) but moved to cats and keel boats.

Hard to beat a windsurfer for speed, but it is also nice to have a boat one can sit on and stay dry or enjoy with a friend or two (or more)

I bet you would have some fun on a cat (a fast cat)...as some of my best memories were hiking out (trapeze) on a 19 foot cat that was flying with one hull up high in the air!

Fast is fun.

[ontherocks83]

Welcome. And for the record I tried wind surfing, key word being tried. Haven't tried it again though.

[BooDog]

Thanks - Happy - I think we lost that record to the kites - but then that's an open depate as to whether it is sailing...

[BooDog]

Thanks Steady - You hit it. First time I sailed a dinghy I rememer thinking "What? The rig stays up by itself? This is the life!!"

[BooDog]

OTR - You and a lot of people. It is a miserable thing to learn, best done in warm water. But it really is a joy when you get the hang of it, and the learning boards today are more forgiving.

[sailorboy1]

isn't the real problem with a windsurfer the beer storage capacity?

[crazyoldboatguy]

Wind surfing is sailing. Period. I think harder to do than kite surfing since you are relying more on your balance to stay upright.

However, living aboard might be a bit difficult.

Perhaps if you got 2 of them and strapped them together like a catamaran.
Welcome aboard!

[BooDog]

Sailorboy - Isn't that what those straps at the stern are for?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by BooDog

Sailorboy - Isn't that what those straps at the stern are for?

I wouldn't know for a fact, but I just don't see any windsurfer stern strap providing enough beer holding capacity to be worth getting seawater in my face.

[Suijin]

I wind surfed as a teenager for quite a few years on the first windsurfer to come out...big long board, big sail. It was a real workout and gave me a strong back for sure.

Damn it was fun. And yes, it's pretty much PURE sailing. Your body is the linkage between the sail and the foil. It's as visceral as it gets.

[BooDog]

Thanks COBG - Better to live abord the WS than the kite. I've heard (and seen that learinng KB is brutal for the first 9 hours or so, but once you got it you kinda got it. I've been windsurfing for a few years and I still somtimes dunk while rounding the windward mark!

[BooDog]

Suijin - I think I know the one you mean. That was the golden age. Windsurfing was cool back then. I still ride pretty old school boards, my oldest being a 1983 (Swiss made!) Mistral Superlight.

[Tayana42]

Although I started on a Sunfish type sailboat, I kept a Bic sailboard on the roof of my car for years when we were lived in MN, just in case I found some water that wasn't frozen. Once, I actually slid the board out over the ice to get to open water. You really have to want to sail. Now I prefer to sail sitting down. But sail any way you can.