Converting SUP board to Windsurf?

[crtraveler]

I have a SP Kalama Timpone 11'6", just wondering how much work, effort, etc would be involved in converting it to a SUP / Windsurf board.  I'm looking to possibly do some light windsurfing when the wind is blowing, but also want to continue to use the board for flatwater paddles.  Can I do the mods myself or do they need to be professionally done.  How much should I expect to pay for all the related gear to get me up and sailing?  Any insights?  Thx

[SwampSup]

Dude!  I've been wundering the exact opposite.  I found an old windboard just languishing away.  I can probably get it for next to nothing.  Are you experienced in windsurfing?

I just found this link:

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=9514.0

ANd therre are others.

Just a newb trying to help.

[lee]

I'll try and answer a couple of your questions.
First I'll tell you some paddleboards(Naish glide,Starboard SUPer)  make a really great windsurfer.
You could probably put a box/mast track in your board.Maybe DIY if you are handy .
You can find windsurf gear on craigslist super cheap.But you need to know what's what's .The good stuff from the late 80s and 90s is still good stuff,the cheap stuff from that era isn't
Mast bases and booms  from Windsurf Hawaii,Chinook,a nice light mast,a softer RAF or convertible sail would be the ticket.
If you are a beginning windsurfer you'll want a center or Daggerboard.Without one you won't be able to stay up wind,until you learn to plane upwind on your fin.
Lots of stuff to learn to be a wind surfer,it's not simple or easy like SUP.
THE STARBOARD SUPer has a retractable center board and  the Saverne sail package from Starboard is complete, simple,and easy to rig.That would be the easy but not cheap way to be a Sailing Paddler.
That and a couple of lessons!
Good Luck.
Post any more Questions here and I'll try and answer  them.
P.S. AN old windsurfer will not make a good SUP.  

[MST]

lee,

I've been thinking about getting into windsurfing in addition to paddle surfing.   

I just saw one on craigslist - a 1996 Mistral IMCO racing rig with everything plus 3 sails and speed seat harness for 700.00. 

Owner claims he has only ridden it 3 times and it has just been stored in his garage.  Is this a good set up & price?  I am a beginning windsurfer but accomplished paddler and surfer.

[AirJunky]

I did the opposite, bought an old Bic windsurfer, stuck a deck pad to it, bought a paddle & learned some balance. It worked out great. And I could still windsurf it.

But I think what you get is a board that does it all... none of it very well, but everything OK.
After I got on a real SUP, I found out how unstable it was. Was still great practice though.

[lee]

lee,

I've been thinking about getting into windsurfing in addition to paddle surfing.   

I just saw one on craigslist - a 1996 Mistral IMCO racing rig with everything plus 3 sails and speed seat harness for 700.00. 

Owner claims he has only ridden it 3 times and it has just been stored in his garage.  Is this a good set up & price?  I am a beginning windsurfer but accomplished paddler and surfer.

in 96 I was on to a next hobby from windsurf already so I'm not to familiar with that model.
There are people giving stuff away free on Craigslist. I just upgraded my quiver no charge just take all the stuff that's  here.
If you're gonna spend real money(700$) look at the newer stuff.96 was a long time ago and the gear is alot better now.
Your Paddleboards are probably better Sailboards than some of the old race boards.Not as fast but more fun to turn and surf..
Good Luck

[Philn]

I don't know the Mistral IMCO, but I suspect it is a round bottom displacement racing hull, which would be really unstable and a real bitch to learn on.

If you are serious about learning to windsurf, take a lesson first from an experienced instructor.  www.abkboardsports.com has excellent instructors, but if there is a windsurfing shop near you contact them as they usually know all the local insturctors.

Trying to learn on pre-wide style beginners equipment will literally add years onto the learning curve too.  Wide style beginners equipment was made popular by the Starboard Start in the early 2000's.  Must have a center board (also called a dagger board).

To summarize:
1) get a lesson
2) learn on a wide board (at least 80 cm wide, 100 cm wide will be a lot easier)

[Philn]

Regarding the original question of converting a SUP to a windsurfer, I had a professional repair shop put a mast track in my Coreban Performer.  They did a beautiful job

The Coreban is lots of fun to SUP wavesail in that in between stage when not enough wind to sail a regular windsurfer waveboard, but enough wind to muck up the surf for prone surfing. I always have a massive stupid looking grin after sailing that board in light wind and waves.

As previously mentioned, the Severne Synergy is a good way to get a new windsurfing rig for a cheap price - everything you need in one bag - mast, boom, sail and mast foot.  Chinook offers something similar - http://www.chinooksailing.com/products/product_info.php?cPath=71_72&products_id=237

[Velasco]

Regarding the original question -

I've paddled that board and I personally don't think it is rigid enough to have a mast track/insert installed without significant reinforcement.  If you take your hand and gently (with some force) smack the board, it will reverberate - it's good for what it was designed to do, but it is not constructed to take the loads that will be required of it for windsurfing (even light winds - the rig weight, the torque exerted as a point load, the slamming when the rig gets away from you, etc).

Windsurfers have reinforced decks or significant amounts of thicker plastic as well as wood or high density foam around the mastbase.

Dual purpose boards (SUP/Lightwind windsurfing) have different construction/materials than their single purpose siblings.

If you've worked with fiberglass before, you can DIY - route out the area where you want the insert/track (usually midpoint of the board or just forward of it), get a block of divynicell or other high density foam, epoxy the HDF into the routed out hole with epoxy and a sheet of fiberglass, route out the slot for the mast track or insert, epoxy the track in - fiberglass and epoxy, cover the hole in the insert or track with tape, epoxy/fiberglass over the entire effected area, sand down your work and expose the track slot or insert hole.

You can also bring the board to a windsurfer repair place and they should be able to do it for you.

I just don't think there is enough strength in that board to handle use as a lightwind board without significant work - I'd recommend looking for a used/older Naish Nalu (the first generation had a track factory installed), or an older Starboard - both these companies have their roots in windsurfing and wouldn't risk their reputations in windsurfing by developing SUPs that don't work.  I've sailed the 11'6" Nalu, the 11'2" Starboard, the 9'8" Starboard and I've paddled all these boards as well as a Starboard Start (and I just recently gave that board away).  I've not had issues with any of these.  Some boards that I've SUP surfed have gotten dings from wipeouts (me hitting the board) or paddled strikes - I would not recommend modifying any board that has that tendancy (to ding fairly easily).  The corebans and the surftechs seem like great conversion candidates to me (composite decks, not just thin fiberglass).

good luck

[Philn]

Velasco has a good point.  The repair shop I took my Coreban to told me after working on the board that he thought that the Coreban was one of the best constructed production boards he had seen.

[lee]

Velasco,How did the 11'2" and 9'8" Starboards Sail??Planing Jibes?Good swell turns?
Especially the 11'2"??
Thanks

[laszlo]

I have sailed the Starboard 9'8" quite a bit. Mine is an older Extremist that came with mast inserts and straps. It will sail OK in decent wind, but it is slow to get on a plane, and when on a plane it isn't fast and is hard to turn. The rocker makes it push water, not skim over it. If there is enough wind for windsurfing you will want to be on something else. For wave sailing in light wind it works better; you don't need to plane so you can use a smaller sail and schlogging out to catch waves and ride them back in is great fun when shortboards sit on the beach.

By the way, having footstraps is a great benefit even if you never get in them when sailing; carrying your board and sail, especially at rocky launches is much easier with straps.

[rkdjones]

I've been paddling a Starboard Big Easy (12'x32") for a few years and have wanted to add a sail for cheap to mess around on light-wind days.  I finally found a used late-80's Mistral Competition (12'x27") with a 6.3m sail.  So now I can either adapt the mast base to my Starboard, and/or paddle the Mistral.

I've done a little windsurfing, but I am a novice.  My biggest concern about adding sail to the SUP is the lack of dagger board.  I don't fancy finding myself downwind without the ability to sail upwind.  I guess I should try it and see if I get blown across the lake (I'll take a paddle along just in case).

Alternately, I could just do double-duty on the Mistral (it is a big floaty (230 liters) board with a dagger board and 27" of beam for stability).

Has anyone here adapted the old Mistral mast base to a standard Starboard one-bolt board?  It looks like it should be doable with a piece of square aluminum tube.

Robert