Sail for my Cruiser?

[K1SUP]

Have a Starboard Cruiser 12 6 that has the set up to take a sail.  I have never windsurfed or sailed before and live inland (5 hours from the ocean).   Would like some advice from those that have experience about buying a used sail set up.   How much am I going to have to spend to get a set up for the board?  I just want the least expensive decent set up I can get.  More than likely I won't be using it that much, but who knows?  I might get hooked.  I have never seen a windsurfer on any of the local lakes so I am assuming either A) the wind just isnt good enough for it or B) there are just not any people around that windsurf.  I am assuming more that there are just not that many people that do it around here.  This tends to not be much of an outdoor sport area.  More of a hunting, fishing, college football and Nascar watching crowd. 

[kanaka]

Try your local Craigslist.  Most of the windsurfers are pretty honest about their equipment.  New carbon booms go for around $500 and mast $400, a new sail usually around $600, just to give you an idea.  You can get older used stuff for cheaper, aluminum booms around $100, 30% carbon masts for about $150 and a sail depending on the condition $200.  You also need a mast foot and extension for you board too.

[iopsailor]

Contact Chuck at http://www.whitecapwindsurfing.com/ .   He'll know if there's anybody closer than he is (Aiken or Augusta) and help you get started  any other way he can.  Good luck!

[PonoBill]

You don't see people on the lakes because windsurf gear for the most part has moved past big floaty boards that can do that. Your SUP can. You can use just about any rig on a SUP board, but if your area is light wind you want to go pretty big. Something 6 square meters and up. Best to get everything at one time from someone that's selling off their old gear. New sails tend to be matched to specific masts, and everyone serious about sailing has switched to skinny masts, so you can get all the stuff pretty cheap.

The proactive way is to put an ad in Craiglist saying that you're looking for a cheap, old style windsurf sail with everything: Sails, mast, mast extension, foot, and booms. You'll also want a harness sooner or later. Or go to a few windsurfing shops and tell them you're looking for a complete rig of old stuff and let them know what you're willing to spend. $300 should be more than enough, most of the old stuff just gets given away. I've given away a ton of stuff over the years and still have old crap hanging around.

Failing that, you can get a complete new setup from Starboard--they own Severne sails--and they have a kit for SUP sailing that includes a ultra-lightweight sail made of kite cloth. I think a full rig is less than $600, though that's just from memory.

[Shredhead]

Wassup K1SUP?!  Feel free to contact me.  I can give you advice on the matter as I was an inland sailor in Memphis until I moved to San Diego.  I SUPsail and have a great rig for you if you want to buy an almost new 6.0 rig, that is probably about perfect, depending on your weight.  You can't load a big 9 meter race sail on these like you can the short, wide high volume racing windsurfers.  I'm actually getting out of the SUPsail due to having too many hobbies and injuries, so once I finally found the perfect sail/rig, then I'm getting out...i digress. It's a Gaastra SE, (2011 I think).  It's like a slightly lighter weight wavesail.  The cut of the sail is important.  It cannot be a race sail on these boards and it shouldn't be cambered either, especially if you ever wanted to take it to the ocean in the surf.  You can definitely find cheap windsurf gear out there, just be careful about what you are getting, as most of it doesn't work well with SUPs.  Did you check out the Youtube videos on SUPsailing?