My RRD 108 (blue) is:

68 width
41 tail


The 115L will give you roughly 33 lbs more float over the 100L. Should be pretty sweet on Lake Michigan.

You might want to think about a 38 cm fin for 6.5+.

33lb of added buoyancy is awesome. Roughly 2lb or 1kg per liter. Makes sense.
How about this fin/sail size combo?
38cm / 6.5
34cm / 5.7
28cm / 5.0
I already have the 28 and the 34...

Glad to know they are making boards with this volume NOT superwide. I have been happily sailing a 14-year old model Fanatic Cross 120 (actually 116 L) and 64 cm wide, and this is simply what you need for Lake Michigan. Just today, getting out to the wind line there will be zero wind 100 yards out, I got to balance my 165 lbs putting my foot in front of the mast and leaning the sail out to counterbalance, and then overpowered on a 6.0 in 2-3 foot sharp chop. Can't imagine another board working well in these conditions. Another board I liked even older Mistral Flow 284 115 L 59cm wide, but a bit tippy to uphaul when necessary, I can uphaul the Cross if its not too wavy.

Gregory wrote:

I like it.

Gregory wrote:
What to do during Thanksgiving weekend? Edit vids!
Here's one where the pics I posted earlier are coming from: A bit of higher wind action with the Lightwind Falcon.
There's a 3 min continuous segment of straight-line sailing (the conditions makes it interesting I think), so watch only when you are well awake!
...And next time I'll have to put RainX on the GoPro lense... damn water droplets!

Last sailing day of the year? Maybe. Last Friday Nov. 24, I sailed for an hour 300 yards from home and it got really cold very quickly out-there: took a few tumbles and ended up in the water more than I would have hoped with booties with holes, inadequate 3/4 wetsuite and no hood with water temp in the 45-50. I know what my Christmas list is going to look like!

Zoom!


Oops, I didn't see that one coming.


Woohoo, I'm flyin'!

No harm, all is good. The old man is resilient!
And thanks for the tip Ady. I ordered the boots a couple of days ago. The bitter cold water rushing in on Friday definitely prompted the immediate purchase!
Now I'm looking for a 5/4 wetsuit and your suggestion comes at the right time. The only issue is that I tried many NP when I bought my 4/3 2 years ago and never was comfortable in them - it was a lot too tight around the shoulders which made moving my arms a bit of a struggle. A size up and it became too loose around the legs... (don't know how distorted my vision of myself is but I sometime feel like I'm looking like Gru in Despicable-Me; thin legs, thick upper body ...if you see what I mean ). The O'Neill 3/4 Psycho-1 was a better fit, not too tight, not too loose. Maybe their neoprene is more stretchy than NP?
Anyhow, I'm shopping for something similar to the NP you mentioned but with O'Neill. Any suggestion is welcome. Also, what brand hood are you wearing?

New vid here:

Gregory wrote:

I was worried the RainX might cloud the case. But videos of folks using it show it doesn't seem to. There's other hydrophobic products out there too.

Yes, I've been pretty happy with the rainX solution. Not fool-proof but better than without. I know that doing this on my car windshield makes a huge difference. The trick is to follow the instructions. Initially I didn't and just sprayed and did it my own way and was disappointed. In reality, following the application process is quite important to get the full benefit of the product.

Great find. Thx. Despite RainX being a pretty good option, SeaDrops looks certainly more adequate for the job.

Closing on this year's sailing. Feels like I'm mindlessly filling Facebook pages with my life but hey, I've started the Sheboygan Chronicles and need to close it somehow with a few thoughts. Selfishly, this is a good way to remember the moments and the stories of my windsurfing comeback!

First, the community of this site is great and thanks for all and everyone who helped with advice, thoughts and stories. Reading posts has been moments I really enjoy.

After more than 15 years of absence, it has now been 2 seasons since I got back into it and I am hooked even more than ever before. This year, I spurge on additional equipment. In doing so, I made mistakes where I thought I wouldn't and got it right in places I thought I wouldn't. I injured myself here and there and more recently in particular a bit more seriously. I traveled to a couple of great windsurfing destinations and also made a bunch of Kiteboarding and windsurfing buddies in my neck of the woods. I've had many fun moments on the water and felt I progress a little - maybe less technically but I became a lot more at ease with all sorts of conditions. There has been plenty of learning and I felt I got a lot younger (at least in my head) than before! This has been just a great windsurfing year and I am looking forward to the next!

Here are a few highlights:

EQUIPMENT UPGRADES (Didn't necessarily made me a better sailor, just puts me more often on the water!):
Bought a Naish Starship 100l and returned it for a 115l: The 100l didn’t had enough buoyancy!
Bought a 5.7 and a 5.0 Sailworks Revo. Didn't got a chance to use them a whole lot but I can feel this might change in 2018 with the 115l Starship.
Bought a Fanatic Falcon Lightwind 159l and a NP 9.4 V8. This has made sailing (I mean planning) possible when before I wasn't even going to try. The board is a lot more fun than it seems and there have been no regrets at all on this kit.
Finally I recently fell for a new 7.0 Ezzy Lion to replace both my 7.5 and 6.5 Ezzy Cheetahs. Simplification. Not sailed yet.

PLACES I WENT WINDSURFING
January in Bonaire was such a blast
July in SF was also a great time
September ABC Clinic organized by Windpower on lake Winnebago!

A FEW GREAT MOMENTS ON THE WATER:
First hour on the turquoise water of Bonaire! Bliss!
Chassing a sailboat 3 miles out on Lake Michigan with the AtomIQ and the 8.5 Lion.
Second time sailing the 100l Starship in +25kn in nicely formed chop on lake Winnebago. The force was with me!
July friendly-racing a few Kiteboarding locals on lake Michigan. Fun with buddies.
August sailing the Falcon in 17kn and relatively rough water conditions! Felt like taming a beast!
A full summer afternoon of sailing the Falcon and V8 doing lake crossings back and forth on lake Winnebago in flat water conditions. Speeeeeed!

A FEW DAMAGES:
My SB AtomIQ got a good deal of dings and repairs but it’s now like new again! (I managed to put zero dings on the Falcon and the Starship. Woohoo!)
Crashed in Bonaire, overextended my left shoulder and got tendinitis.
Sprained my MCL in May which put me out of commission for 6 weeks.
Sprained my MCL a couple more times during the summer and fall.
Pumped the 9.4 V8 too vigorously for too long and got a tendinitis on my right elbow.
Finally, recently diagnosed a small meniscus tear on my left knee to close the deal!

A FEW SCARY MOMENTS:
Wind shifting suddenly offshore while still a mile out off the coast on Lake Michigan. Landed somewhere safe but far!
Still a mile out on Lake Winnebago and the wind dying while on the 100l Starship. Fell and couldn't uphaul. Ended up self rescuing dragging in the water, holding onto the boom and powered by the sail for 40 minutes. Needed a nap after that and the decision to switch to the 115l!
Near collision with a Dutch windsurfer traveling opposite direction, both a full tilt. No damage but that was stupid-hot.

So what's up next year?
Well, I'm putting the knee surgery on the back burner. The doc said I can wait and see. Pain is tolerable and there's a chance for the tear to heal by itself.
We are returning to Bonaire at the end of March for another round. The family loved the place and I wasn't going to complain about that.
Foiling is very tempting...
Finally, sailing in the Chicago area on a nice breezy spring day is on the priority list. Really got to do that in 2018.

That's it! Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings!