Hi there,
I have a 39" long board that I want to use for windsurf. I'm thinking about drilling a hole right behind the front truck. I don't know if want to take my chances drilling a hole in front of the truck since there is only one inch between the edge of the truck and the the edge of the board. What do you think s the best place to the place the mast base?
Thank you for the feedback

Manuel- Mine is placed about 2 inches behind the front truck. That position allows you to execute a tack, as well as 'deweight' the rear truck, when you need to point the board in another direction quickly (without dismounting the board, and manually moving it). I also have 2 more holes several inches back from my current mast base hole- they work fine too, except It is harder to deweight the tail. I've attached a couple of pics of my board; the pics are a little messy as the board is in the back of my truck under a lot of other gear, and I was too lazy to remove the skateboard to take proper pics, but you can see basically what I've done. I'm bringing the skatesail to wolf lake tomorrow btw (I brought it today to wolf, but never got to use it as we were on the water all day).

Manuel wrote:
Manuel, I've seen folks fabricate a plate that the truck screws hold as seen here.

This guy (Guy is his name) is my favorite windskater to watch. He's awesome, and is a very accomplished windsurfer too. He also has a rig that works on snow (i built the same rig last year, using his instructional video on youtube).

Buy a cheap longboard skateboard, drill a couple holes on the deck, and you're good to go. A $30 board from walmart would work

That's awesome

Treat yourself to the good stuff and learn on a mountain board or on a Carveboard. I currently have a Carveboard (43" deck, longer wheelbase), a Mongoose mountain board (40" deck, longer wheelbase) two MBS mountain boards (43" & 40" decks) and a skateboard with wide wheels (43" deck). All of them are great fun for parking lot sailing, but I rarely use the skateboard because it is too likely to stop unexpectedly and give me a short flight with a hard landing.

Anything with small wheels like a skateboard is far more dependent on a very smooth surface than the 7 inch diameter inflatable tires of a mountain board. When going slow, which is what you will want to do when you start learning, the small diameter wheels of a skateboard are easily stopped by pretty small pebbles or the ordinary cracks or surface bumps found in every parking lot. A painful road rash or worse can easily be the result of a sudden stop at 5mph when riding small diameter wheels. There is a video on YouTube or Vimeo showing what appears to be a simple fall on sand that caused a broken arm.

I usually find my land sailing boards on Craigslist. My guess is quite a few people who try mountain boarding buy first and learn later that it is more dangerous than expected. Since parking lot surfaces are far less forgiving than water, or even snow or ice, I always wear a motorcycle helmet, elbow pads & knee pads when sailing on a hard surface. In 2014 land sailing gave me 19 more sailing days plus 8 more on snow or ice. Used mountain boards or Carveboards might be as low as $75 or as much as $200-$250. A brand new Carveboard is about $359.

When stepping or running off a moving mountain board always step off front foot first to avoid doing splits. Your non-sailing friends may want to try land sailing, make sure they learn sail handling windsurfing on soft water first. The inevitable falls cost a lot less on water.

One of the nice things about land sailing is many of the parking lots large enough for sailing are also lighted at night; getting a 9:00 pm session is as easy as getting one at 3:00 pm. Another nice feature is old rigs have a new value providing joyous land sailing sessions while protecting the good rigs for use on water instead of rough concrete. On water I go as fast as I can. When land sailing I try very much to not get out of control; the possible costs of "going over the handlebars" are avoidable only if I'm in control.

Hey Del - I have a Carveboard as well, which I love "sailing". I have the one with inflatable tires. Not safe for high speed, but a blast for "carving" (which is more fun anyway)

And for your brain's sake wear a helmet when surfing pavement.

Drew

Hey guys, thank you for the feedback. My first instinct was to go with a all terrain board for the same reason explained by Del. So, I will probably go with that first and once I feel more comfortable I will give my longboard a chance.

Hey manuel, have you a found a good spot you think may work well for the skatesail? I'm always looking for new spots in chicago (they are hard to find in the city). I used to live in the suburbs and there is always a vacant lot out there. I got kicked out by the PD in a lot in norridge 2 weeks ago (I cant complain, I was there all winter long with no problems, and I'll go back there again in the late fall). I've used the skatepark parking lot at montrose beach often ( chicago PD never bother me there, but I also only go when the lot is not being used much, and I also dismount my board if any drivers ever get close to me), but that is currently really a treacherous spot due to potholes and student drivers using the lot as practice (and currently a lot of debris and loose rocks from the winter as the lot has not been swept yet). Also, when the weather warms up, that lot is used for cars (of course) and we should not skatesail there then. I only skatesail that lot when the lot is 80% empty. I spend a lot of time at montrose beach, and that lot is convenient for me

I run over crap all the time on my skatesail (btw it is homemade, and the wheelbase is about 6 inches longer than most longboards, plus I have larger soft skateboard wheels), but luckily i rarely get the 'pebble brake' Del talked about. I try not to go fast for that very reason; I enjoy carving the board, and playing with sail rotation. It is easy to go too fast on these boards, you will quickly learn (or should quickly learn!) how to depower your rig to stay safe (it is counterintuitive because when windsurfing we are always tuning for more power, and you do it without thinking-it is automatic).

What i like most about skatesailing is that it is foot pressure that steers the board (just like surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding). So if you gybe, and don't pressure the inside rail, you will not turn. It actually refines your water windsurfing technique. I probably skatesailed 20 times this past winter, as long as the pavement is clear you can sail. I went out many times in subfreezing weather- no problem, just wore cold weather gear.

Manuel wrote:

If you haven't seen it, Bob made a nice video of Hans, George, Chad and himself sailing an all terrain board.

Video: Landboard Windsurfing

Are all mast bases basically the same, or does anyone find that certain manufacturers work better than others for mounting purposes? What size sails do you use?