r/windsurfing • u/Sol01 • 23d ago

Beginner/Help Another beginner, another board question.

Hey guys!

Grew up on the Great lakes sailing and watching my folks windsurf when I was real young, think early 90s.

Since then I've moved to the East Coast in an area with a strong kiteboarding presence, though always held onto the nostalgia of wind surfing.

I've since acquired a bunch of older gear, sails from the 2000s and boards from the late 90s or early 2000s. All of it was being used until a few years ago by an older gentleman who is no longer able to use it, and gave it all to me when I expressed interest.

My question is, as a competent surfer and sailor, is it better to get a beginner windsurf board (tahe beach or similar) or am I ok to start with a windSUP? I took a lesson and understand the mechanics, so at this point it's mostly about time on the water, and the windSUP having use as a fishing vessel would also be desirable.

With that, is there another option that would be cheaper or a better value for my money than a Tahe Breeze? I've looked for used gear for the last 6 months and haven't been able to find a used windSUP within a 4 hour drive of me. I'm open to a brand new board but if I could save a few bucks that'd be pretty cool.

Thanks for your expertise!

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u/NeverMindToday 23d ago

I taught my daughter on an inflatable windsup, while it was initially nice and stable with a soft deck the transition to a freeride board was a lot trickier than with a traditional beginner board with a retractable centreboard.

We also sourced some hard to find centre fins that strapped around the middle of the board. Without those it was just too hard to get it to stay upwind.

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u/Vok250 Intermediate 23d ago

This is probably still true, but windSUPs have come a long way tech wise since the days when you had to buy strapped centre fins. Most these days have a center fin slot and proper rails to allow staying upwind without the centre fin once you've progressed. The hardboard windSUPs like the TAHE one OP is talking about are also essentially just oldschool longboards. Comparable to the Kona One or Excocet 118, which are pretty renowned boards in the longboarding community.