Genres

Windsurfing Genres

This page gives an overview of the various windsurfing genres. This allows the beginner
to get an overview of the sport and about the different directions one can progress.
There are six major genres and are as follows:

0. School Board -- entry-level boards that provide ample floatation and stability on the water.
School boards can play a significant and critical role in the development of a beginning
windsurfer by providing extra stability for the novice to balance on, allowing the novice
sailor to not be overwhelmed. One mistake of a beginner is to buy a too advanced board,
only to find that the beginner no longer wants to go out and windsurf because the balancing
in addition to other factors are too much to make windsurfing an appealing activity.
These School boards generally have a thick plastic polypropylene outer shell causing the
board to be much heavier than ordinary freeride boards made of epoxy resin. Because
of their extreme weight, school ride boards are much more difficult to plane and/or go
extremely fast as compared to other genre boards.

FIG. 0 Starboard Start and Hifly Primo school boards and specifications. Note the extremely
high floatation for increased stability, the extremely long length and the extremely high weight
due to the size of the board, the presence of a centerboard and the polypropylene outer shell.
School boards are built for stability, not for performance. School boards also have a
centerboard for increased maneuverability.

1. freeride this is probably the most popular genre. It is a genre of planing boards designed
for comfort and ease of use, especially in a beam reach environment where the sailor sails
perpendicular to the wind direction (compare with formula) under high wind speed
conditions (at least 15 mph) allowing the sailor to plane.

Figs above show an array of typical freeride boards (2010 Starboard Futura). Note that boards
designed for higher wind speed (or smaller sail size) are much more narrower and have a much
lower floatation than boards designed for lighter wind speed (or larger sail size). Freeride
boards are much lighter than the school boards above in part due to the epoxy molding
outer shell (as opposed to the polypropylene or polyurethane outer shell) and the smaller size.

2. longboard-before about 2003, this was the former most popular genre, and is especially
designed for light wind conditions. The board is longer and narrower than the freeride boards,
has a centerboard, and is good for schlogging as well as travelling distances. In the past,
the long board was used for both recreational windsurfing and competitive racing, such
as the one-design board by Mistral.

View of a Mistral one-design 2005 long board. Note the extremely long length and narrow
width, the center board and the multitude of straps. This board has a polypropylene or
polyurethane other shell and is very heavy. This board is suitable especially in light wind
conditions when the wind is too light to plane a freeride board, but is more difficult to turn
due to its shape. Specs are volume : 235lts, length :372cm, width :63cm, construction:
EVA High Resistance Skin Sandwich. For more info, click here.

3. formula this is about competitive racing about a race course. In a race course, buoys are
set up and the racer is forced to stay on the course, taking the racer through various points
of sail with respect to the wind direction. If you are part of a windsurf institution, this is
one genre that you can not avoid. The board is a wide, stiff, light air planing board,
designed to race up wind (close haul) and down wind (run). Formula boards have no
compromise for comfort, ease of use, or handling. Compare with freeride. Formula boards
can plane at wind speeds that are too light to plane a freeride board. Because of
the large expense for formula boards, these racers often have sponsors. Racers
are ranked in both local and in national events.

Above is a view of a 2010 Starboard Formula HWR board. As with most recent and typical
formula boards, the board is very wide (1m), short (2.28m), high floatation (162 liters),
is lightweight (20 lbs) and is designed for a large sail size (7.5 to 12.5 m2) and has a
cutaway stern shape. These boards are expensive, fragile, not designed for comfort,
but can plane in wind speeds too light to plane a freeride board.
For more info, click here.

4. freestyle - a style of sailing oriented to tricks (i.e., non-typical maneuvers) involving
the sail and/or the board. A freestyle board is a shorter, wider board that carries a
bit more floatation. Freestyle boards are a bit more stable to allow the sailor to do
tricks. On a light wind day, one can sometimes see people doing freestyle maneuvers,
especially instructors.

5. slalom - this genre is all about speed, but like freeride, the slalom windsurfer is on a
beam reach as opposed to a race course where buoys arte set up. The board is
designed to surpass freeriders in speed. The slalom board is a narrow board with
a flat bottom, designed strictly for speed and turning. Slalom boards perform best
when overpowered. Example, if freeriders are using 6.0 sail sizes to plane freeride boards,
a person on a slalom board might want to use a 7.5 sail size. It is this genre of board
that is used in speed contests (see gps). For more info, click here.

6. wave (aka freewave) this is for those who like to do stunts off of waves.
The board is designed to be used in an environment where there is a high wind and
large waves. Often, wave boards, like surf boards, have more than one fin in the rear.
Wave windsurfers often prefer to sail in the ocean or in an inlet leading out to the
ocean where the waves are more suitable than on the sound side.

In addition to these six genres, there are some minor windsurf genres or sub-genres:

s1. hybrid this sub-genre, like formula, pertains to course racing, but provides the
racer with a less expensive alternative than formula. In hybrid, there is a centerboard,
and is considered to be a cross between a one design board and a formula racing board,
e.g. mistral prodigy, RS:X

s2. freerace - a genre of boards that is a cross between formula and freeride that
provides the sailor the ability to plane in lighter wind conditions and plane up and
down wind more so than a freeride board but slightly less than formula gear, e.g.
Starboard Isonic. This board does not have a center board.

Coastal locations, such as NJ, the Delmarva and Hatteras are more conducive to freeride,
slalom and wave windsurfing than inland locales such as the Chesapeake due to the higher
winds speeds and/or larger waves. Inland locations such as the Chesapeake are
more conducive to longboarding, freestyle, and freerace than coastal launches due to
the lighter wind speeds.

Taking a broader picture, the following sports are closely related to windsurfing:

x1) Kiteboarding--kiteboarding flies a crescent-shaped kite in the air 50 ft or more above
the kiter. Lines attach the kite to a harness worn by the kiter. In kiting, the kiter
leaps into the air for several seconds where the kiter does acrobatic stunts. Kiteboarding
has drawn may windsurfers and potential windsurfers away from the sport causing
windsurfing participation to further decline. In kiting, although the gear can be pricy,
the gear is much more compact, it is easier to learn, and the kiter can have a great
sesh at sub-plane wind speeds (10-15 mph). One drawback of kiting is that the
kiter needs lots of space for kiting, making many of the Chesapeake and Potomac
area launches unsuitable for kiters. Kiterboarding is also more prone to accidents
and injuries than windsurfing, however recent advances in gear technology is attempting
to close this safety gap.

x2) SUP (stand-up paddling) The user stands on a board and has one paddle.
Like surfing boards, the board can have more than one fin in the rear.