Old vs New

What you should consider when using old vs new gear

There is a lot of discussion on online forums about the virtues of new vs old school windsurfing gear. This section is dedicated to highlighting the differences that you must consider when rigging and sailing using classic gear. This section tries to debunk many of the myths around modern vs. classic gear comparisons by providing facts and statistics.

History

Let us take a brief look at the history of windsurfing.

1970s - This decade marked the peak of windsurfing's popularity, with many individuals trying their hand at the sport. There were only a few brands available, and the predominant brand was the classic Windsurfer. Footstraps and harness lines were nonexistent. The boards were large, heavy, durable and typically fitted with a centreboard that you could insert or remove. It was during this time that windsurfing's popularity grew exponentially. Sails were simple triangular shapes made of Dacron and typically came in just a couple of sizes. Families could be seen around the globe on beaches and lakes, taking their first shaky steps toward becoming sailboarders.

1980s - This decade represented the most significant period of development for the sport. Numerous new brands emerged beyond Windsurfer. Custom shapers and coorporate brands developed boards in a wide variety of types and price ranges. We had: specialized short wave boards, slalom boards, asymetrical wave boards, longer funboards, race boards, DIV 2 displacement boards, and more. Sails also evolved, with fully battened sails becoming commonplace, shorter booms, improved rubber universal joints, rotating daggerboards, and fins. Sailing became more extreme; with wave jumping emerging as the 'poster child' aspect of the sport. New tricks were being developed, such as aerial loops, alongside a highly publicized Professional Windsurfing/Sailboarding tour. Boards began to transition towards higher performance, and the sailing techniques became more technical. By the end of the 1980s, the sport began to lose its popularity as the focus shifted from accessibility for all, to a more high-performance orientation. It was during this period and into the 1990's that many brands like Wayer, Bombora, RipCurl stopped manufacturing windsurfing equipment.

1990s - Continuing from the trends at the end of the 80's, this decade saw a significant decline in windsurfing's popularity, with a strong emphasis on high-performance gear and extreme sailing; the sport increasingly distanced itself from being inclusive. Sails transitioned from the colored Dacron and Dacron/Mylar composites of the 70s and 80s to more advanced materials; often nearly transparent, utilizing Monofilm construction and more complex rigging processes. A crucial advancement in sail design during this time was the introduction of a loose leech, which allowed wind to escape during gusts, thereby preventing overpowering. The latter part of the 1990s increasingly concentrated on wave sailing, shifting away from the provision of gear and the promotion of the sport as accessible to all.

2000s - The 2000s marked a period when windsurfing was nearly considered a defunct sport. With numerous coorporate brands ceasing board production and most custom shapers no longer producing sailboards and simply returning to surfboard building. The few remaining manufacturers focused on high-performance wave equipment, making it challenging for newcomers to find appropriate gear for learning. While learner boards existed, their availability was limited and their prices were high. In contrast, the 1980s saw every brand offering at least one, if not more, boards suitable for beginners.

During this time, boards became shorter and wider, with few featuring centerboards. The sails continued to develop in line with the trends of the 1990s, emphasizing stability in gusty conditions and lighter, more manageable masts and booms.

2015 - Present. The sport has evolved into a niche activity. Once bustling beaches worldwide are now home to only a few windsurfers, who gather in well-known locations such as Gerlton, Maui, Pozo, and The Gorge, alongside solitary sailors on various lakes and oceans. Compared to the boards of the 1980s, light/medium wind modern boards are significantly wider (wave boards have similar profiles to the old scghool boards but are lighter in weight) and the rigs have diverged into two categories: 'micro' high-wind lightweight rigs for extreme wave enthusiasts and large sails for other conditions, featuring very loose leeches that allow wind to pass through. For instance, when I sail with my vintage 1980s equipment, it is common for new school sailors to rig a 6.5 or even 7.0 square meter sail, while I use a 1980's 5.0 square meter Neil Pryde RAF sail.

ANALYSIS: The sport has transformed, yet gear from all these eras remains available for purchase. A modern board suitable for learning, along with a rig, will cost approximately $4000 new or around $2000 second-hand (from around 2015) . It is important to note that finding modern learner-friendly boards in the second-hand market can be challenging, as they were not widely produced after the late 1990s.

Alternatively, consider using a time machine to travel back to the 1980s. You can acquire a complete old school board and rig at no cost. So, what is the drawback? Well, old school equipment tends to be larger (which means you will require a roof rack to transport), heavier, and the boards are narrower. Some individuals claim that old school gear is too challenging to master. This is indeed the case if you are referring to old school wave boards (just as contemporary wave boards are not ideal for beginners), but when discussing longboards (such as the original Windsurfer or the Mistral Competition, etc.), these are the boards that people learned on during the peak of windsurfing, making the assertion that they are unsuitable incorrect. Regrettably, windsurfing has evolved into somewhat of a fashion sport, with a focus on high-performance equipment and the latest seasonal designs. This is not always the best choice for novices or even the average weekend sailor, who may typically sail on a lake in 5 knots of wind or in the ocean with a inconsistent offshore breeze (where having a centerboard is advantageous). Select what suits you best, and feel free to reach out to me at randaj38@mac.com for further discussion.

Specs

Before getting into the operational / performance and maintenance differences between old school and modern gear, lets just take a quick look at some technical specification comparisons between sails and masts from different era's. New school sailors are always talking about how light their gear is compared to classic gear. So I thought I would do real world weigh-in of rig components comparing 2015 era (modern gear) with 1980's gear. All the components in these comparisons are from my personal collection. Are there lighter versions of some of this stuff ? Sure ! But I've tried to compare typical stuff folks might expect to come accross without spending $5K on a brand new premium setup.

2015 Neil Pryde Combat Wave 5.3 Sqm

WEIGHT 3.82 Kgs

1985 Neil Pryde Garda 5.0 Sqm

WEIGHT 2.20 Kgs

1990 Neil Pryde RAF CAM Dynamic 5.5 Sqm

WEIGHT 3.39Kgs

1982 Gaastra/Mistral TakeOff sail 5.7Sqm

WEIGHT 2.02 Kgs

2020 Chinook Alloy Sport Boom 130cm-180cm

WEIGHT 3.82Kgs

1980's Mistral Boom 190cm-260cm

WEIGHT 2.86Kgs

2015 Neil Pryde X COMBAT Mast 400cm

WEIGHT 1.68Kgs

1980's Fibrespar Mast 460cm

WEIGHT 2.09Kgs

Harness lines

You might have noticed that modern sailors on modern gear have their harness lines very close together on the boom...maybe only 6 inches or less apart. But if you look back on how classic gear sailors have their harness lines they are often up to 2 feet apart ! The reason for this is because on a classic sail; as the wind picks up the Centre Of Effort moves backwards. As such the sailor also needs to move backwards to balance the change. Thus old school / classic sailboard sailors slide down the harness line toward the end of the boom as the wind picks up. In comparison - modern sails do not have a change in the Centre Of Effort so the sailor stays in one position - usually more forward and vertical than an old school windsurfer.

Also I just had to mention this observation. The 80's harness lines were a simple velcro arrangement with all the brands following the same basic principle of attaching your harness lines to the boom and allowing you to adjust and replace the rope length. My challenge to modern gear designers is how come so many new harness line systems require you to pull the end of your boom off to install them and once the harness rope wears or breaks you have to throw the system out ? This doesnt seem like 40 years of progress. Now I do understand there are adjustable and replaceable system available but the difference is that in the 80's ALL systems were like that. By example ... last week I set my entire Mistral Take-off rig up in about 2 minutes (yes even with the tie-on boom - which I hate) but it then took me 10 minutes to pull it apart and fight to get the modern harness lines off my other boom and then re-install them on my Take-Off boom. If I had some of the 80's velcro ones there would have been no dissassembly required and I could have had them on in about a minute.

Downhaul and Outhaul

Modern sails require A LOT of downhaul. In fact once you get the downhaul set correctly on a modern sail you hardly need any outhaul at all. In many cases you might only be stretching the sail with outhaul a couple of centimetres. Classic sails on the other hand need both large amounts of downhaul AND outhaul. When rigging a classic sail, alternate applying a bit of downhaul then a bit of outhaul. You might need to do this 3 times. Expect to have to stretch the sail up to 30 centimetes in the case of old soft sails with the outhaul.

WARNING when de-rigging a vintage sail (especially a dacron/mylar composite) release the downhaul and outhaul in increments. If you release either of these in one go the sail will distort and potentially tear the mylar away from the dacron. You had to be mindful of this even when these sails were new, but with 40 year old glue holding that mylar to the dacron and most sails already having some delamination you want to avoid doing anything that will stress them more than neccessary.

Mistral Mast Track Components

Mast Bases and UJ's

Back in the day, every sailboard brand had its own proprietory form of mast base and even Universal Joint (UJ). (Lets be thankful that at least mast diameters were standardised). Be careful when purchasing classic gear that these components are still in good shape (at least the part that goes into the board). Generally the UJ itself was the rubber hourglass 'Boge' style which is still readily available today and can be replaced. Note some sailboards like the Mistrals of the 80's had complex mast tracks on the board and moving carrier systems to connect the UJ to the board. If you own a board that has something like this you can still buy replacement parts from 3rd party sellers or find bits on ebay. Alternativelly a lot of folks just scrap these technical solutions and put in a brass plate that is fixed in position in the mast track (IE you cant adjust it while moving). For what it is worth, the adjustable systems are really good but you have to be prepared to handle possible failure because after all, they do contain plastic parts that are 40+ years old.....but given you are reading this and are interested in classic gear, that risk can apply to most parts of your gear. (Note in 3 years I have only had one failure and it didnt leave me stranded).

Remember that any style of universal joint can be rebuilt. Online forums always over dramatize the possibility of not being able to use a classic board because of a missing or damaged Universal Joint. You can find a direct replacement or make something that will work on your classic board with minimal effort. The ONLY caveat is that you might not be able to go into a windsurfing store (if you can find one) and buy a direct replacement 'Off The Shelf', but this was never the case anyway.

On a final historical note : There are mechanical, rubber 'Boge' 'Tendon', and even rope UJ's. I remember the Bombora brand used rope UJ's that were fantastic because they were (A) Strong (B) you could see when they were wearing out.

1982 Mistral Take-Off with 2015 Neil Pryde Combat Wave

Mixing classic and modern gear

One thing you will hear from a lot of sailboarders is that new sails are much better than classic sails. I think it is worth discussing this further. The truth is that most modern sails dont work very well on classic long boards because the COE of these sails is further forward and requires you to stand in a forward leaning upright stance. Classic longboards have their footstraps much further back than modern boards so you need to be able to rake your sail back to even get into the footstraps. (IE you want a sail that has the COE further back)....you guessed it, classic sails (pre 1995).

Apart from changes in contruction materials; what are the practical difference between modern and classic sails ?

1/ The COE stays static in new sails and moves back in classic sails - this significantly impacts both your stance and how far back you can get on your board.

2/ New sails have a loose leech (back of the sail) which means they release the wind in heavy gusts thus giving you a wider wind range. You can take a modern 7sqm meter sail out in 20 knots which would be impossible with a similar classic sail. Typically a classic 5.5 or 5.0 would be the sail of choice.

3/ Classic sails are more powerful, especially in light winds. They do not release any wind when they get hit with a gust. This is great when sailing in optimum conditions but can be a challenge when sailing in overpowered conditions as the tight leech design can actually increase drag.

4/ Classic sails made with dacron and even dacron/mylar composites are more tear resistant and are resistant to aging compared to todays monofilm sails. (Even though you hear folks complaining that their dacron/mylar composite sails are delaminating, the fact that they still exist says something - you wont find any 40 year old monofilm sails because sunlight damages the material making it brittle, combined with the fact that the monofilm is easily damaged by fins and other sharp objects slicing through it)

5/ Weight is and interesting one, there is no doubt that those classic old school sails absorb water when wet, but at the same time an all dacron sail without any battens is pretty light when it is dry (Take a look at the weight comparisons towards the top of this page). Overall a modern dry monofilm sail is heavier than a classic dacron/mylar sail when it is dry. But once the dacron gets wet it tends to absord the water compared to the monofilm which repells some of it. The additional weight difference between a wet and dry classic sail might be 0.5kg to 1kg on top of a typical base weight of 2-3 kg. With this in mind - dont forget that those classic sails will dry again within 5 mins so any weight increase is temporary.

Booms

There is no question, modern booms are superior to classic booms. This is mainly due to the fact that modern booms clamp onto the mast without needing to be tied on (like the one in the picture). The old tie-on booms could be difficult to get tight and were the cause of a broken mast more than once. 'nuff said !!!!

Note: Because todays sails have generally shorter booms it can be difficult to find a long boom (>250cm). I have one sail (1982 Mistral 5.7 that requires a 260cm boom). For this one sail I have a classic tie-on boom that I use. For my other 30+ sails I have 2 modern booms that I use. Chinook Sport 130-190cm and Chinook Sport 180-240cm. Both are tough inexpensive booms that work on both SDM and RDM masts without need for a shim.

As an alternative to aluminium booms like the Chinook Sport, there are high end , high tech, high cost, booms available today that are made of light weight carbon. An example would the 2024 Neil Pryde XC Carbon boom 140-190cm for $1670 AUD brand new. This boom weighs in at 2.6Kgs. Comparativelly, this high tech boom is over 1.0 Kgs lighter than the 2020 Chinook Alloy Sport boom (130cm-190) and 0.2Kg lighter than the 1980 Original Mistral boom 190cm-260cm.

So the question is - If you can afford a carbon boom should you buy one ? You will see many sailors celebrate the fact that high tech carbon booms are extreemly strong and light. This is true when one considers tensile strength. However carbon booms can damage easily if they are dropped on a hard surface (parking lot concrete, nose of your board) If you watch YouTube videos you will see plenty of broken carbon booms. Typical causes are:

1/ Carbon tubes have broken (due to fractures)

2/ Plastic ends of the boom at each end have broken

3/ Rivets or holding pins have pulled through the plastic ends or the carbon tube

These are the same problems that aluminium booms face. So while you might get an advantage in weight by using a carbon boom don't automatically assume you get a durability advantage.

On a personal note - I would consider purchasing a carbon boom but I would also be much more careful with it (and checking its condition) after each session than I am with my aluminium booms.

Masts

Almost all masts prior to 1992 were 460cm in length and had a fibreglass or fibreglass/composite construction with standardised diameters (SDM). You can pretty much use any mast prior to the mid 1990's with any sail made prior to 1990's with no problems.

Modern rig designs have changed the way masts are created and paired with specific sails.

1/ Modern masts come in different lengths 370, 400, 430, 460cm are typical variations. So it is important to pick the right mast length to go with your modern sails. This means potentially carrying multiple masts compared to carrying a single 460cm mast if you use classic sails.

2/ Modern masts come with different flex curves to match different sails. Pairing the wrong mast with sail can mean the sail will NOT perform properly. Thus it is always recommended to match your sails with masts from the same manufacturer and era. Note that classic sails are far more mast agnostic than modern sails meaning a sail from the 80's will rig fine on almost any 460cm mast from the 70's through now.

3/ Modern masts are made in 2 pieces. This is fantastic for transport because you can put them inside your average car as opposed to old masts that need to be placed on a roof rack.

4/ Modern masts come in a variety of construction combinations. It is not uncommon for manufacturers to offer the same mast in 4 or more construction variations. Typically the difference will be the percentage of carbon used in a mast. Using more carbon in the construction can lead to lighter stronger masts but can also push the cost above $1000 (AUD) for a single mast for 95% or more carbon content. By Example here are some comparisons of brand new Neil Pryde masts from 2025 in AUD.

2025 - 430cm X100 Pro RDM $1520 (Weight 1.6Kg)

2022 - 430cm SPX 90 RDM $889 (Weight 1.7 Kg)

2022 - 430cm SPX 50 $550 (Weight 2.4 Kg)

5/ Modern masts come in 2 different diameters. (SDM ) Standard Diameter Masts - pretty much the same as masts prior to the mid 90's and (RDM) Reduced Diameter Masts - almost half the diameter of an SDM, these masts are easy to handle and rig. Note however that your boom needs to be matched to your mast. So if you are using modern gear make sure your boom suits the mast you have. In some cases there are booms like the Chinook Alloy Sport that can attach to both RDM or SDM masts, in other cases you may need a mast 'shim' to allow a 'SDM only' boom to attach to a RDM mast.

Authors note - I personally like the RDM diameter as it is easier to slide through the mast pocket and provides more room when attaching the boom, but on most days I am using a classic (1980's) SDM.

Boards

There is so much variety here that its almost impossible to compare. There are styles of boards from the 80's that simply dont exist today and modern board concepts that were not around in the 80's.

Modern wave boards are not that dissimilar to classic wave boards. Apart from mast position most of the differences are around tweaks to shape, weight, material, etc. From a handling perspective the biggest difference is the mast position. If you look at classic custom wave boards from the 80's you will see the rig is attached within the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the board (Measured from the nose). On modern boards the rig is attached much closer to the middle of the board. You will also see that many classic boards were very narrow (sinkers). The trend in modern wave boards is to a slightly wider semi-sinker design.

Long boards - Apart from the Windsurfer LT there are not a lot of modern long boards available. Take a look at any of the classic Mistral catalogs on this webpage and you will see 80% of the boards are some variation of a long board. These boards are characterised by being over 2.5m in length and being narrow (by todays standards) and having a volume of 150litres or more. Compare this to the current JP Australia or Starboard catalog and you will see the difference. Classic longboards served several purposes : They we used for light wind sailing (Dufour Wing, Bic 250, Wayler) , racing (Crit D2, Mistral Pan Am), All purpose sailing and learning (Original Windsurfer) and transitioning to wave sailing (Mistral Take-Off, Windrush Storm 10, Bombora South Pacific).

Modern (Long boards) have names like Freeride or Freerace or Slalom boards. Each has its own focus. Fundamentally though - where classic boards were long and narrow, modern board equivalents are wider, shorter and lighter. The wider boards (especially the extreem versions with a width over 75cm) are more stable for learning and earlier planing. The down side is they dont handle chop and waves as well. Generally modern Freeride (long board equivalents) are wider and lighter than classic long boards.

Until recently 2020 onwards it was hard to find a suitable modern board for beginners as manufacturers were focussing on high performance gear (1995-2020). Fortunately we are now starting to see both new and used beginner and light wind friendly boards. Dont forget however there is is the Windsurfer LT which is a great combination of classic old school style, single class racing heritage, beginner friendly design and the ability to be sailed in light and moderate wind.

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