I'm 56 started when I was 18. Dad said son it'll be a 5 minute fad. Hmmm, 38 years later still love it as much as I did when I was younger. Bought back memories of the 1st 20 kg long monstrosity of a long board and soft sail sailing on a lake to 1st slalom board 125 litres on port Phillip bay Melbourne were I live and straight to custom fibreglass wave board maybe 80 litres 8 foot 6 inches long. Was like balancing on a matchstick. Those were the days when life was easier late 1980's. Had to learn sailing all over again on this smaller board, where to stand feet position feel of the sail learning to gybe on smaller board is little different to bigger board in all wind conditions especially light winds. Definitely don't sail as someone said too far from shore esp if on smaller board. As my experience will tell you as I've been 1 km from the beach in port Phillip bay Melbourne and wind dropped from 20 knots to about 5 knots. That's why board trim balance is so important. And being able to uphaul on smaller boards or do a light wind water start, which I can't do. Took abt 45 minutes to get in. Fell in many times uphauled used swell when I could, ... nightmare. Sometimes can't pick when the wind drops like that. I was exhausted as think swam last 100 odd metres using swell to get myself in between 2 large rock walls as zero wind by this stage. Guy had been watching me thought might need ambulance as I was completely exhausted. Was on 74 litre wave board 5.0 metre sail at the time. But teaches you even with experience we still screw up. My 1st time on the custom wave board was at Torquay Victoria. I sailed 100 metres tried jump then gybe fell in, water started sailed back jump tried to gybe fell in at shore, beach start and repeated. Mental note. Unfortunately I watched movie jaws night b4 and had several panic attacks while trying to water start which had me jumping on the small board til I got the courage and reality I'd be unlucky if shark decided I was a tasty meal lol. But that thought does make you water start that much quicker! Keep up the great work it'll get easier and heaps of fun the more you get used to the smaller boards. This did bring back a lot if memories 4 me and we have all been there b4. Lovely spot btw. Cheers

Lol, brings up some very painfull memories :-) We've all been there. A good starting "safe" point, is for the 3 first months or so, NOT to sail further away than you can swim back to the beach. Almost drawned several times before I realize waterstarting in every condition, on every gear is key to be and feel safe. And yes, being slightly overpowered is better than the opposite. Keep us posted on your sessions!

Most of us remember when we decided to go smaller and leave the confort of big boards, but it was worth the pain. . Keep going and enjoy the ride. I suggest you to buy an helmet and maybe an impact vest.

That last gust on the way back made it worthwhile! Otherwise, it would have been a long limbo session back to shore! I remember being under power on a short board with my 110 kg at the time… Sinking to my knees and cursing… Well done and maybe a small advise, rig a little bigger than going too small! Just my 2 cents! ;-)

dude is Way underpowered, not enough wind for that sail, looks like to me about 10 knots of wind, takes 15 just to form whitecaps, this is a really good reason to learn the limits of your equipment or like this guy you might be swimming back, i would have sat and waited for MORE WIND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good job 🤙 Lovely sailing spot

Those were the days! Good job!

105 litre is small? Try 85 Litre and being 95 kg. Anyway i kite now since 15 yrs. Sold all my windsurfing kit. Still Windsurfing was my first love. Changed my entire life. I remember being on San Carlos, Baja, only person in the water, exhausted trying to water start...i literally made it on my last biy of strength and sailed directly back on a gust....there was nothing there...no surf station nothing. Got very lucky. It is also shark infested.

What is your weight? I would say choose a slightly large sail (5 - 5.2m), also a slightly bigger fin and push your boom up the mast a bit to give you more downward mast pressure = more speed, Well done!

Is this your main sailing spot? Does the wind always come from this direction. Because this is a tough place to be trying short board sailing for the first time. You are running right into the swell, so can’t get a smooth ride on the water for long enough to get onto a plane. The board has to ride flat on the water for a bit for you to get fully planing and in the straps and harness. Notice you did better on the way in then the way out. That’s because you’re riding with the swell in that direction and the water is smoother going that direction.

You did well 🤙🏻

What size of board were you sailing before this ? Great fun.

Transition from 10 L more shouldn’t be very different, you did fine. The board won’t plane as early, so until you get skill a bigger sail than you use on a larger board would help. You eventually use gusts and water contour to get planing earlier. Make sure you can waterstart, 10cm narrower board very difficult in any kind of chop to uphaul.

where is the spot?

I remeber, i Had the Same issue when i changed to a fanatic falcon ..later i sold IT because we sind Not get Friends.

Well done, looked great coming back in. Perhaps a little underpowered outbound and water starting?

when you are underpowered there is little chance you will end up where you started, nothing worse than slogging back into the beach, LEARN YOU LIMITS better to get blown off the water than swimming back in

wind was way to light

Definitely NOT your 1st time on a short board.

For me it looks like you were very well powered up to plane. You need more practice to control the chop and the speed, so that you can commit to the sail. For me you looked scared when you reached speed and when you were planing. I would have chosen a smaller sail then. I don't know how you felt on the bigger board but I think it would have looked similar. Actually I would try to get better stance and control so that you can nicely fly over the chop. Only when you master the bigger board perfectly, then choose a smaller board. I might be totally wrong and I don't know what your level of skill, and your other equipment is. Just think about it.