Looking for a few pointers on returning to windsurfing after a gap that appears to have spanned a great deal of innovation and development. My last board was a Windrush Storm 8 (about which i found a forum on Seabreeze) purchased sometime in the early 90's. I used to sail with a single 5.5m sail which I could hang on to up to about 25knots. I've borrowed an old fibreglass wave board with a bit of volume, but it only has a useable 4.5m sail, which needs a fairly stiff consistent (25knt?) wind to be usable. I'm getting smashed by shore break whenever a lull occurs (not to mention hanging on like a sea anchor waiting for a water start).

My reading over the past few weeks leads me to think that a "freewave" might be the board type for me to play in the smaller shorebreak and swell on the North West Coast of Tassie where I'm lucky enough to live by the beach (predominantly cross/onshore NW winds).

In terms of board size, I'm thinking something in the 95-105L range (I'm 83kg these days) would seem to be reasonable (there's a 94L Starboard Kode for sale locally which would seem to fit the bill on paper).

I'm also not sure of how modern sails translate into usable range compared with older sails. There seem to be a lot of large >6m sails around. Initially I'd like to be able to get out in 18-20 knots with a bit of useable range to handle the gusty local conditions.

I'm still getting my head around bump'n'jump, pop, SDM, RDM, fin selection and the rest of the jargon that has grown around what used to be a pretty straightforward pastime!

Any guidance appreciated.
Cheers