Okay, had some lessons on Sunday with RPS. Was great fun. Picked it up quickly, the basics that is; could move along and do tacks into the wind by the end of it. Jamie the instructor was very good, explained things clearly and gave us all (me, mate, and my gf) heaps of assistance.

I was on a stand up paddle board, that converts to a windsurfer - it was a long thing, so turning felt like harbour control was going to radio in some tugs to assist the turning process :P I felt like I was windsurfing the pasha bulker :P

But, am completely hooked. My balance is reasonably good, so standing up, getting the mast up, no issues, and got a handle on positioning the sail for altering my course / direction.

Now, will probably hire a different smaller board for a day in a couple of weeks and spend a whole day experimenting and learning and hopefully get some stronger winds.

What I am a bit conscious of is buying a big @rse board. Jamie recommended I could get away with 155 ltrs, so I might see if I can try out something this size before making some purchases. Another chap in my previous post said 145 ltrs was a good start too.

What are peoples thoughts on buying your first surfer?

I wonder if there are many on the market from peeps taking the sport up, but not sticking to it and offloading them.....hmmm... I tend to learn pretty quickly and intend to sail afterwork every chance I get, since I live in Elwood near the beach... so don't want to throw money at a board that will only see me through 5 months or so....

Thanks to the lads who recommended lessons - time well spent.