: I won the bid Bill; good price at $20 and the Hobie sail is about 40 sq ft. I
: tried to find out what the sock tube dia was and didn't get an answer, but
: found out on the web that the average size seemed to be between 300 and
: 400 mm. My mast being 1 1/2" dia shouldn't be a problem. Not being
: able to lower the sail would be a big safety problem.

: I've never been close to a sailboard,,, it looks hard but fun.

: John

Hi again John,

How 'bout that, Hobie either sold or made a windsurfer, learn something new every day

It's called an Alpha, think perhaps they sold it and someone else built it, but unsure. I saw a couple pictures and the rig looks about as old as the one I bought, ie: antique

Good thing is it's a low pressure rig, much lower aspect than the modern rigs and uses much less tension to rig the sail. Down side is it isn't anywhere near as powerful as a modern windsurfing sail. For our uses though this isn't a bad thing, it's a well cut sail that tends to hold it's shape for a long time and can have multiple uses. Think you'll be happy with it.

Btw, if you shop around, you can find old windsurfer masts and booms fairly cheap and some of these masts are mulitple piece (mine's a one piece 14' stick) and are very light and extremely strong. The wishbone boom is how these things work, so you'll be shopping for one. Friends tell me to look for one that clamps to the mast, the old ones (like mine) lash onto the mast and tend to not stay put properly.

Take a look at Craigslist on the web, lots of Windsurfer stuff there. Btw the sails are measured in meters and the masts and booms are in centimeters.

Bill H.