I have been trying to find a dagger board for my fanatic mega cat without success when I came across a F2 Lightning 2.85m 225 litres 88cm wide board for sale (a cross between a formula and old style longboard)and was wondering what they are like ? I am looking for a board for light/marginal wind cruising and for 19 year old son to learn beach/water starting and carve gybing etc .

It sounds a bit big to me.

If your son is looking to Beach/Water Start and wants to learn to Carve Gybe then you don't want anything bigger than 160L, and preferably much less. I am 14 stone and wouldn't want to be on anything bigger than a 160L board (although I have a long history of Long Board sailing). My board of choice is 115L. In very light winds I might use an 8.5M sail on a 159L 1999 Xantos (it's old but stable), but even then I would choose a 130L if I could get it planning.

Big boards are really hard to turn, thus hard to learn to Carve on. What you get with a formula board is the ability to put up a hugh sail and plane in light winds (but you could just get a dingy {or a kite}) but they are also good if you are looking for speed.

I am assuming your son isn't 20+ Stone

[Edited on 24-6-2007 by Dave]