We've made some pretty major changes for our 2008 sailboard lineup, in our ongoing effort to offer you the highest quality and best value in a wide selection of great boards. Here are some tips that will help you get started in choosing a new board:

If you're primarily sailing in flatwater conditions with sails larger than 5.0 m², you'll probably have the most fun on a modern freeride board. Generally, these boards plane easily, are smooth in choppy water, go fast, and turn nicely. There has been a great deal of effort in the past few years in refining the designs of these boards and they are more fun than ever to sail. Our top freeride picks for 2008 are the JP X-Cite Ride, the Starboard Futura, the Naish All Terrain, and the Mistral Screamer and Explosion.

For higher winds, bump & jump, and more maneuver-oriented sailing the freestyle wave shapes offer tons of versatility. You can take them into the surf, blast around in flat water, try new tricks, and generally have fun! These boards are short and wide, plane up quickly, are really easy to turn, and are quite stable for their volume. Our favorite freestyle wave boards include the JP Freestyle Wave, the Starboard Kombat, the Naish All Terrain, and the Mistral Syncro.

Wave boards are typically broken into two categories: onshore wave and pure wave. The onshore wave boards are versatile, maneuver-oriented boards that work well in a wide range of wave and bump & jump conditions. They generally plane easily, are great to turn, and really fun to sail! The Starboard Evo, the board that started it all, is a great choice for onshore wave riding, as is the Naish Global Wave, the JP Real World Wave, and the Mistral Syncro and Wave Fish.

The pure wave boards are the boards of choice for those of us lucky enough to spend the bulk of their time in side-shore wave conditions. These boards are more versatile than ever before, making them also really fun for advanced and expert sailors in swell riding and high-wind bump sailing, along with their superior performance in waves. We offer the very best wave boards on the market: the Starboard Pure Acid, the Naish Pro Wave, and the Mistral Wave RD.

If you are just getting into the sport of windsurfing, check out our light wind and entry-level selection of boards. This category is led by the Starboard Go and Rio, the Mistral Explosion and N'Trance, and the larger JP X-Cite Ride. These boards are the best of all the boards we've tried in our school over the years. Windsurfing is easier to learn than ever before, due in large part to the evolution of these boards! Rounding out our board selection is a special kids lineup with boards from JP and Starboard.

At Big Winds, we're committed sailors and we make every effort to test most all of the boards that we sell. We're happy and qualified to help you find the right board for you. Call us at 888-509-4210. We're your board specialists!