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Anyone out there bought a Jarvis or Drake as their first board? I Snowboard and Windsurf and don't want to buy a board I'll outgrow by the end of the first day in it.

i bought a directional thinking that was the way to go for learning. then i got sick of trying to jibe and got a jarvis. it rips! get the jarvis or drake, both are awsome boards, and you'll never out grow them.

The Jarvis is perfect for learning unless you are over 85 kg. If you are under 85 kg. then the Jarvis will let you learn and progress for several months. You will not outgrow it that easy!

I weigh 65 kg and started with a Naish 6'6'' directional. I windsurfed for 15 years prior to learning to kite. No disrespect intended intended, but realistically you probably will not learn how to go upwind in one day, even if you are an expert windsurfer. People generally learn much faster on a big board (directional or twin)in slightly underpowered conditions. Picture living on Maui and buying a wave board and a 4.5 windsurf sail thinking that you could learn on it and grow into it. Its certainly possible, but with lots of unnecessary frustration. After I learned to go upwind kiting (a few days), I got a Drake for higher winds. I find that (like windsurfing)a two board quiver is much better than one. I can carry both boards and a Kite to the beach in one trip quite easily. I leave one board on the beach and can change boards as conditions dictate without putting down the kite. This extends the range tremendously. On the directional, I can stay upwind when the wind is so light that the kite barely will stay in the air. When the wind is so strong that I am being blown downwind even when going as slow as possible and edging as hard as possible, then I can switch to the Drake and be in control and have great jumps. Alternatively, when I am on the Drake and can barely stay even (underpowered), then I can switch to the directional and and be powered enough to jump and can point way upwind. Granted, given my weight, jumping on a 6'6" directional board is one hell of an ab workout due to the size of the board, but if you only have a small twin, then its a hell of a lot better than sitting on the beach. I should add that learning to jump in underpowered conditions does take a lot of practice. An alternative is to always use one board and change kites as conditions dictate - but this is much more tedious. The exception to my stragegy is if you kite in an area where the wind is so consistant that you can get away with one kite and one board. Also, as a windsurfer, you will like jybing the directional once you learn. It is nice to just lay into the turns without worring about stuffing the nose (wich can happen on a small twin). The directional is much faster. In fact, the directional is faster in underpowered conditions than a small twin in powered conditions (probably will have disagreement here, but this is my experience). Once you learn, you will appreciate the pure simplicity of the Drake, leaving your feet in all the time. I like both directional and twin tip / wake boards equally as well and switch often. If you never learned to Jybe a windsurfer, then you should consider buying a large twin for learning and forget the directional. Depending on your weight, a medium sized board, like the Jarvis, is not the best board for learning, not the best board for underpowered conditions, nor for overpowered conditions, although it is a good all around board. A large directional or a large twin will be much easier to learn on than the Drake, because the Drake needs so much wind to be happy. Start in light, slightly underpowered conditions on a big board. But don't think that you will never use this board again - it will be your light wind board. This is one area where kitesurfing and windsurfing are different. With windsurfing, you might actually only need a beginning board for one day (although most instructors would like you to practice a little more than that before moving on). If money is a concern, you're in luck because there are several large used directionals out there to choose from - cheap. Hope this helps.

Alan