Help choosing board?

[nakaniko]

Sorry my english is not so good, I was meaning that a lifejacket EN50 is a good help, I don't know the difference with a personal flotation device.
In Italy a windsurfer should always wear a EN50 Jacket (they are thinner compared to EN100 made for boats); otherwise he could get a not so low ticket by police or better coastal guard.

[Floyd]

I think life jackets will ,in the event of you becoming unconcscious ,float you on your back with your mouth out of the water. A PFD/bouyancy aid will simply keep you afloat, not neccesarily face up !!!

Didnt realise there were any laws insisting on anything been worn anywhere in Europe. Must be difficult to enforce. an impact vest,many harnesses and all wet suits offer some level of bouyancy.

Been a couple of times I wished I`d worn impact vest; two broken ribs could have been avoided !!!

Ok, so just to be clear, i wrote PFD cos i cba to write lifejacket.
Just to clear things up: I'm in bulgaria, which is generally quite hot, the sea is also really nice during the summer (pretty warm as well, so i generally ws without a wetsuit) and the wind here isn't really that strong...
I'll practice my beach start when there's more wind and less people in the water. So far i'm still getting used to footsteering, windsurfing faster and moving back on the board.
The lifejacket or PFD or whatever is a mixed issue, but so far i've been advised not to use a lifejacket at this stage because i don't have to and it might just get in my way. anyways, i never get separated from the board even when i fall and for the paddling issue the first 2 times with a shortboard (this IS the first shortboard i've used) i paddled back to land. The wind is 95% of the time onshore (sideshore sometimes, and offshore only when there's not any wind =3) so getting back to land isn't a problem.
My parents DO want me to use a lifejacket tho, but unless i borrow my brother's one to practice waterstarting, i really don't want to buy one... xD