Re: I have decided on a board (almost), opinions on the rest?

Not sure if the others considered this, but if you are a beginner you
are uphauling still?  Learned to waterstart yet?  Anything over about
7 m is a bear for me to uphaul, and several top racers have ended
their careers with back issues from uphauling 10 or 11 m sails
(probably frantically in a race environment where they didn't feel
it).  The 6.5 may be a better bet from this point of view.  If you are
learning to waterstart, though, you want all the power you can get so
if you sail in light wind the bigger sail would be better in the long
run.  Its probably  easiest to take a holiday somewhere warm and windy
and learn there!