Hello,

I'm looking for advice for a first SUP. I'm looking for an allround board to paddle on flat water (lakes, North Sea Belgium) and to surf in small to medium waves. I will be sharing the board with my wife. We are both intermediate surfers and beginner sup surfers.
My Wife's is 1m72 for 64kg and I'm 1m85 for 81kg.

Naish boards are very easy to find here and I really like the design of the boards. I have been looking into the Nalu series for a while and I have been hesitating between the 10"10' and 10"6.5'.
I'm afraid if I choose the 10"10' that I will be sacrificing the surfability but will track great on flat. On the other hand if I choose the 10"6.5' I will be sacrificing the stability but will surf much better.
I would say that it will be used 50-60% on flat water and 50-40% in waves.
I know that I could also go for the 11"4' but I would like to keep the size down due to storage problems. But if it is a better board why not.

Any help or advice would be grateful.

Thanks,

Stephan

Hey Stephan - hope all is well.

Mate your investment dollars are 'x' - can you buy 2 boards second hand for waht you are loking for???

If you are talking of glide for the river/flat water - really who cares because you are paddling in the river for excercise - not to meet a time limit....

IMHO first wave board go wider in stability - as you are not going to rip waves.

Sounds like you want to surf a few small but decent surf swells - so have fun and dont go technical...I have a guy here in WEst Australia that sells Naish, Starboard, PSH, Jimmy Lewis etc.....he can surf real well but rides a Starboard Whopper 10 Footer - why?? cause he just has FUN....

Plus 1 to what DJ said above.
The guys at my local store Ocean Addicts have a loan of a 10'6.5 for demo purposes. I didn't have time to surf it, but it looked really, really good. Plus DJ posted a great vid of one of his sessions in small waves and you could see how well it goes.
Then again, you could always buy both. The couple that paddles together...

Hi Stephan
Others will probably be more helpful as I haven't tried the Nalus. I have a 9'5 hokua for surfing and a very old 11ft beast of a thing that i use on a nearby lake and river.
So it's just my opinion, and not an expert one, but if i could have only one board it would be the 10'6.5. Like I said, I looked one over the other day and thought it looked like a good modern longboard design scaled up for SUP. The guy who'd surfed it that day said it had great glide.
Plus I'm a fan of DJ's video (which I recommend to you in case you haven't seen it): www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Surfing-with-JC/?SearchTerms=surfing+with+jc
If you do a search you will also see him on the 10'10 on flatwater and that wil give you a bit more info to work with.
(BTW If you ever want to post some pics or video footage of your local spots i reckon a lot of us would be interested.) In the meantime, good luck with the board choice.
Dave

DJ and Dave thanks a million for your advice. I will order the 10"6.5' this week. Can't wait.
I have weighed in the pros and cons and this seems to be by far the best choice for an all rounder. I do a have a 7 month old little princess so tandem would be great in the future but my wife may go for another board in a few years so there's plenty of time.
I will post a few pics when I get the board and show the different spots around Belgium and Europe that I will travel to with my new toy.

Hopefully next year I will be coming to Oz so I may ask for some advice on spots if I come near your local spots.

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Stephan