London said..


also I notice a lot of manufacturers don't seem to even have a board specifically for down winding in their ranges ?

Most manufacturers that you are referring to have prioritised racing over downwinding. Some of them actually seem to think it's the same thing.

A touring board is designed for mostly flat water and comfort. You will find most touring boards at least 30" wide. They tend to struggle to catch ocean swells as they don't have the speed .

There are many different types of race board so it is hard to pin down exactly what defines a race board. Some are 12'6", some are 14', some are 17' and beyond (aka - Unlimited). These Unlimited boards most often come with a steering system. Some race boards are designed for flat water, some for surf races, some are all rounders - they do everything fairly well but nothing perfectly. Some downwind well, others don't.

If your intention is just to downwind and catch the ocean swells, then there is no substitute for a board designed specifically for downwinding.

As for the width of boards, what you will find is that a 14' x 28" board is generally about as stable as your 9'5" x 32". Or at least, not that much less stable. The length of a 14' board aids stability significantly. Unlimited length boards are even more stable again and that makes up for the narrow width.

Again, if your intention is to downwind, then you should be looking at at least a 14' but if your storage and transport allows, then an Unlimited downwind board with steering is the duck's nuts.

I don't know anything about downwinding, only properly tried once, but do try to test ride a board before you buy. I have a 14' x 26" wide Naish Javelin which is known (I am reliably informed) as a good downwinder - but for me (6'3 94 kg and frequent surfer on 8'10 x 29" 115L Acid) it is pretty tippy. The 26" width is an issue, but it is also the fact that you are quite a few inches above the water - plus I imagine the hull-shape contributes as well.

There are "dug-out" designs and other designs that would appear to me to be much more stable, plus the option to go to 28" or 29" in width. I would like to trade mine in - it is very fast on flat water, but cross-chop makes it uncomfortable.

And another novice comment; stability is also important when downwinding so that you have the confidence to move fore/aft on the board and paddle hard when you need to. Narrower may be faster, but when you are in the water climbing back on your board you are going pretty slow...

JL m14 or JL Rail x28 wide

i have the M14....bought primarily for DW but that side of things dried up where I live so I use it for touring along the coastline to find surf spots. It surfs much better than many of the other race/downwind sort of boards that most people buy nowadays. I had a new Allstar x27 wide...the hybrid model. Whilst it was quite a fast Board it was awful for surfing waves......sold it!

There are plenty of options out there, for my 1st down wind board i went to as cheap as i could find at 28" wide, as mentioned here the length makes a massive difference.
As with the surf SUP you will become comfortable and want to go narrower, i went down to 24 for lighter days. I am now riding an 18 x 25" unlimited and i would say it has as much stability as my 28".

To put the length in perspective, i have 2 flat water boards 14x28 & 18x24, the 18 is at least twice as stable as the 14 and significantly narrower.

Demo, Demo Demo, is the best option

A hard board of pretty much any length will be better for downwinding than an inflatable of any length IMO. I have a couple of 12ft hard boards and a 16ft inflatable and I'd always take the 12fters in anything over 20 knots.

infltables tend to stick to the water and flex. And they have no real rail shape, so carving is difficult, and paddling crosswind is extremely difficult.

infjatables are great for many things (I own three). But they are really pretty crap for two things: surfing and downwinding.

People will now try to tell you different. But they are wrong: you *can* downwind or surf on an iSUP if there is no other option available. But better to find another option if you can IMO.