tamtam said..

Hey guys!
I'm a 57kg 165cm gal looking at buying my first SUP.
I've only ridden on soft tops in classes before and am looking for a good all round board to handle flat waters in the rovers as well as beach days and small waves if I happen across them.
I live in North Queensland where there aren't a lot of decent waves.

Hoping for some advice between te Naish nalu (gt/GS) and the sunny king 10"6 bamboo series, any heads up would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Hi Tamtam,
I don't know the Sunnykings, but I can vouch for the Naish Nalu 10'6.5 as a great fun board for waves and a bit of flatwater. If you do a search on this site, you will see lots of people singing their praises. I am an 83kg male and my wife is similar in weight to you and we both love it. One thing: we are mainly surfing little waves and only partly paddling in flat water, so that may be the inverse/converse to what you will be doing. But still - great board. Stable, good glide and rides like a nice longboard in the surf. I have paddled it a few km around a big local dam with beautiful state forest along the banks, and a long way along beaches to get little breaks to myself.
It will have good resale, but that may never come in to it.
Go for it I say. You will love it.
Dave

Hi tamtam,
I read lots on here but haven't really felt the need to post before. Found your post rather relative to our situation.
My wife and I are fairly new to stand up. Like you, we paddle mostly flat water and get out in small waves from time to time. She has a 10'6 SunnyKing bamboo, and I'm riding the 10'6 Nalu GT. Both awesome boards, but from a beginners stand point (experienced paddlers may disagree), neither of us notice too much of a difference between the two. If you're on a tight budget you will save around $1K (for a full setup paddle/bag etc) on the SunnyKing over the Naish, and the owner Nick is a good guy, very helpful. One thing to note is that the board bag sold with the 10'6 SK is way too big, if you go ahead with the purchase, see if he has anything a bit smaller that will still fit a 10'6.
As wavelength mentioned selling the Naish is going to be a lot easier over the SK. Doubt we'd ever sell either of ours though. :)
Once again this is from a beginners stand point, so some of the more experienced guys might see it differently.

I think the 10'6'' Nalu is one of the best boards in the whole Naish range.. I love mine.

Hi Tamtam!

If you allow my opinion, at your size and weight, save a lot of money and buy a used board.
I honestly think that both will be monstrous boards for you and you'd be better on something in the 9ft range. Maybe 9ft something long by 30" wide. Even if you've never surfed. In a couple of weeks you'll realize the board is to big for you and then you'll want to sell it.

You'll crash a lot in the first couple of days anyway and then you'll have a board that will already allow you to surf it, not just going on the waves standing on a boat.

I'd say that even you don't aspire to be a ripper, a board in the 8ft range would be a nice board for you in the future. Not necessarily a high performance shape, or any specific brand, just something a lot smaller for a 54kg girl!

Have fun!