Am new-ish to SUPing and over paying hire boards fees and am ready to make my first purchase. Have done a fair bit of googling and research and have come up with the above board as one that would suit my local water conditions the best - live 5 minutes from Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne, Australia). Wouldn't be looking to do any surfing at this stage and don't know if I ever would to be honest (other than a few knee highs to come back to shore) but I figure that is what another board is for (given what I've read on here ). We mainly go away to either inland rivers / water bodies (flat once again) or towns with coastal lakes (more flat-ish water).

Want a quality board (am more than happy to pay for quality but do not want to be paying for just a brand name) and would love some thoughts / other suggestions / feedback from anyone who is more in the know than me (insert everyone else on this forum here ).

Am female, 42 years old 5'4" and weigh a bit more than I should.

DaveSandan said..
Sunova are great boards construction wise and I had a look at the specs and at 30in wide it should be ok although I think and inch or 2 more would not hurt. SHQ in Sandringham have heaps of Sunova on display and you can demo over the road.
Really for what you want I think it would be great and last forever and those guys will order one for you or may even have one similar you can take straight away.

Thanks Dave. Have been mainly cruising around on a Fanatic Diamond Bamboo (10'6" x 31" @ 177L) and had no problems with it, stability wise. Can't decide between 10'6 (30" @ 171L) or 12' (33" @ 213L) Kruze either - so many options. Will probably want to push myself to build up more distance and speed.

Just a little cautious with dropping that kind of $$$ on a first board. From what I've read, "touring" style boards take more time time grow out of than sups geared more towards surfing.

Thanks for your feedback

Hi Van8

I bought my first SUP from SHQ, a Sunova One and I love it, well built and strong boards. The guys at SHQ are pretty good from my experience
Also Warwick at St Kilda Republic has some good advice and knowledge as well regarding what you may want or need

Don't discount SUP surfing as its more fun than you can poke a stick at and is easier than real surfing where you have to get up