Hi all,

just wanted to share my first sup experiences in case anyone finds them useful when choosing a first board. I am 2 metres tall and 128 kg (i.e a big unit). I chose a no name 10.5 foot x 33 inch x 4.5 inch to use in the surf. At my size this board sits pretty low in the water - in a normal paddling position the tail is about an inch under water.

I thought I would not spend too much (this one was about $800 incl paddle) and maybe get something a bit better when I know what I want - I would have gone second hand but couldn't find anything the size I was after.

I've been for about 15 or 20 surfs. At first I thought that I had bought something too small because I found it really hard to stay up but now I am surfing I would like something smaller. If I was buying a new board now it would be quite a bit smaller.

I'm pretty happy with the board so far - I am really glad I didn't spend 2k on a 12 foot board (as was recommended a few times).

ps - the above comments relate to surfing only - this board doesn't really go very well on flat water because it sits so low in the water.

pps - I can surf quite well on a regular (short) board, so that obviously helps with the surfing part.