Hi guys :)
To cut a long story short I've had 2 SUP lessons and now I'm keen to get my own board so I can actually SUP on a more regular basis (and hopefully get better!). I'm 5'6 around 65kgs. I'm mainly looking at flatwater (nearest water is a river about 10mins away) to start but I'm an hour away from the beach and I have a friend who has a place on the coast so maybe some surfing is on the cards! I've done some reading and I'd pretty much settled on a Naish Alana 10'6 inflatable (inflatable mainly because I wanted to take it with me when I travelled) so I went in yesterday to have a look at my nearest board shop, guy was really friendly and helpful but he didn't think this board was a good choice because it is only 4' thick and therefore apparently has lots of 'movement/bends' which gets old quick. He thought I'd get tired of that very quickly, particularly in the surf, he suggested a Hobie 10'8 inflatable instead. Now I'll admit to being slightly ridiculous here......but I really want a board I like to look at, after all I'm shelling out some serious cash for this thing So being the dogged human I am I asked about the solid Alana board which apparently is very good, he suggested the 10'6, it's a nice board and I like the look of it. I resisted buying on the spot and went home to mull it over (maybe the 9'5 would be okay for me? Where do I get roof racks? Anyone have an inflatable Alana? How is it?).......and to ask some advice
So SUP people hit me up, what board should I buy? Why?
I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys have to say!
Vanessa

I'm in a tiny town in NSW, about an hour from Canberra and an hour from the south coast So the Alana 9'5 is a good for flatwater too? Is it ever worth taking a hard board when you travel or is it just better to hire or buy a cheapy inflatable? Sorry if I seem a bit clueless......but I am
Vanessa

So 2 votes for the 9'5 Alana, any reason to choose it over the 10'6 Alana hard board?
Vanessa

Vanessa, you mention travelling. Do you mean by plane? How often do you intend to do this? Travelling with a hard board is a pain. Not impossible, but you really have to be committed. Inflatables win hands down on that front.

The convenience of ownership of an inflatable is definitely something to be considered. And in terms of flat water/river performance, if you are just paddling casually there really isn't a great deal of difference. Stiffness is everything in terms of inflatables, so look for ones that pump up to over 20 PSI (or at least 18) and/or have other stiffening features such as battens or special added stiffening materials (eg. the brand called ULI uses a Kevlar "stringer" laminated to the bottom of the board). And get a good pump - the Red Paddle Titan is the one you need. It's pretty difficult to get a board stiff enough with any other pump unless you are a professional strongman.

One great thing about inflatables is that they don't ding. So getting them in and out of rivers is a breeze. Whereas hard boards get dings that need expensive repairs almost comically quickly. They tend to chip as well, with paddle strikes. The only thing you need to consider with inflatables is that if you got a puncture, would you be able to swim to safety. Punctures are pretty rare with inflatables. But it's worth thinking about if your swimming isn't too good.

So, in terms of looks and performance, there's no doubt that hard boards are better. Most SUPers who find the sport really grabs them do progress from inflatables to hard boards. But when you are starting out, or if you travel a lot, and especially if you don't intend to race or aren't the sort of person who will start carrying a GPS and timing yourself on your paddles, then there's a lot to be said for inflatables. That is why inflatable sales outnumber hard board sakes 10 to 1 in Europe. They also tend to be cheaper, and if you fall on one, or hit someone else with it by accident, then it won't cause as much damage to you or anyone else.

Some of the inflatables don't look too bad, although none are things of great beauty. It's best to demo some if you can.

Hard boards perform better (especially in surf), look better, and are a bit safer in the sense that they won't ever get a puncture. But they lose out in pretty much every other way to inflatables. Most people on forums like these are pretty experienced, or even expert, SUPers. So they will tend to care a lot about their equipment and are willing to put up with a lot of ownership hardship in order to enjoy using the best equipment. And they will have the skills to benefit from it. But if you are just starting out, then you might have more fun if you can have 80% of the performance of the hard boards but only 10% of the ownership (eg. storage and transport) hassles. It's not 0% because there's no doubt that pumping up an inflatable every time you want to use it is pretty annoying, and you don't want the situation of a wet board dripping all over the interior of your car, either. But for the occasional paddler, especially in narrow, shallow, or rocky/obstacle-ridden rivers, inflatables can be more fun, less hassle, for sure.

Hmmm...
hate to throw another variable in the mix, but make sure you factor in the hassle of blowing up the inflatable. I have one inflatable and two hardboards and the inflatable doesn't get used as much as it should due to the hassle factor of blowing it up and then rolling it up again when you are finished. (Although Redair now have a nifty valve thing for $20 that allows you to blow the inflatable up quickly at any service station. That might encourage more use from me).
My advice, see if you can demo the inflatable first to figure out whether you think you will actually go through the process of blowing up the inflatable that often. As long as you can get the hardboard onto roof racks, then I think they are much faster to actually get onto the water and perform better once they are there. However, you will also need to factor in the cost of roofracks with a hardboard - which can be pretty expensive (although I wouldn't be surprised if you end up with racks anyway, as I find once my inflatable is blown up I like to keep it that way as long as possible).

Don't get me wrong, inflatables definitely have their place (my kids love ours and aren't so happy on the hardboards), but if you want to nip out for a quick paddle there is nothing like having a hardboard ready to go in the garage. It probably depends on where you see the most use happening - during travel or locally.

Good luck and happy supping!

HB

Yeah, I don't bother to deflate my inflatables unless I'm travelling by air. In fact, it is probably better to store them partially inflated than completely deflated and rolled up. But then I have roof racks...

Thank you for all the great advice everyone! I travel probably around twice a year, however next year I'm (hopefully!) going to be in Canada for around 6 months so I wanted to take my board to use on the awesome lakes over there......maybe catch some surf in Tofino (which brings up the whole wetsuit issue....) but I'm beginning to think it would be better to hire anyway-carting an inflatable all over the country seems like it'd be a hassle anyhow. I have no storage issues and I have a little jeep that should be fine with roof racks, so it looks like a hard board is the go! I'm seriously thinking the Alana 9'5, I'm not sure I can get a demo though. Is this board okay for exploring a lake or paddling some distance?

Vanessa
PS I'm currently snowed under with uni work so I may be a bit delayed checking back

Yes, if you are going down the inflatable route, Red Paddle are one of the very best brands. I think their 10-6 might be the biggest selling SUP in the world right now. This means that even if you decided after a while that you wanted something else, it would be easy to sell.

Buying used makes a lot of sense financially for a first SUP. I'm guessing that in your country there must be various FB pages for SUP sales, like there are here in the UK. There will be lots of inflatables for sale, probably, as people have become addicted to the sport and trade up to a hard board.

As I've said before, inflatables make a lot of sense for beginners in rivers. It's pretty much a standard choice for that profile of SUPers. However, river SUPing is typically more dangerous than it looks, so it's worth considering safety aspects carefully, especially in terms of leash use. That's a whole new topic of it's own, and many pages have already been written about it on the forums.

Hey supsheep
Looking at your photo I think u may have picked a sup that is a tad small and lacking volume

There are also some advantages to a 4" ISUP.
They are faster to inflate, less wind affected than a thicker one and the rail digs in better when surfing. As you are light enough for the 4" Alana I would say it could be a good option.