Evening fellow Humans and Dogpeeps! A bit about myself to start methinks: Have surfed on and off in SA for a few years but generally annoyed by the inconsistant/poor conditions on the mid south coast where I live. Got addicted to SUP last year when I took out a Southpoint 11'6". Have since had shoulder surgery... recovered mostly... and upgraded to a DC 8'8" which I have been waiting to do a review on when I get some more paddles in.

To be honest- given the almost three foot reduction in size and one year gap since my last paddle it's no small wonder it took me a few goes to find my feet on the little DC. Incidentally it's amazingly light weight and now i'm pulling in to little waves I just can't wait to sink my teeth into a bigger swell and really put the shape through it's paces. :D

To the question at hand which is: I was wondering if anybody out there has ridden similar board sizes and compared round to pointed nose shapes (esp shorter SUPs)- does the rounded nose bring a significant amount of stability? Is it very significant in stopping nose dive (okay so edging back on the board isn't that hard i guess), does it really impinge on performance that much? Keahi seems to shred pretty nicely on that little 8' laguna bay... so how much performance is in the nose people? anyone?

Clearly I don't know jack about shapes and have only really tried the two EXTREMELY different board types, so it would be great to hear from people who've had the opportunity to trial the finer points when it comes to SUP boards.

Peace




Hey Lacey. I know- will be interesting to hear the public opinion. :)

Yeah- I know it's a big step down but last year I was done with the 11'6" in like 3 sessions (i'm light weight- well 63Kg and have reasonable blance but not much money so i figured it was worth the risk of skipping an upgrade)

Re the tail- if you mean width then it's 8 inches. Haha- enjoy picking her up on friday! :)

I would strongly suggest that you give Tully StJohn at Noosa Surfworks a call and pick his brains about Nose/Tail shapes on sups. He has a long history and very successful one at that at designing and shaping all types and shapes of sups. Tully produces a fairly equal number of shortboard style and longboard style sups and he would be more than happy to give you any advice on all shapes and how they work in all conditions and for every paddler. 07 5474 4567

Hi 5's mike man,

The DC's are a whole new dimension, everyone down here that has one is very very happy with the performance and the stability.

Dale seems to get the blend just right.

I still love my PSH 12ft Gun AKA "Mr Chompy The Widow Maker"

But the DC lets you go off the hook!

Phill

Hmm all good food for thought, thanks for the responses people :D