There is no right answer to this question - it is purely personal in what you find comfortable in a board in the given conditions. Everyone on here has their own thoughts on widths, and I am sure you will get bombarded by people telling you that narrower is better for surfing, but at the end of the day YOU have to stand on it and surf it so you need to try different boards to see what feels the best underfoot for you. I personally ride sups that are at least 30" wide, pretty much always have and always will, and for me there is no loss of performance but big gains in comfort.

Width doggie not length

doggie said...

About 18 1/2

Don't thing width is the only factor some shapes are more stable than others

There is a huge range of issues when talking stability. First is length then width, then rail shape then tail shape, then volume. This is an incredibly complex issue that is difficult to talk about on a forum. I like a wider board with fuller rails, but Im about 95kg, I do have a 7 foot 10 that I find stable enough to paddle and has enough volume to keep my bulbous frame out of the water. Even fin configuration can come into the way a board feels and paddles i.e. a thruster with a large middle fin will feel more stable then a quad with little fins.

I guess the whole thing comes down to demoing as much as you can trying as many different boards and shapes that you can and eventually finding a happy medium.

warwickl said...

towball

some examples and benefits please as it is not easy to demo as people say so need some starting points - I am 75kg

Hey mate - in relation to the little fat starbys - in my opinion at your weight you may find (like I do) that the small and very wide boards are just too corky and hard to bury rails on cos they really were made for a person, at least 10kg+ heavier than you. At your weight you would find boards like the 8.5 starby pro more than stable enough and I reckon you would find it much easier to surf in better waves than the widepoints. I haven't ridden the 8.2 but I have surfed the 8.5 pro (the last 2 models) and found it to be VERY stable in even really choppy conditions (I am about 72kg). I also rode last years 8.10 widepoint and hated it cos I just couldn't get it to bite, found it hard to control in a wave with some juice and it actually bit me big time. Another VERY stable smaller board I tried was a PSH 8.6 wide ripper - nice little board and comfy in sloppy water also. I haven't ridden too many sub 9 boards but so far my faves under 9' are the starby 8.5 pro (fantastic fun board for beachies) and for a budget buy, the suplove 8'10 challenger. I would love to try some of the new starboards though - especially the pocket rocket.

SandS said...

When you reach 100 kg it goes to the 1/3 rule .......1/3 of 100 is 33 and aturd

I'm 110kgs & on a 9'8" x 30" - definitely not a turd (I don't think so anyways...but I am a bit of a kook!) It's no 'flicky' shortboard, but the combination of my weight, board dimensions, conditions I surf & my (lack of) ability makes it a good match.