I have only been riding SUP for a couple months. I have a 9'8 Starboard and find myself taking it out more often than I thought I would. The surf has to be pretty good now for me to take out my shortboard. The thing that is bothering me is Im starting to get sick of not being able to hit the closeout or throw a reo.

The question is how much shorter do I go? I had a quick go on an 8'5, and once on a wave it felt like it went where I wanted it to go easier, but it was hard work keeping it together to catch a wave.

I went out one of most crowded spots in Perth yesterday and had it to myself, only because it was onshore. It was hard to balance on the 9'8 let alone anything smaller.

The question I have is, do I learn to move the big beast around and put up with landing on it all the time, or get a shorter number that will turn on a wave but is hard work to stand on?

Anyone that rides all sizes or has come from a short board background?

Thanks in advance....

After re-reading your post, I think it's just a matter of time, you have the vibe so just keep on her. Stick with her, and get to know every inch - love her and she will reward you.

I've never quite understood all these people switching boards at the slightest glitch.

Go shorter when you know everything there is to know about the slut.

I don't think you should go too much smaller at this stage, unless you want to keep your 9'8 and go the quiver. However, assuming you will be selling or trading the 9'8 to get the new board, you could look at somthing slightly smaller but in a more "shortboard" style. Have a look at the Naish 9'6 or the PSH 9'6 wide ripper. Both those boards will probably be slightly less stable than your 9'8 but will surf a lot looser. Alternatively, you could get a custom built. Not sure about WA but there are plenty of shapers producing good sups on the east coast now. Check out Dale Chapman and Laguna Bay in Qld.

Hi Coreyb,

The stability is a function of the design of the board mainly the rail shape and where the volume is placed helps alot.

A lot of the popouts are multifunction boards SUP/ WSURF and as a result will not perform the way you want them to.

You can get dedicated 8'6 SUP boards that have great stability like the Surf Shapes, Dale Capman, Laguna Bay and PSH . Yes they will yaw from side to side when you paddle but you will over come that with time. Also you will need to take off later and closer to the curl so timing needs to be good, but hey you already ride a short board.

Rod Hocker Surf Shapes seems to have found a good mix of volume paddle ability,stability and from personal experience last weekend I can say the boards rip or the 9'4 x 29 does.

I am a larger unit at 105kg and was able to stand stationary on one of his 9'4s in 20+ knot offshore winds. I found it relatively easy to paddle on to shoulder to head high waves, but I had to make later drops.

The volume numbers appear to be 1.3 to 1.5 x your body weight for ripping and 2 x BW for starting out.

Fins also play a large part and will radically effect the way the board surfs if it has been shaped for performance.

The hard core Comp Boys seem to surf Laguna Bay Customs sub 9.0, Surf Shapes Customs down to 8'6, Paddle Surf Hawaii Rippers and Customs, Dale Chapman Customs 8'8 ish, Naish 9'3 and may be soon the sub 9.0 range. If you can get one the Magic Carpet Luke Egan sub 9.0 are alo supposed to be great.

Hope this helps.

Phill.

coreyb said...

I have only been riding SUP for a couple months. I have a 9'8 Starboard and find myself taking it out more often than I thought I would. The surf has to be pretty good now for me to take out my shortboard. The thing that is bothering me is Im starting to get sick of not being able to hit the closeout or throw a reo.

The question is how much shorter do I go? I had a quick go on an 8'5, and once on a wave it felt like it went where I wanted it to go easier, but it was hard work keeping it together to catch a wave.



Anyone that rides all sizes or has come from a short board background?

Thanks in advance....

Hey Corey, I will quote now my mates experience. He is a shortboarder coming back after an horrendous Mtn Bike injury and has never used a paddle in his life. He demoed a few of AAs PSHs including the 906 wide AA. Found it hard in the surf.

He then bought a 9 8 starboard (the 30" wide one) second hand and found that really stable. Problem was he found it hard to turn and it nose dived easily cause it is so flat (rocker wise). If he were a mal rider he probably woulda loved it but coming from a short board background it felt like a tanker.

You could argue that he should have stuck with it and learnt to turn a SUP properly. But like me wanted to start 'surfing' straight away. Anyway to cut a long story short he ended taking the plunge and got a 903 ripper. Struggled at first - and still does in chop - but absolutely loving it. He weighs 73 kgs. He can do cutties and little reos already and came 7th in our club comp after 5 weeks on it!

I was the same and started the 903 - but I weigh 83 kgs. Still you really need to demo a few and there are plenty of brands out there. The only thing I would say is avoid the 08 Naish 903 unless there is plenty of grunt in your waves there as they have heaps of rocker. The Rippers are relatively flat and so would run well in small waves like Perths but handle big stuf as well.

As a postscript we are both getting customs in the next few months Maybe that is an option if you could demo one. The light weight seems to help with throwing em around.

Timing is everything.

A couple of short vids of Woogie on different size boards.

hey corey, i've got the 9/8 starboard to and i love it so stick with it its a great board. one thing i did was replace the center fin with a 6 1/2 inch cutaway and 3 inch side bite's and make shore you get back on to the tail once your on the wave. goodluck. brett

corey

you can always plug away with the big round nosed rail catcher/bogger

or you could get get yourself a more performance orientated stick to smash the sh1t out of every lip that dares to line up in front of you

my tip is to keep the board youve got for the less than epic days and rob a bank and score yourself a short sup that looks more like a shortboard surfboard and not a mutant fish with hips stingers and flyers

just my 2 cents

easy, don't go shorter go better !!!!!!! starboard is windsurfing ,go surfing !!!!!!!!! buy a surfing sup

so true lacey

so true

My first post and seems relevant to topic
Second go on waves on a Star 10.5 (Fourth go overall) Fell off plenty but picked up half a dozen waves. The surfing bit was easy, just getting them was the hard bit. Anyway the 10.5 felt a bit big and thinking about the 9.8. Also looking at the Naish 9.6 and would be happy to persevere. Only 75kg and surfed windsurfed etc for 30 odd years

Twimby said...

My first post and seems relevant to topic
Second go on waves on a Star 10.5 (Fourth go overall) Fell off plenty but picked up half a dozen waves. The surfing bit was easy, just getting them was the hard bit. Anyway the 10.5 felt a bit big and thinking about the 9.8. Also looking at the Naish 9.6 and would be happy to persevere. Only 75kg and surfed windsurfed etc for 30 odd years

at 75 kg, go the naish. wouldn't take long,one of the most stable boards i've ever had a go on

Thanks for the replies. Hey Ice E word is out that you gave the Point a good seeing to on Saturday -funny enough it was on a 10.5

Oh God Robbo,

we have both single flyer swallows and double flyer swallows, I better sit in the back row with you. Oh and I have 2 Voldomorts as well.

Phill

mybrosweeper said...

OG SUP said...

Dont hold back Dogmiester, lovin your work!

tha dogman said...

corey

you can always plug away with the big round nosed rail catcher/bogger

or you could get get yourself a more performance orientated stick to smash the sh1t out of every lip that dares to line up in front of you

my tip is to keep the board youve got for the less than epic days and rob a bank and score yourself a short sup that looks more like a shortboard surfboard and not a mutant fish with hips stingers and flyers

just my 2 cents

OG please dont encourage him!!!! LOL
Robbodoubleflyerswollowforwavesthatarehollow