Myself and my girlfriend had a crack on some 11'6 fanatic fly SUP boards the other day, just to try out the sport. Had a pretty cruisey paddle and then the wind kicked to about 10kts. I had my sailing gear in the car and so whacked a sail in it and practiced some light wind freestyle and gave the lady her second crack at windsurfing (her last was a year ago on a old longboard and wasnt extremely sucessful). Her first attempt she got the sail up, went out, did a basic tack, sailed in a did a basic gybe.....easy!! So stoked to see how quickly she learnt on this.
I have taken mates out on big old longboards and sometimes a 133l carve and trying to teach them for a couple years and never gaining much enthusiasm. So now Im toying with the idea of getting one to get more mates in to windsurfing, but if I was buying entirely for myself I would get a full surf style and sail it in light winds.

The questions:
How small can I go and still have something people can be excited about windsurfing after one session?

Some of the wide body style surf SUPS have a shorter, wider outline with less volume eg:
JP surf wide body 8'8 32" 136l
or
JP fusion 9'8 31" 152l
compared to the fly i used at 10'6 31" 177l
Whats better to learn windsurfing on, longer+more volume or a bit less volume and more width???

More interested in a SUP with atleast a little bit of a wave outline to get my girlfriend in small waves and possibly windsup in small waves. Maybe a bit of fitness on flat water too...maybe.

I used a SUP as a windsurfing board for the first time last week. It was a 10'6". I was amazed at the glide and how little resistance it had to forward movement, especially in light wind. And so stable! I would say for a beginner that would be a perfect size. Great for learning gybing and tacking.

The 8'8" X 32 would be a challenge unless your girlfriend is very small, but it is doable. Too small for your mates to start on. The more wave oriented boards push more water because of their rocker line and don't have the same glide. This board is the same volume as your carve and that has been too small to get most of your mates interested.

The length gives you better glide = better performance in light wind especially. The width gives you stability.
For beginners more stability gives less falling in, less fatigue and more fun

The 9'8" would be a compromise between your surfing and friends' windsurfing. Which is more important to you?
I expect you want us to say get the 8'8", but know in your heart the bigger board would be better.

Have sadly just parted with "Big Blue", but know she's gone to a good home.! For what it's worth, I have taught scores of folk to windsurf on this board over the past few years, and had some seriously fun wave sails on her too!

I tried AHD Sealion, which is 135L, 238cm long and 74cm wide...it is an amazing board, but I don't have any room for it. I got it planing in about 12 knots with 5.8 when I tried it (people had a hard time with 100Lish boards and 7.0ish sails).

+1 for the AHD sealion

We used to have a fanatic fly 10'6, this board was awesome for learning and cruising. As well as small waves. Just a bit on the heavy side.

DanP said...
Consider a fanatic allwave as well. Think the 2013 9'2" is 32" wide and 160 ltrs. Could be the compromise you're after.

Just used jp as an example, most seen to have similar ranges.
Cheers

The carve is 24" compared to 32" SUP which is a fair difference. Wondering how much extra stability that gives.

There is a big difference between 30" and 28" or 32" in terms of SUP stability. The difference between 24" and 32" is huge - I'm not sure if it is linear but 50% more width probably = 50% more stability, maybe more.

[b]JBFletch said

Yo Barri,

all JP's (apart from the race and inflato's) have mast attachment points.

if you want a good, all rounder, the FUSION's are the go.
they have straighter rails so they go upwind ok and still surf small stuff fine.

if you go the surf style, they'll wave ride better but won't hold ground as well and will slide sideways alot more if not powered.

i'd recommend the 10"2 fusion or even the allround 11"2. The 11"2 is lower volume that you think, has a fun longboard feel and works perfect for your GF and mates.
its also fun in small waves, such as the mid and day st.

hit up ONBOARD or send me a PM if you need more advice.

Cheers , Onboard gave me good advice and some good prices, just checking others thoughts too.

Hi James,

I highly recommend the Naish Nalu 10'6.5". The wood construction has a thread to attach a mast base. Excellent SUP all rounder and has 160 litres to help get you missus up and running with the sail. Has received awesome reviews by experts and users.

Shane

Would a 8'10 board with about 140 litres be too short for windsupping for a competent windsurfer at 80kg? Anybody with experience on the Starboard Widepoint?

barri said..
So stoked to see how quickly she learnt on this.
I have taken mates out on big old longboards and sometimes a 133l carve and trying to teach them for a couple years and never gaining much enthusiasm.
(...)
How small can I go and still have something people can be excited about windsurfing after one session?

Do I gather you want to put together a package to make it more attractive to newbies you're teaching?
If you need that, then not sure you have the right candidates, with due respect.

I do a lot of teaching, but I pick my crowd. People who are excited after zero session, that is, before the first outing.
Either they have the calling, and then it shows right away, or I send them to kiting.
Those who really want to, do learn easily, in very few outings, over 1-2 weekends max.

Back to the SUP thing, I've taught mates on old crappy boards, and more recently a Go for a while, and now a large SUP given to me, with a dagger and Severne Superlight sail - really lives up to its name, weighs nothing. Newbies absolutely love it. A certain GF was up sailing and tacking in 15 minutes once. Even I find it sailable...

Cheers for the input people

Gonebush said...
Would a 8'10 board with about 140 litres be too short for windsupping for a competent windsurfer at 80kg? Anybody with experience on the Starboard Widepoint?

Not sure the wide points have a hole for the mast, mine doesn't :(

barri said..

pierrec45 said..
I do a lot of teaching, but I pick my crowd. People who are excited after zero session, that is, before the first outing.
Either they have the calling, and then it shows right away, or I send them to kiting.
Those who really want to, do learn easily, in very few outings, over 1-2 weekends max.

I do not agree with this. I think anyone on this sup (the fly I tried) in the right conditions can have FUN in one session whether they peruse the sport or not.
But thanks for the info, I don't care about planing performance, but do care about wave performance therefore that is why I think a SUP is a better all round solution that will get used more than a go.

OK, I'll give you another example.
There was this single guy at work, we were trying to hook him up with GFs sisters, girls at the club, that sort of stuff.
Later we found out why he wasn't really interested all this time...

Really, after 1 year, send your friends to kiting...