What is your thoughts on hollow boards? Makes a difference? Worth it?

I have mixed feelings about hollow boards. For SUP downwind racing, I think hollow boards might be the future, mainly because of their stiffness rather than their lightness. A stiffer board loses less energy with every pump. A lighter board makes takeoff easier, but once you’re flying, a bit more weight can actually help you carry speed downwind, up to a point. What I find particularly interesting is that you can place weight inside the board where you want it. Keeping it close to the center of lift adds weight without increasing the board’s rotational inertia too much. For disciplines where the wind helps you get on foil, though, I think the performance gains are marginal compared with everything else that matters.

Mark _australia said..
but yeah it’s not new and why did windsurfing have a brief phase of hollow boards and it didn’t last…?

Too expensive for the general public. The market for them was too small.

I had a Patrik Diethelm hollow slalomboard, and yes it was earlier to plane (given you're a good pumper), but that was about it compared to the regular version. I expect for hollow wing boards that to be the same. I think in terms of feel / swing weight the difference is marginal, especially once it becomes more windy and you can easily ride a compact board 30L ish under body weight.

I think 99% of riders dont really get the benefit out of the reduced weight anyway, as long as the average foiler with 20kgs less weight needs a 1m2 bigger wing and larger foil than me to get going in the same wind that 1kg difference really isnt going to help them.

If you do get most out of your gear right now then maybe the 1kg will make a difference for you, whether thats worth the premium thats upto the individual rider.

I will try one if F-One brings one out, but I dont think for me it will be worth it, especially since most of the hollow boards arent built to be jumped with.

I tried the Naish and Duotone and was quite impressed by them.
The weight was notticeable when walking to the water, but what makes me really like them was the extra stiffness and sort of bounching of the water when you pump them on foil. For me that was especially with the DW boards a big difference
On a demo day I was able to try the The Naish Chimera 108 hollow and normall one back to back.
The hollow was 100% sure quicker to get on foil and feels lighter/more reactive as the normall one..but they have a steep pricetag and didnt feel that much better as my KT pro carbon (not cheap either).

Would I get one: Very much depending on the shape and pricing. For me it first starts with finding the shape that suits me well and then the construction. I would never get a board for the sake of being hollow.

Jeroensurf said..
I tried the Naish and Duotone and was quite impressed by them.
The weight was notticeable when walking to the water, but what makes me really like them was the extra stiffness and sort of bounching of the water when you pump them on foil. For me that was especially with the DW boards a big difference
On a demo day I was able to try the The Naish Chimera 108 hollow and normall one back to back.
The hollow was 100% sure quicker to get on foil and feels lighter/more reactive as the normall one..but they have a steep pricetag and didnt feel that much better as my KT pro carbon (not cheap either).

Would I get one: Very much depending on the shape and pricing. For me it first starts with finding the shape that suits me well and then the construction. I would never get a board for the sake of being hollow.

Wow...opinions based on actual first hand experience! 😂

I'm with you, and waiting to see how the shapes and actual construction develop...seems pointless without a good shape to start with, as a lot of the shapes of conventional boards out now are really good...still early days