Before I take the plunge on my first downwind board I would love to get some opinions on volume. Your weight plus ?? liters as a general rule of thumb. Thanks in advance
My background:
Experienced wingfoiler regularly downwinding
Average prone foiler
Decent SUP surfer
70kg

Hi mate I'm the same weight as you and have a One Egg 92L that I wing on light days and SUP foil occasionally. Given how narrow it is I find it pretty difficult to balance compared to similar sized SUPs (I have a 92L Prowave) and SUP foil boards (Sunova 95L) and I doubt I could downwind it although I have never tried downwinding. Having said that it is the lightest board I have tried and, so far, bulletproof.

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Pat01 said..
Before I take the plunge on my first downwind board I would love to get some opinions on volume. Your weight plus ?? liters as a general rule of thumb. Thanks in advance
My background:
Experienced wingfoiler regularly downwinding
Average prone foiler
Decent SUP surfer
70kg

I am quite accomplished DW'er. 90+kg. I ride 6'6" x 24.5" @ 130ltrs and love it. I rode 120 odd litres the other day, and must say, I really missed those 10 litres in tricky conditions. As a rough rule of thumb that it easy to remember, I'd go with weight times 1.45. Then if you are young, super fit and experienced go as low as 1.2 times, or total newby potentially go 1.6. these are all just rough guides, and take what you want from them. Rougher conditions, more headlands, back wash and opposing swell vs wind bumps are challenging, so add litres.

Things to really think about when buying a DW board.

Your conditions - What are your DW conditions like, are they ocean swells or bay wind swells? Do you have really messy mixed up water or when the wind blows does the wind and the swell all run the same way? If you have really messy water then a little extra width can help in a board as it's really about the first 4 to 10 strokes that will determine if you get up or not. If your conditions are pretty groomed with wind and swell running the same way this can help ride a slightly narrower board. Going too wide can suck but so can going too narrow.
If you are riding more long ocean swell type DW then a slightly longer board can help in some situations, no need to go too long but something between 6-7ft is a size that work well. Right now we are making a bunch of proto's in the 6'10 x 20 - 22 wide range and they feel good when the bumps are moving fast and we want to get small foils up. If you are using a larger foil then really any size board can work.

Your Balance ability - This is where you have to be honest with yourself about what you can really do. We are all different so what works for one person at 70kg might not work for another, good example is robo1111 said he might struggle on the 5'10 x 92L EGG DW but I am 78kg and ride the same board for DW no worries at all and can even go narrower if needed. Like all foiling the smaller the board the better once up on foil but if you can not get it up then that is no good as well.

Sounds like you have pretty good foil and balance skills so riding a smaller board at 70kg should not be too much learning curve and more just about learning to flow with the bumps to get up and not work against them. Volume 90 to 100L will be perfect.

Cheers Jacko