First time poster here been following and read for a good while. From the south west of Western Aus.
Anyways have had a prowave 8"10 for a while now and enjoy the board. It does however have a very sweet spot to Stand and now feels almost corky and moves around a lot when there is some chop. At just over 29 wide and 119L and my 90kg and being 6"2 doesn't help me. I have fully gotten used to it and now just got a smaller board to try not prowave. Just wondering if the new model pro wave models are the same being tippy. Just got a 8,3, 107L to try to see if it sits in the water more and help stability. Any info on the new models would be great cheers.

Im about the same weight and height as you Frothin, and have gone through the Prowave models for a few years now. Had the 2013-14 8'10 version - Im not sure if this is the same model you have?? Anyway, it had very thick rails. Then went to the 2015-16 version which was 8'9. It is a Luke Egan design I think, with quite a wide nose, and balance was pretty easy. A really good board. I now have the current model which is 8'8, and 111 litres or something like that. It has a very domed deck and the thinnest rails I have seen on a production board. So its not corky, but it is definitely tippier than the 8'9, and although it was a fair while ago, I would say that it is probably tippier than the old 8'10. Hope that helps.

Cheers Ishie,

yeh interesting by the sounds the shapes have changed. My model has the white underneath and red sides with the matte Kevlar I have been told coming through on the deck. Great board but yeh is hard work and think it's more the shape and rocker outline. As I still sit high in the water and feel the chops and water moving. There is a lot of yaw as well forward and back not sure if you found that ? I realize the more surfboard shape will always be like this but maybe I need to try less volume to sit in the water a bit more instead of out of it. I just got a second hand yob carbon series 2017. 107L smallest volume I have tried. Haven't been able to test it yet as waiting for some resin to fix a ding, but will be interesting to see how it goes. Has a more fuller nose then the prowave so yeh. how do you find the 8,8 in wind and chop, being in the water more ?

I know there is a theory that having thin rails stabilises the board because they are under water a bit and so you have the resistance of the water to stop it rocking from side to side, but I dont know how real that is and whether it does act as dampener in chop. Basically if it is choppy it is tricky. However, I think you will find a lot of the new boards are easier than the old ones - just improvements in design. Let me know how the YOB goes/compares.

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Ishie said..
I know there is a theory that having thin rails stabilises the board because they are under water a bit and so you have the resistance of the water to stop it rocking from side to side, but I dont know how real that is

Actually, with the board under water:
- you are less sensitive to chop
- but you are still sensitive to all deep water movements (backwash, small waves created by the breaking waves, rips, ...)
- the balance is more predictable: there is no "stable point", so you are more in control, and less the toy of chop... but you have to always actively maintain balance, so it is much more tiring.
- the board drag is increased, and also the row effect: when you pull on the paddle, the board will want to rotate instead of going forward.
- there is less cork effect: when you recover from sinking a rail, of when you stand back up on the board after a fall, you d not have a huge buoyancy force that catapults you to the other side

In summary, with a sinking board, you refuse the help of the board for your stability and take matters in your own hands: you thus have more control, but you must do all the work.

Ishie, does the current model prowaves quad rears closer to the rail or not ? I found on my model that the fins are too close together in the middle which I didn't like but I should try some smaller quads in there also.

Cheers Colas you have all the right answers ?? Yep I really found the prowave to feel every little chop and throw me around a lot. Didn't think it would at 119 with my 90. But I guess still too much volume. Still and great board and love it even when it's smaller being 8,10 glided into anything. But the boxy rails are hard to dig in. Will be interesting to test my the next board. Flat water tests soon.

Yes the back fins are set pretty close to the centre fin in the current model, which I suppose makes it more like a thruster, but I don't mind that (or haven't compared it enough to know it could be better). I use as a quad with Lopez fins and find it a pretty good set up for all conditions.

I have the 2015 8'4 at 85kg and 104 litres. Definitely found all of the above true. More predictable recovery, having a bit of water of the rails definitely helps but with the wider nose of that year the stability is good. It also generates a little extra lift when paddling and definitely gets up and going quickly for it's size. One thing I have noticed is a bit of slip when pushing off the bottom on fatter waves. Tried both quad and tri set ups and more so quad for slip. Once everything steeped up and the rail can properly engage it flies top to bottom! Anyone else had the tail let go unexpectedly? Not had it on any other board.

When do you mean it slips ? What size fins have you been trying ?

Pushing off the bottom hard it's twitched on a couple of occasions! AM template 4.75" in front and 4.15" quad rears. Think going to switch it back to tri next session and may be up the fronts to 5" and see what happens but they made a point in the product video that year about reducing fin size. No issues on steeper walls even got my first proper sup barrel on it!

Fair enough I would say that has to Do with the quads .? Having a tiny bit of slip before the side fins re engage.
Quads more rail to rail drawn out lines ? Try thruster for more hard pushing to vertical I don know just a thought. I am playing around with sup fins, but have played around with short board fins for years. Always worth experimenting.

I'm with Colas - Volume is so subjective.

I started SUP for something different. Prone surfed since 5, this was supposedly good for health (fitness = yes / bank acc = no) so I wanted the challenge. At 109kgs, first board was a JP slate 7'6 @115 litres. I'm now 100kg and surf 8'2 speed or 7'2 slate (both 103litres) or 8'2 allwave on totally **** / small days.

With these boards, I REALLY notice sideways currents that try and bury rail as your turning to catch a wave OR backwash. yep I fall in a bit but i now rarely miss a wave, so who cares - i go swimming to get wet anyway...

If you're patient enough, don't be shy to drop the litres and just try it. So many here will say weight +30 as a bottom and that might work for them, but i found i'm reasonably fine at boards with the litres at my body weight...
Anyway - my 2 cents

Would be nice to see the new range of prowave

Yeh will be keen to test this lower volume board out, just haven't been able to yet. The benefits on the wave would far out way the more unstable board for me ???? I find the rail on that year prowave really full and boxy and quite hard to dig the rail in.

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Frothn said..
Yeh will be keen to test this lower volume board out, just haven't been able to yet. The benefits on the wave would far out way the more unstable board for me ???? I find the rail on that year prowave really full and boxy and quite hard to dig the rail in.

Which year are you referring to?

Apparently the 2019 is going a more boxier rail than the super thin rails of the 17 and 18s...

Only thing with fanatic is they are so late to the party and most have purchased new boards

There's a 2017 8'8 come up second hand I'm considering as a step up from my 2015 8'4. Anyone ridden both at all? Concerned that 6 litres and the minimal extra dimensions over the 8'4 won't make it worth it! Will it give that extra glide/paddle power when there's water moving or look elsewhere?

I had the 2015 8'9 and ended up going to the 2017 8'8. But before doing that I demoed the 2015 8'4. It was only one paddle, but I would say the 8'8 is a fair bit more gunny than it is.