Hello, I really like the look of this board but don't know if I'm biting off more than I can chew with the smaller size. I currently ride a 10'6 Nalu, which I will never sell, and am looking for another board to compliment it. I've watched SUPthecreek's vids, which are ace by the way, and love the timber look of the sunova. How difficult will it be to balance on this board?

Portstretch said..
How difficult will it be to balance on this board?

How good are you?

I'm a 78kg intermediate, and I really struggled on the 8'2 in all but perfect conditions. Think the 8'5 will be my perfect size.
I also used to ride a 10'6 Nalu. Now ride a 10x29 Style. Considering dropping to the 9'6 Style.

By comparison, the Nalu was a boat!

Portstretch said..
How difficult will it be to balance on this board?

This will be reserved to experts. + 10 liters means that the board will practically sink under the total weight of you + board +paddle + wetsuit + fins... add to this the 24" width and you have the recipe for hell on water coming from a 10'6". And this only for balance, then the really hard part will be to catch waves, you wont believe as slow a submerged board paddles...

It will be impossible, because your wave count will drop so much your progresses will be put to a halt. Envision takeing one hundred times less waves than now, and thus progressing 100 times slower.

Granted, a wide nosed board like the speed will be much stabler at low volume than a pointed nose, but you should come down in size more gradually. The 7'11" seems a better choice.

I have just advised a 57kg gal in hossegor with 3 years of experience that went from a 9'0" to a 95l 7'4" x 28 3/4", something not extreme ( www.gong-galaxy.com/magazine/pics/1-hour-4-boards/ ) but ended up totally frustrated with it. This should be an easy board for her, but not coming directly from a 9', I recommended her to go through a 7'8" 100l x 29"1/8 first.

8'10 speeed ...no smaller...

Great pics love the third image, walking on water with just a walking stick.! Lol. ?? ??.

STC - is there actually a board under your feet or can you walk on water

Some more food for thought:

At 97kg I am able to surf a 84 liters board ( a 7'10" x 27.5" Imagine Impact I tried once in June), I could only stand up and take off in the following 10 seconds, otherwise I would fall as the needed concentration was too intense. And I was doing nothing special on the wave, as I was to mentally exhausted after managing the take off. And it was glassy.

Although I SUP often on a 105 liters "Tomo" shape (wide everywhere, 5th from left below), I got a traditional performance shape in 115 liters 7'4"x28" (4th from left below) was hell for me. So after 3 sessions with it, I was not really enjoying missing waves by falling on takeoff (although performance on hollow waves was stellar), and was feeling that I was not progressing enough in the result, so I surfed my other SUPs for 2 months, all 125 liters except for the Tomo. And I am sure the difficulty was more in the 28" width than the volume.

I was then totally surprised when re-trying the 115 liters to find it "easy"! the sessions (3 per week) on my other ~125 SUPs have made me progress enough to train me efficiently for the 115 liters! So going down progressively in size is VERY productive, by being confortable on a board size you actually train a lot for the smaller size... you are definitely not "wasting your time"! On the opposite, would I have had only the 115l in my quiver, I would have been less eager to get out with it in imperfect conditions, surfed less, and progress slower.


Quiver for reference: