Hey All,

You have a great community on here! and I have done my best to find the answer to my question but have ended up lost and confused. So I am sorry if there is another thread similar to this.

I am looking at purchasing a SUP board. I am 56KG and 5'9" and have been surfing for around 17 years. The shortboard I currently use is a 5'2" biscuit or 5'9" standard shortie. I want a SUP board for flat water paddling with my girlfriend (who is also getting a board) and also to use in small surf 1-3ft.

I hired a SUP board in Hawaii and the board was 10'6" and I felt like I was aboard the US Missouri. I had no trouble getting up and cruising.

I like the look of the boards with rounded noses and not the pure performance style.
I live in Sydney and was planning at purchasing it before Christmas.

What would you recommend for me (brand, size etc)?
One store today suggested a 9'6" 28 x 4 1/4

Its hard because most of the sites have weight recommendations down to 80kg.
I am a beginner but I am sure on my feet and think / hope that I will progress to riding small waves very fast.

Your challenge is not finding the board to suit your weight and surfing ability as much as it is finding something that will double as a flat water cruiser. It stands to reason - the shorter the board, the worse it glides and tracks in a straight line. I'm not familiar with terribly many boards under 10' that are also good for cruising. Maybe consider the Naish Mana 9'5" or the Starboard Element 9'8".

I come to SUP without a surfing background, and have a 11' Ron House for cruising. I weigh 65kg and am 5'5". I recently hired a McTavish 9'6" and an Oxbow 9'2" to see how they surfed (I can manage to surf on a SUP on nice little longboard waves).
Both of these boards were fantastic and still had plenty of glide (when I was done surfing I paddled across Byron Bay from THe Pass to get closer to walk to my hire place without having to go up the stairs and drive the board back.)
The best thing about having a shorter SUP in the surf is how easy a pointier nosed board punches through the shore break when you are paddling back out for your next wave. I hardly came off at all whereas when you are trying to punch through the break on an 11' board with a rounded nose...the broken wave grabs you and pushes you backwards and its very hard work.
My recommendation is to hire a shorter SUP (9' - 9'4"), take it to the surf, feel the difference in the waves and take it out the back to check out the glide. I am sure you will be amazed at how the shorter SUPs for your weight give plenty of glide but are so much more maneouvreable in the surf and you dont feel as if you have the USS Missouri tied to your ankle.
All the best mate
Janita
Hervey Bay

I sirpjc
Sound like you may need 2 boards
one for the surf and 1 for flat water paddle IMO.
Surf_ 8, 2 wide point, Pocket rocket or 8,5 pro 9 (all star boards) will be aliitle challange at first but will keep that short board feeling for you you may even go smaller with your weight
Flat water look for secound hand boards plenty around
Demo has many has you can

do'nt buy anything over 9'1, 130 litres or in 6 months you'll regret it

Thanks all for your advice! It's great to get some input from people who actually ride SUP boards and I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Im planning on going to try some hire boards out on the weekend.
I'll post what how I found them after. One thing I am sold on is a good paddle as I don't think i could use a heavy one for more than an hour.

I weigh 65kg and have a Starboard 7'11 which is 116 litres. I have ridden waves anywhere from .5foot up to 5 foot on it and can also flat water paddle it. Sure it doesnt glide as well as a longer board but for me it provides a good compromise. Ideally for pure surf in hollower waves, knowing what i know now, i would like something about 95litres.

Good luck with your search.

myself being a surfer aswell for over 20 years my mistake was to get too longer boards ,with too much volume. It wasn,t untill i brought a 8 5 starborad pocket rocket for my missus i realised . I now ride a naish hokua 8 5 which has a real surfboard feel to it , when on a wave over 2 foot its just like riding a surfboard . I had 2 boards before i found the board what i felt good on I,m 62 kilos and have surfed the 7 8 hokua but when the surfs less than 2 foot it doesn,t work .For flat water cruising you can paddle the 8 5 with eaase but the glide isnt that good compared too a larger board , for cruising i use a 9 8 starboard drive which happened to be my first paddleboard and is used sometimes when the surfs dribble,i have actually surfed this board solid 6 foot ,and its good apart from its hardly got no rocker so you have too stand on the back of the board on take off tgo stop it nosediving.

just demo any board you can, that way you'll get an idea of what you like, like flame says don't go to big because you'll just out grow it super quickly, if you get something a little smallerish it will be harder to learn on but you will enjoy it for longer, those dimensions sound good, maybe look at some of the naish hokua boards or the starboard pro series boards to try and demo if you can cause your a light weight, just demo any thing you can mate


Jarryd

demo,demo,demo,borrow,borrow...try em all,before you buy..saves a LOT of money.

A nine foot naish mana is probably the starting point. A lot less volume than the bigger manas and evidently surfs and paddles well. I know most guys on this forum will encourage you to go smaller, but the reality is for small waves you want a slightly longer board. For me when the swell gets over head height i put away the sup and pull out the short boards. As an all round paddling and small wave board i wouldnt go much below 9 feet. If you still want to surf shortboards in bigger swell you dont need a really short sup. obviously demo as many boards as you can, but dont feel the need to try and go too short or performance oriented. As for rounded noses i think my round nosed 10 foot mana gets me out the back and through the whitewater every bit as easily, as my pointy nosed cabrihna and psh hull paddler. Add the extra stability and quicker takeoffs on small waves with the round nose and i think for small waves a round nose is easier and more forgiving.

Good luck