hi.
Im deciding on purchasing my first sup and before I put all my money down wanted to get some advice.

I dont want to spend a bunch of money as it probably wont make much different to me as a beginner.
I want it for cruising mostly but some small wave riding too.

I was looking at ride the tide but am unsure as they are quiet cheap. Was wondering if anyone had good or bad things to say about them.

Don't really want to spend more than $1300.

Thanks

IMO Buy second hand from this forum.

Plenty of options at half retail (and less). As you said, as a beginner it won't matter much, but you can buy a used quality board, use it to learn on, move it on when you are ready to progress and you'll likely only lose a couple of hundred dollars...

How heavy are you? Age? what are your SUP goals?

Thanks for your reply. I've already had a look on Seabreeze for some second hand boards, nothing really tickles my fancy or within my size category. I'm 30, 72 kilos and hoping to use it for small waves and cruising. My goal is to really just rides waves. I've ridden before so I'm looking for something around the 10 foot 6 range.

hey becko77 ,a 10 foot Sup is plenty for you ,if your main goal is surfing .

On the 2nd hand list, there's:

There's 2 x 8'11 Strikers... a 10" Starboard Longboard... a 10" JP longboard... a 10" Nalu Pro...

If you are a beginner I'd stick to 30 to 32 inch wide board at least. Buy a second hand known brand. A board around 10'6 can be a long term keeper, so no need to look at a first board as something that's not important in the long run.