hey guys

im thinking of maybe buying a touring sup for general flat water / chop and longer rides (maybe up to an hr around our harbour).

im a fairly competent short-sup surfer but have never tried a hard construction touring board.

keen to know if there's much crossover from a balance or skill perspective or whether I need something wide and easy?
if so, any suggestions?
im 70kg, normally surf sups around 93-105l.

would also be good if my partner could use this, although she hasn't really sup'd Much before.

There seem to be quite a few starboard allstars and fanatic race boards that pop up second hand near me.

Cheers
Ben

If you can surf 90L then you can tour on anything. I like my Sunnova 14' Search - it is like a big, long surf board. I prefer it to the classical race shapes. The Search is a bit wider, has a low profile (low center of gravity), and can be used in the surf on the small days. The 12' Search would work too.

Your partner is the real challenge. She may struggle on anything less than 32" wide and 10' long - but I am making an assumption about her weight and ability.

Thanks CSE. I ended up coming across a deal yesterday for a coreban alpha race 12'6 x 29 x 226l.
without having tried one or really knowing what to get, it seemed to tick most general boxes and was made for an All around board ie it has some rocker, not a displacement hull.

tried it tonight and very different to my little surf-sups, but all good. Pretty stable, paddled out in some heavy up wind and didn't come off. Turning is a bit different and really requires moving down the board but easy enough.
Caught my first ever little downwind bump, great fun!! Very different feeling to a big wave pushing you like surfing but kind of similar and also addictive!

out of curiosity, how would a 12'6 starboard all star compare in terms of stability and design? I see a lot
of the newer boards with bigger hulls are nearly 80-100l more volume which is a lot, wonder how much of a difference they'd make to what I have and whether they'd be more or less user friendly ie a starboard all star 12'6 x 28.

It looks like a nice board. As you say, it is a totally different experience paddling a board like that, but it can be a lot of fun in the right conditions. I am afraid I do not have any experience with the "all star" or anything like it.

Sweet stick Benjl! How good is the tail on that thing! I reckon she'll get up and boogie in the right conditions.
Keen to hear how it goes for you? It's a good thread as I'm also looking at a longer, 'surfable' (I say that loosely) allrounder with rocker, not displacement hull.
I have been keen on a 14' Search but the 12' Search also sounds attractive. I asked Casso which he preferred - the 14' or 12' - he reckons the 12' at a pinch but reckons the 14' is also sick fun. What are your thoughts CSE? I remember Tardy said in a thread somewhere he'd just go a 13' custom coz he couldn't decide.
Your 12'6 sounds like a nice compromise.
Keep us posted bro - she's a ripper!

Thanks guys, it just happened to come up for sale at about 1/4 the price of a new one (while basically being new) so just clicked buy now hah. I guess with the 29" width, I also thought my partner might be able to learn on it.

It is about 5yrs old so I'm sure the technology and design has come a way since then with flat water speed but it was all good with a fair chunk of on shore wind and lumpy water.
Nearly wore out my shoulder taking 50 strokes on one side before having to switch! Also need a much longer paddle, using my fixed length surf starboard bolt was way too short and really not utilising the stroke as effective as possible.

it certainly is a lot board for carrying around (I'm used to 8ft surf sups!) but was getting used to it pretty quick.

I've never done downwinding but I imagine it would be bloody fun on this!! Just the few little bumps I did get were a heap of fun! Just feeling the rolling glide. I could really see myself getting in to recreational races with the right length paddle.

would love to know what the difference in mine vs a displacement hull board with 80+ extra litres would be. Ie just paddle speed? Big difference?
Mine also has a slight dugout deck which is mint

Not sure how accurate I am about what constitutes a displacement hull but I will use the term bull nose for my reference which is more typical of 14ft race boards and DW boards depending on conditions. I have found through owning a 10ft x 33 wide all round board then a 14ft x 29.5 wide cruising board to now having a 14 x 27 wide bull nose board that on flat water the speed is much the same. The amount of litres per board is not necessarily related to weight or speed as I thought which has surprised me. My Glide was 290lt I think? Not sure about the 10ft Mana but it's less and the JL Sidewinder is 300lt. My average speed on all 3 boards does not vary that much and a lot will depend on tide in or out, wind, chop, glass it all never matches up.
Interstingly my 10ft weighs 12kg, my Glide was 17kg and the bigger 300lt board is 9kg, I thought the lack of weight would have made it faster but then you have a different rocker outline etc etc etc which all make a difference, so I would not get too hung up on litres and size just use what you like unless you want to turn pro and then they give them to you anyway.
Now in reference to shape in the nose and a DW run I learnt a bit more last weekend about that very topic. I did a run with a guy who has a similar shaped board to your but a SIC board. It was 15-18kn with some nice bumps and in sections a reasonable run was had and it was great. But no matter what I did I could not keep up with the other guy. Now he paddles much more than I do he is closer to water and must be fitter than me even though I thought I was pretty fit. I asked him about the difference and he said that shape was made for days like this, 15-18kn. It catches anything and cuts through the back of waves which I had trouble with due to practice or lack of it! He also said that if it were bigger, windier etc he would not use it at all because he would not cope with the conditions. I can only presume that a Bull Nose/ Displacement hull type would be his go to boards, he has dugout, unlimited boards etc etc in bigger situation??
The biggest difference I have found between both of my 14ft boards and their weight is the fatigue factor, I may paddle as fast but my body is less tired and strained after a 10-13km paddle. Carbon board, Carbon paddle = less wear and tear. That is enough reason for me to stay where I am and learn to handle conditions more and not worry about where everyone else is in relation to me, I run my own race for pleasure.
sorry one last thing with less weight I do catch more runners because I can chase down the wave in front, I could not do that with 8kg of extra board at a lower litre volume. Below are pics of the noses I use and they all have pro's and Con's.








Like all of us though once you get better you will buy another board and another and it's all good clean fun!

Here you go DaveSandan

Thanks bud!!!!

Thanks Dave, that's interesting stuff! Would love one of those new sunova boards that split in two but just brought my first house and don't have a spare $4000 yet hah!

I think the weight of mine is only around 10kg from the reviews I read, it's not carbon but a wood sandwhich I believe. I think for me the biggest thing now is getting a much longer paddle so I can take advantage of the longer and more efficient stroke but also can't wait to try it more on flat water.
It was kind of fun waking up and down the deck trying to find the sweet spot for turning. I found myself standing near the handle when paddling.

Will be interstaing to see if my partner can learn or use it, it feels stable but not if that makes sense?

Mine also has full chine rails the length of the board which probably don't help, but will aid when the board is planing on a wave

What about the Starboard Touring? Is that any good?

Go to take the new toy out for its first proper ocean harbour paddle today, loved it! Such an amazing feeling Just being out in the middle of the ocean by yourself with the wind lapping past and nothing else really around.

got my first little bit of downwind, fun!! Such a different feeling to being on a wave but that gliding feeling when a little bump picks you up is so cool.
I got maybe 2km out and then paddled back against the wind to where i came from. Could imagine this board would be fun in proper downwind. Plenty of glide for the casual paddle. I tried using my extendable surf paddle as that was the only other paddle I had which could be long enough for this board, worked ok but wayyy to big for long paddling at around 98 sq in.