Just bought a 10'6 Nalu am I too heavy?

Hi, I just bought a 10'6" Naish Nalu. At 100kg am I too heavy for the board? I'm a beginner SUP rider. Plan on using it in the surf. Mainly bought it for my wife to ride on flatwater with me dabbling in the surf. Its 160l I believe. I've read a bit on the forums and judging from this I get the sense I'm a bit undergunned. For my wife it seems fine - flatwater use mainly - she's smaller than me just in case you were wondering.

I am a pretty regular shortboard (and sometimes longboard) surfer where my regular shortboard is a 6'6" at 38 litres volume. Also windsurf where my board is 85litres but don't get out much since the wind needs to be 20knots to get a good plane going. Also have a fair amount of caoneing background being originally from Canada - we live in Canoes and iglooos. So, I'm assuming with all this I should be able to pick it up fairly quickly.

I had it out on flat water for my first try and had no problems - felt pretty good and preferred the feel to some of the wider boards. I went out at Makaha on my second try (long reef in Sydney) in small stuff and was wobbling all over the shop. Have I gone a little too agressive here? That's certainly how I felt after the makaha trip...

Any tips or reassurance much appreciated.

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windara said..
just hang in there and get out there as much as you can. It gets better :)

Yep. I was close to 90kg when i first got my 10'6.5'' -- it can handle your weight, I'm sure. You will make progress every time and get comfortable pretty quickly. You chose a great board.
A tip: Keep the paddle in the water and use it for balance between waves (almost like gently stirring the water - it's a 'feel' thing). And sometimes just keeping moving helps -- and gives you momentum if you are moving when the wave arrives.
Windara is right... stick with it. If you went and bought a bigger SUP you may well be wanting a smaller one in 6 months. Besides - the Nalu is a great all rounder. I love mine in the surf and now find it super stable. That said, I still go down for no reason (a little side chop when my weight is in the wrong place) sometimes -- my mate calls it "the sniper in the sandunes."
Enjoy the journey.

If you need to ask... then...

You'll be fine. I'm > 110kgs and comfortable on a 144lt.

I'm 95kgs and love my 10'6" Nalu.. I find it pretty stable but I wouldn't say it's super stable.. Don't stand with your feet way out on the rails thinking that helps.. It makes it worse.. also move forward to the point where the tip of the tail is slightly lifted from the surface of the water or at least kissing it.. It makes the nose sit low but you will get the best stability and tracking.

DJ

Another thing that will happen when you paddle in a very wide stance is that you will tend to overcompensate every single time you lose your balance.Paddling with a more narrow and staggered stance will provide you a bit more more fore/aft stability when on a shorter board and also keep you from overcompensating!