Hi
I have been paddle boarding for a while now on a Naish Mana 10', I am having a blast, but am looking to upgrade my board to something that can keep me improving, whilst pushing me to improve at the same time.
I mainly ride the mellow long board waves, off Auckland's east coast, and am looking for a board that surfs like a traditional long board, so I can really start to learn how to nose ride.
The stockist's here, really only stock one or two brands so it is really difficult to get a balanced view on which would be the best boards to look at.
I am 6'4" and about 110kgs hence I am currently looking at the Laird surftech 11'.
Would that be a good choice, and are there others that I can look at.
many thanks
Graeme
i haven't been on the 11foot laird but i have benn on the 12foot laird and it rides exactly like a longboard, it also noserides very nicely (when you get up there). i weeigh a bit more than you and the 12foot worked beautifully for me, really just demo the 11foot and any other boards you can to get an idea, another idea would be to get a custom board specifically for what you want it for
Jarryd
I would advise going towards a board:
- wide enough for your weigth (mine is 30" 1/4 for my 100kg), to have power in mellow waves
- extremely thin in the rails, especially in the tail and the nose.
- a flat rocker
- a wide tail will provide power for gutless waves
This way, the thiness with give you insane, fluid manoeuvrability, the thin rails and flat rocker in the nose wont brake when you go to the nose.
You can see my 2 "longboard" shapes in the photos: left one is a performance shape for hollow waves (narrow), the right one is a dream for old school riding in mellow waves (140 litres, 9'6"). These are Gong boards, but are difficult to get (you have to preorder them, and preorders are full in the 2 hours following the announcement...)
I think the Laird Pearson are good boards (avoid the non-Pearson Lairds)
Hi Graeme
Another option that could be worth a look is the Naish Nalu series. They are designed for that mal style of riding. Their rail to rail performance in fantastic. Also the construction of the Naish boards are unbeatable, they are super light too.
In that range i would recommend a 11'4" or if you find that a little difficult step up to a 11'6". Keep in mind there is a big jump in volume between those two boards.
The Surf Tech construction is also soo good! they are wicked strong boards and also very light. If you can the best option would be try and get a Laird along with a Nalu on the same day and demo them both together.
Good Luck 
Marcel
