Hey I'm looking to get a red isup

im 55kg, mostly to use on flat water, maybe a couple of little waves

anyone have any thoughts on the sport versus ride please and what size?

thanks very much

At 55kg you are probably not a tall, wide person. So you won't need loads of volume and width. So get the 11ft Sport (30" wide). The Rides are all over 30. It's much nicer to paddle a narrrower board as long as you feel stable. And stability shouldn't be a problem for you at your weight. So the 11-0 sport is the logical choice. You could go 12-6 but that's a really big voluminous board and you won't want to be carrying that around.

No inflatable is particularly good for surfing, so you might as well buy one that is good for flat water and accept that surf performance will be very basic.

Thanks, there's also the sport 11'3 which is 32 inch, what do you think of that one please?

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newbie28 said..
Thanks, there's also the sport 11'3 which is 32 inch, what do you think of that one please?

It's a very good touring inflatable (no surf) for a big person, or a small person who is carrying a load of gear.

As I've already said, at your weight, unless you are really unused to physical exercise, it would be best not to go wider than 30". When people paddle boards that are too wide for them, they tend to weave all over the place rather than going in a straight line. This takes a lot of the enjoyment out of paddling.

Also, small people usually find big boards a pain to carry. So there's no point getting a bigger board than you need. The 11-3 Sport is 306 litres, which is OTT for a 55kg person - it's not far off 6 times the volume you need to float you. You'd be happier with something in the 3.5 to 4.5 range. 3.5x55= 193L. 4.5x55=248. That's probably your sweet spot. Even 193L will be far more volume than you can control easily in the surf. Trying to control a 306L inflatable that has a wide tail in surf (or in winds over 15 knots) if you weight 55kg would be just about impossible.

Ideally you'd buy yourself a hard board. A 10-6 Naish Nalu or similar would probably do everything you want, and would be much nicer to paddle and incomparably better in surf. But I guess that if you really *have* to have an inflatable, then Red is a very good brand indeed. Just don't get one the size of a bouncy castle! You could probably paddle even their smallest boards.

Thanks!

Can I just ask, is there any time you think the ride might be better than the sport? What kind of distances are easily manageable on the ride versus the sort? I'm attracted to the bright red and indestructible I fins on the sport!!

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newbie28 said..
Can I just ask, is there any time you think the ride might be better than the sport? What kind of distances are easily manageable on the ride versus the sort? I'm attracted to the bright red and indestructible I fins on the sport!!

Which models *exactly* (including the year) are you looking at? I don't see a bright red one.

If you are a total newbie then it won't really matter much what you get. And as far as distances go, that's more up to the rider than the board. I once paddled a 9-3 surf SUP for 13 miles of very windy and choppy ocean in one go, 75% of which was upwind and crosswind. But I wouldn't do it again...

So, if things like colour and having fins permanently fitted are important to you, then that's as reasonable a criteria for choice as any other. There isn't as big a difference between inflatables as there is between hard boards. With iSUPs you are always standing on a fairly formless and bouncy bag of air, no matter which you get.

Try to demo some if you can. It would be time and money well spent.