Anyone who weighs what the pros weigh can ride their boards with a little practice.

We have two boards, 6'8x25 and 6'10x25, with natural noses - no chop nose. Can paddle it fine, without falling, for about and hour or so. After that it's tough.

http://www.soulsup.com/#!/reviews:review-610-x-2475-x-4-si

Watching another person paddle around my board looked hilarious. It looks like a prone surfboard. Like the person is floating on the water. It's really quite funny. But it works! I've got a lot of time on these sized boards and they're no problem. The tough part is climbing whitewater, climbing oncoming waves, but where I surf you don't really have to do that.

Interesting, I would personally resell a board that I can ride only one hour... well, I have :-)

Thanks Kami.

Definitely would be fun to catch up with you and Colas (I know you are in two different areas of France) next time we travel 'en France'. I've surfed Biarritz and Mundaka before, but not surfed the Med where I think Colas is.

Unfortunately, my French is much worse than your English...but my wife can act as an interpreter if necessary.....she told me to say, "Merci bien a vous" (no French keyboard, so no accent on "a"). I'm about the same age and same weight as you Kami, so it would be very interesting to try some of these sub-7' boards you guys ride. My Minion is 103 litres, but have ridden a 95 litre Minion without too many issues - not tried sub-90 yet, though.

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colas said...
Interesting, I would personally resell a board that I can ride only one hour... well, I have :-)

One hour of surfing with zero falls! I felt proud!

That's me bragging

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Rosscoe said..
Thanks Kami.

Definitely would be fun to catch up with you and Colas (I know you are in two different areas of France) next time we travel 'en France'. I've surfed Biarritz and Mundaka before, but not surfed the Med where I think Colas is.

Unfortunately, my French is much worse than your English...but my wife can act as an interpreter if necessary.....she told me to say, "Merci bien a vous" (no French keyboard, so no accent on "a"). I'm about the same age and same weight as you Kami, so it would be very interesting to try some of these sub-7' boards you guys ride. My Minion is 103 litres, but have ridden a 95 litre Minion without too many issues - not tried sub-90 yet, though.

Sure, i will be please to make you know my place and boards i'm developing to fit waves around here which are beach break, perfect summer place, better than Biarritz or Hossegor because we get swell from South storm, down South they don't. Falls is better there, sand banks steeper, waves are more pounding, Mundaka cranking ...but i'm too old now, better stay home waiting for windows
I'll be retired soon, i want to do some guest room later on, contact me next year

About liters, i reckon just less than 5 or 10 liters of your weight. Volume distribution is prime condition before extra buoyancy.
As shortboard , extra volume is a pain to surfing; make easier to paddle but it is killing surfing characteristics .

We're all coming this September Kami :)
I reckon it's better to think in % of your weight than absolutes - so if you're 85kg and ride a shape at 95L, that extra 10L is +12%. For me at 110kg, +12% would mean an extra 13L. The difference doesn't seem much in this example, but a most people seem to ride +30% (or more) which starts to look more significant in L terms.

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Burndo said..
We're all coming this September Kami :)
I reckon it's better to think in % of your weight than absolutes - so if you're 85kg and ride a shape at 95L, that extra 10L is +12%. For me at 110kg, +12% would mean an extra 13L. The difference doesn't seem much in this example, but a most people seem to ride +30% (or more) which starts to look more significant in L terms.

Are you coming in september, with all the SeaBreezers !!! great ...but would prefer just you and your wife So PM me about please

About liters i said "About liters, i reckon just less than 5 or 10 liters of your weight. Volume distribution is prime condition before extra buoyancy. As shortboard , extra volume is a pain to surfing; make easier to paddle but it is killing surfing characteristics . "
Sorry i mean more So i agree with you on 12%, but no more. Otherwise extra buoyancy is a negative element while surfing even with the help of paddle.

No trip to France planned this year Kami, so don't worry you won't be crowded-out by Seabreezers. Perhaps will look to your summer in 2016, by which time I will probably be retired, too.

Yes - we're all coming Kami. If everyone chips in for fuel they can come over on my private jet. I assume you have an airstrip we can land on? :)
Actually it's Mexico in July and the usual Sept roadtrip to the Ningaloo reef in Sept for me. B.O.Biscay down into Portugal is next year!
I wish I could ride only +12%. I just wouldn't stay upright though. I think that a volume formula has to take into account height and centre of gravity as well. I'm 6'4, all shoulders (and gut), with skinny legs and shaggers back, so +25% is about as small as I can handle unless it's mercury smooth. Otherwise I have to kneel down between waves - which isn't SUPing (unless it's REALLY inconsistent), or NEVER stop paddling - which sucks to do. Even with skinny legs, +40% can be pretty loose for me, so the leverage bigger guys can get stretches the equation also.
I'm making this up right now, but my formula might be something like - that everyone gets an extra 3% for every inch over 5'10" so:
* at 5'10 or below - 110% of body weight
* 5'11 - 113%
* 6'0 - 116%
* etc to me at..
* 6'4 - 130%
Then add on more % if you have pussy excuses like my bad back, or take off some % if you are Laird and/or your poo doesn't stink.

I'd think you'd want to add width and length for taller folks, not volume. Volume should relate purely to weight and nothing else.

....and make the boards thinner? Otherwise adding width and length adds volume anyway? I'm very much still trying to work SUPs out (as I think everyone is still to a fair degree), but for 3 decades of windsurfing small guys have told me that blown up versions of their gear should work for big guys. I've never met a big windsurfer who agrees that it works in the real world.

Yes, thinner. Too much volume makes makes the board corky. You want the board partially submerged to help with balance.

Agree that all of us are still figuring things out. That's much of the fun, for me at least. Trying new shapes, dimensions, contours, etc. I feel like I'm definitely starting to hone in on what I personally prefer in my conditions.

I find 7% over body weight perfectly stable. 20% over body weight is too corky. But the extra glide and wave catching of a more voluminous board is nice!

To follow JeanG in his idea i would say this about balance :


I'm still drawing and scheduling balance of my next board with volume at a minimum or under my weight and board weight. 77+6kg =83 liters. So i go around this quantity of buoyancy . Drawing a good surfboard which is responsive /fun to ride and paddling stood up whithin good balance is really a subtil job...
So for whom who care about, watch the 4 quarters of volume repartition in %. more they equal, more balance the board is.
My board is mid pointy and mid rectangular. I choose that because it's a mix of stand up balance from Vangard type and the cool ride from the pointy nose curves.









This board is made for <4 foot wave good to perfect condition beach break.

I have a lot to learn.

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Burndo said..
I have a lot to learn.

Me too