I'm also a average surfer ...but i ride the 8'7 placid ,and because its wide ,its pretty easy ..I'm 94 kgs and a similar age .
before this board i was riding a 9,1 125 litre Acid .I don't ride the acid much now ,as I find shorter boards a easier to surf .
I have a 9,11 insane 140 litres i ride a bit too ...it just over 29,5 wide ,i find it harder to ride narrower boards in waves .
if your keeping the flow it would be a good two board combo for you .

G'day 100 yrs, I'm slightly older than you and a few kg lower in weight. I have owned the 8'10" and the 8'7" Placid, my other board being an 8'10" Creek. I've tried different sized boards over the years and have found I'm pretty comfortable with the 8'10" size so got a Creek a few years ago and find it easy to catch waves and has great performance in waves with some juice. I was a little uncomfortable in lumpy swell and onshore wind so when the Placid came on the market decided this would be the board for those days and bought the 8'10" . The board was super stable and performs well but felt a little big in size and also literage so sold it to my good buddy Hutch who is pushing 100kg, he hasn't paddled anything else in his quiver for 12 months. Needless to say I down sized to 8'7" and find it super stable as well and has great performance, not quite as sharp as the Creek but good enough for me, hope this helps.

We all have different levels of experience (i.e. time in the water) but I would definitely recommend the 8'7 Placid unless you do not get out much or have not been surfing/paddling much.

I am the same age but 5 kg heavier on a good day (I was riding the 8'7 when I ballooned up to 107 kg - I would not recommend that) - but I have been supping almost 7 years. The width and shape of the Placid make it very stable - I am surprised how stable it is compared to other boards I have (I used to own a Flow). The volume of a board is important, but the shape (in all three dimensions) plays an equally important role in determining stability.

Even though you are on a longer board with greater volume, sometimes the shape and thickness of the board can make it corky.

If you were over on our side of the country I would let you try my 8'7 - I think you'll like it.

cantSUPenough said..
You know, I have been thinking about my response...

Dropping 20 litres and 7" may be too big a step. Even though the 8'7 would be good if you have been surfing/paddling a reasonable amount, if you are still going up the learning curve, perhaps you should be more conservative.

Thanks CSE
My too thoughts are
? the 8'10 may be too close to the 9'2 flow
? the 8'7 may be a drop in volume. A bit more than I can handle

need to demo I'm thinking

Hi,

I have decided to enter the "Placid" world and have ordered an 8'3" Placid at 30.5" wide and 112 litres. The reviews of the larger sizes have been good. At 70 kg and comfortable on my narrower boards 8'10" Speeed (130 litres) and 8'7" Creek (115 litres) I am hoping this will be a reasonable step down in size. Not sure if this will overlap the Creek a bit too much but we will see. I had thought about a 9' x 30" "Revolution" but was drawn to going for a shorter board. The "Speeed" is working out as my nod towards a performance long board. The Placid should arrive in June (quickwatercanada.com/collections/sunova) and I will try to post a review and video. (I dusted off the Soloshot last week to record a friend out in double overhead conditions at Cox Bay in his IC class surf kayak. It didn't track his rides well but still got a few amazing clips).

Cheers

Bob

supthecreek said..
100 said:
"? the 8'10 may be too close to the 9'2 flow"

Not even close!
Totally different boards.

A few years ago, I had a 9'2 Flow for winter in New England.... it felt like a big board to me.
My 8'10 Placid is on the low volume side for me... but super fun!

Thanks sTC