Hey Everyone
I have switched from a JP Pro surf 8'1 to the new design Sunova Flow 8'0. I'm about 92kg.
I am wondering if anyone has any advice or videos to share of the flow in action. I'm finding surfing the new board very different, i suspect the stepped thin rails demand a different style of surfing to get good performance. I find i'm getting my rail caught up when trying to bottom turn hard, and that the board is too fast, feeling like it's shooting out from under me.
Cheers
Jim

For thin-railed boards, I have two tips:

- when paddling around, turning in front of an incoming wave to prepare for the takeoff, lift the nose a lot, otherwise you will tend to catch the inner rail as soon as you focus on the incoming wave and do not monitor the board. Make a pivot turn basically.

- thin rails are designed to work at speed. Trying to turn without enough speed will bog the rail down, as its middle section has not enough volume to stay afloat at low speeds. You need to either generate more speed before the bottom turn (pump more your legs, be on a steeper part of the wave, ...), or rear more the board to lift the nose and prevent the rail to catch, buy putting your rear foot well on the stomp pad.

I do not know why the board is "shooting out from under you" but my guess may be that your rear foot is not aft enough, and moving your weight back to control the turn has not enough leverage to actually dig the rear rail, so you just fall back because the board doesn't obey you. A bit like the fall we experienced all when learning skateboarding.

I'm the same weight and I have the 9'0. Paddling into the wave, I'm in full surf stance just in the middle of the board. It took a little practice but I love that my front foot is central as I find it easier to drop in and control the board because of the dome. I generally will give it a pump or two before a bottom turn. It's a fast board probably the fastest I've been on. And because the rails are so thin I find it easy to control don't have to move my rear foot side to side too much. I can surf it from 1ft up. I now do find it a little tiring pumping it in small waves but that's just age

Hi Jim
flow is best ridden on the tail and yes they are fast ,I stall mine by shifting weight from front foot to rear
but persevere with it they are great boards

?si=pV5_KGzHt_2M6uKC

Nice little wave but how shallow is that , looks like you know where to go, or take a risk

I got plenty fins

yes I know those rocks by name

Hi Jim, AT 96-98kegs I have the 8'8 flow V2. It was my favourite board and could surf it in any conditions. I was really able to advance my surfing on this board even at 59. Ive had very few issues with the step rails and agree in small soft waves take off with front foot well forward and a few pumps before dropping into a nice bottom turn. I have it set up with quobba fins as a quad and love the speed this gives the board. With the thin rails the grip on a wave face is awesome.
Having said all that I now have a 8'8 SPX, this is the best board I have owned, ever. I took the flow out the other day as a comparison and was surprised by the lack of speed as compared to the SPX. The SPX is in the XXX finish and the flow in TR3. In my opinion I would always pay the extra for the XXX finish.
Enjoy the flow mate it is one awesome board once you dial it in, if you ever see an SPX for sale grab it!

Hi Jimmy

The video below has a lot of 9'4 Flow clips (red board) in the 1st half, then other boards for the end.

It took me years to come to terms with my Flow, I never seemed to sync up with it...
Until:
I put a set of Quobba Fins in it... then it quickly became my go-to board that year!
These fins completely changed my Flow
Quobba Carbon Glass Mixed Thruster Set --- mine is a few years old, so it has FCS boxes (twin Tab) ... they now use the Futures Fin boxes (single Tab)

One thing to pay attention to with the Flow:
The thinner, "S" rails are a bit more technical to surf... sometimes they can dive under water if you catch them to far forward on the rail during a hard turn. Plus the thin rails make the Flow a bit tippier.

I surfed my 9'0 Flow today and had fun.... have a blast with your new 8'8!

Video with 9'4 Flow clips

Thanks for the replies everyone it's really helpful to hear others experiences

I surfed it on bigger faster waves and found it stiff and difficult to turn. I think the back foot needs to be further back for sure, and upon looking at the stock fins this morning they are too stiff and bulky for me so i'll upgrade to something smaller with flexibility and see how that goes. Quobba or C drive sound like the go to's,

I found it at sub 100 litres to be way more stable than the JP pro at 104 litres because of the way it sinks the rails underwater when paddling slowly or stationary. It makes me think i could have gone another size down in good conditions.

I love the ability to take off 'sideways', the rail grips into the wave and you can beat a section before bottom turning. Can't wait to get it dialed. Let's be honest it'll probably be next winter until i get a chance to surf it in really nice conditions

Select to expand quote

jimmy111 said..
i'll upgrade to something smaller with flexibility and see how that goes. Quobba or C drive sound like the go to's,

C-Drive are stiffer, so I would recommend Quobbas, because their extra speed will help managing thin rails.
But do not expect miracles, Quobbas will not magically give you more speed, the real speed boost will be by better placement on the wave (the upper part is where the power is), and pumping your turns. Quobbas will then help reap even more benefits.
The faster you go, the more the Quobba make a difference with normal fins.

C-Drive are better on weak waves, because you can push hard on them to generate speed without slipping, like keels, but unlike keels they do not become too stiff at speed.

Also, try to change only the center fin. Having a center smaller than the sides is often the magic combo for SUPs.
You keep the big sides for hold and reduce the center for looseness.

Sunova describes flow for under waist high to just overhead, compared to the jp it might fight you more in bigger faster surf if the tail starts generating too much lift. In this case getting further back on the tail might not help you gain control, I always surfed a wider tail a little further forward to keep the whole rail in the water when pushing this kind of board into bigger more hollow surf.

Thanks guys,
I'll try a smaller Centre fin in a quobba, probably medium? Yes Slsurf I can see how it's gonna be different. Most of the time the surf is small or big and lumpy so it'll be rare I feel like I prefer the jp. I may eventually try a throttle or similar.

Select to expand quote

jimmy111 said..
Thanks guys,
I'll try a smaller Centre fin in a quobba, probably medium? Yes Slsurf I can see how it's gonna be different. Most of the time the surf is small or big and lumpy so it'll be rare I feel like I prefer the jp. I may eventually try a throttle or similar.

I've found compared to my other boards it doesn't require as much fin as the other ,but the speed you can generate out of the flow
just keeps me coming back ,I guess that why its so good in smaller waves and not so powerful one ,I ride mine as a quad but very small rears ,I am still amazed how high it can ride on the wave due to the thinned out rail ,I have found I have to ride it totally different to my SPX 8'7 ,I need to do more dragged out turns as the speed of the flow needs a little more time to turn ,the SPX however is a snappy crazy little board that turns on command ,if you are a high performance surfer ,you should try the SPX if you can ,but don't get too small ,its high tail kick and nose scoop doesn't give you a lot of stability in the smaller sizes ,

Just an update:

I bought a set of quobba medium fins in a thruster and surfed 3 times since fitting them with some shims to get the height right. The board feels very very different.

1. My biggest pleasure with it is it is now much easier to turn off the back foot and hit the lip.
2. It also has a weird but good feeling of progressively increasing speed as I pump or get down the face, without feeling 'drag' at high speed
3. It is also much looser while stationary or taking off, so at slow speeds or stopped my foot placement and paddle placement can control the board whereas before i felt bogged down. That means I need to be a bit more disciplined on take off as it'll want to take off sideways if not lined up properly.

It has become much easier to surf as a result of the above. I was thinking I need to sell the board before changing fins, now ill definitely keep it.

Cheers
Jim

PS Sunova shouldn't f around with fins, make a deal with Quobba to chuck their fins in every board

I've been following the discussion on using quobba fins for sometime.
At first I thought I wouldn't be able to notice the difference between quobba and c drive fins.
After reading reports from Rick and Colas for sometime and now the post above, it seems I simply have to give them a try.
I have a 8.3 Flow, am 70 kg and mainly surf fast head high to slightly bigger waves. What size fins should I buy.
thanks for all the input and advice.
tanna

Select to expand quote

tannaman said..
am 70 kg [...] What size fins should I buy.

Quobba M, no more.

L will be too big for you, only adding drag and stiffness.

I would not recommend C-Drive fins in your case, I think they make boards over 8' too stiff in my experience.

Thanks for your help yet again Colas

You could try keel fins, it totally transformed my 8.4 Flow for the better, loosened it up and stopped the stalling, after trying thrusters and quads of various sizes and started my journey to a dedicated twin SUP, without a trailer fin. Fins are very important to match with board shape and surf style, similarly I have an infinity wide speed and for me this only works with medium thruster fins, again big twins, quads thruster cause it to bog down in turns the way I surf it.
I now have a 8.2 Loco Twinny, no trailer fin, and this blows away previous boards, the rail shape is optimal for me and it's super light and agile, whilst having good stability. Feels like a custom board.

Very interesting. thanks Dave

Hummmmm... I have those same big Twins with the cutout, but have only tried them a few times on bigger boards and wasn't impressed. I will throw them in my 9' Flow and give them another try. Thanks Dave!