Hey is anyone riding smaller than 8' ? Curious to know dims and litres ? Also pics if possible.

Not interested in discs or anything over 29 wide.

Cheers

I ride for beach break summer wave.
6'4" 28'75" 82 liters swalow channeled ( in maintenance)

6'4" 29.25 82 liters


6'9" 28.25" 85 liters ( green one)



6'10" 28.75" 90liters the white round pin channeled
And my faithfully 7'11" 28,5" 100liters, channeled swallow

Yea there snall hey, I currently ride 7'10 x 27.5 x 3.75 88L

Just seeing what others have come up with

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pohaku said..

Yea there snall hey, I currently ride 7'10 x 27.5 x 3.75 88L

Just seeing what others have come up with

If if it's small and glassy waves on beach break the small ones are ok, if it's get bigger and hollow i switch to my 7'11".


Now , let's others

I ride a 7'10 x 29' x 4.25 . Not sure in the litres but about 100 i think.

I am 92kgs.

Great fun to surf and made locally here on the Goldy.

I ride a 7'6" x 30" - 122L
It is amazing in small summer mush but can still handle some juice
But it is a much wider outline to my 8'0" x 29" - 103L standard board

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wazza66 said..
I ride a 7'10 x 29' x 4.25 . Not sure in the litres but about 100 i think.

I am 92kgs.Great fun to surf and made locally here on the Goldy.

Loose some weight you fat bastd.

Come join the under 90 club with Rob and myself.

About to start a new board 7'8 x 26 1/2

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Clarky said..

wazza66 said..
I ride a 7'10 x 29' x 4.25 . Not sure in the litres but about 100 i think.

I am 92kgs.Great fun to surf and made locally here on the Goldy.

Loose some weight you fat bastd.

Come join the under 90 club with Rob and myself.

About to start a new board 7'8 x 26 1/2

What do you weigh?

Gong has been making sub-7' boards for years (2010), you can get a lot of feedback on the gong forum accumulated during these years from various riders.

Here is Mika on his 115l 6'11" x 30 3/4": I wouldn't call it a "disc" :-)





Personally, I have had a 6'6", 6'9", 6'8", 6'8",6'8", 6'9", 6'10", 6'8" SUPs, between 115 and 125 liters, (I weight 100kg) in many shapes, from noseriders to shortboard-like outlines. Widths from 29'5" to 33". Single fins, thrusters, quads, 5-fins.



Width does not make a board a disc: shaping sub-7' boards is a delicate art, everything is in the shape details.

My current small wave board is a 6'8"x29.5" (Gong One) at imgur.com/a/RjuBD
My medium wave board is a 6'10"x31" (Gong Fatal) because bigger conditions here mean more water movement, I need the stability.

My overhead board is a 8'2"x27.5" to go to outer reefs easily of for conditions with shifting peaks (sub-7' boards do paddle so slowly...)

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pohaku said..

What do you weigh?

Your height would be handy, too, as anyone over 6'2" would attest. Ta.

colas,
great pics! if I may ask a question? How in the heck does somebody own so many dam sups? I mean I have been known to have 3 or 4 boards at a time but the list you gave, I must say is pretty impressive!!

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pohaku said..

Clarky said..

wazza66 said..
I ride a 7'10 x 29' x 4.25 . Not sure in the litres but about 100 i think.

I am 92kgs.Great fun to surf and made locally here on the Goldy.

Loose some weight you fat bastd.

Come join the under 90 club with Rob and myself.

About to start a new board 7'8 x 26 1/2

What do you weigh?

6 ft and a svelt 89.9 kg after a morning crap.

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tamarackjanito said..
colas,

great pics! if I may ask a question? How in the heck does somebody own so many dam sups? I mean I have been known to have 3 or 4 boards at a time but the list you gave, I must say is pretty impressive!!

Dissatisfaction?

not sure what you meant with the dissatisfaction? Don't mean to take over this thread.

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tamarackjanito said..
colas,
great pics! if I may ask a question? How in the heck does somebody own so many dam sups?

I guess it comes from living in a land without good consistent waves (the Mediterannean sea is just a big lake), and being older. Younger, I drooled over uncommon surfboards (retro shapes) knowing I would not have the water time to really learn to ride them. SUP changed all this, as my wave count has exploded, and put me back on the water. Basically, SUP has motivated me to live a healthier life, and the price of a SUP quiver is a cheap investment in this regard. And as you grow older, that kids are out of school, house is paid for, ... what the heck! Plus specialized boards allow you to enjoy marginal conditions, raking up your sessions count.

Plus, Gong boards are quite inexpensive to buy, and resell well, so you loose very little money rotating your quiver. Most of the time I do not even have to put them on sale, as people just beg to buy them from me. The last one I put an ad for was sold in 6 minutes...

For instance, on my last trip at Hossegor I bought a special big wave SUP, that I pre-sold to a guy living there. So I was able to try this gun shape even though I would not have had the conditions to use it at home...

The real expensive part of a SUP quiver is... the van to transport them :-)

I'll take the small volume crown, but I weigh 70kg. Then again I am 5'10".

Currently riding:

7'6x25 84L

7'5x26 75L

Both high performance shapes.

Definitely something you have to work down to, but once I became comfy on smaller boards they ceased to be too much of a distraction and they glide well for their size.

They are also extremely light, increasing buoyancy.

That makes sense to me. Being from the states and doing no traveling I've never heard of gong boards. I would like to see how they rode. The only guys I see riding boards that small are small guys themselves. Most of the fellas that I see sup are on boards like 7'7 -8'5 I would think a board would have to be pretty dam thick to be ridden in the 6' range. Good for you fellas who can pull it off. I would love to see a man 6'4 200 lbs riding those boards in daily conditions.

Me too, at 6'4 and 190lbs......

Last week I drove to Maine, so a fellow could ride my 8'11... we water swapped.

I ended up riding his Infinity Phoenix 7'11 x 30.5 (Simmons style)
I am 66 yrs old and in full wettie.... about 108 kg

I was quite comfortable on it and surfed it in head high waves for an hour or so.

Surprised the heck out of me to be ok on a 7'11

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tamarackjanito said..

That makes sense to me. Being from the states and doing no traveling I've never heard of gong boards. I would like to see how they rode. The only guys I see riding boards that small are small guys themselves. Most of the fellas that I see sup are on boards like 7'7 -8'5 I would think a board would have to be pretty dam thick to be ridden in the 6' range. Good for you fellas who can pull it off. I would love to see a man 6'4 200 lbs riding those boards in daily conditions.

I am 220lbs... but 5'6"

Gong boards are not sold outside of France and close countries. Thus I do not try to make you buy one, just sharing my experience :-)

A guy had a trip in southern calif with his new 6'10" x 27" 3/16 x 4" 11/16 99l Gong Fatal XTR, here are his first waves on it near San Onofre:

This is a shape for hollow waves, so you can see it bogs down a bit on the flats, and a narrow one, so the rider is still "walking on eggs" on it
The shape for slow waves is the "One", you can see me on 4s period "waves" here

The art of shaping these boards is to "hide" the volume away from the rails, e.g on this 116l 6'8" geared for small hollow waves:

(more pics at imgur.com/a/sOEDE )

PS: here is a 6'9" 115l mini-noserider, similar to Takayama's "Scorpions"

(more pics at imgur.com/a/DWrQS )

colas,
I like the pics of the boards you posted. I watched the video and have to be honest, the first video didn't impress me. It actually showed me that he needed more on that wave( more power on the wave, or more board, or maybe a little less trying to much on very little wave.) Sometimes I feel like the fellas that are going so short on their sup try way to hard on the waves and it actually looks worse then they did on a slightly bigger board. Not saying that about anybody on here, just an observation. How thick are those boards? The first post on here was pretty clear that he really didn't want to see disc's. But thats really what most people have posted on here. An example of a board that wouldn't be a disc= 6'10X26 wideX3inch thick.. I think to many people on here don't do a lot of thinning out when they go small. I know it will look like I am trying to stir **** up but I've seen starboard, naish, all wave, etc etc.. They look odd.. You got these boards that are like 7'7 and are still 4 inches thick and 32 inches wide???? To me, its like come on! If your going to cut then cut! Again not trying to critique anybody on here. I ride a 8'3 by no means is that short.

Almost seems sups are taking all the length from boards and shaping a fuller nose and boxy rail, stability them becomes within the wide nose or rely on the width of a disc shape with a wider nose .

Almost gets to a point where boards are so short but fat and sup wide, prone or knee paddle out back sit on it and only stand once about to go for a wave

It all depends on weight & height of rider. It's all relative.
What may seem impressive to some ie... a 7'0 x 26" x 3 1/2" board at 80L, if you are only 5'8 & 70kg's soaking wet, to me is no more impressive than a 6'4" guy who is 110kg riding an 8ft board that is 120L.

instead of seeing how short everyone can go it may be a better question to see how close people are riding to their weight & height.

To me I am not looking at what others are riding so much as what goes good for me, both stability out the back and also once on a wave. Nothing ****s me more than constantly falling out the back in clean conditions because the board is too small for me, but once on a wave I am very particular about how it rides as well.

I love all the different shaped boards people are riding, and I don't knock any of them, if it suits you then that is all that matters, if it doesn't go any good, at least you had a crack and tried something different. It's only through experimentation that we can evolve.

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tamarackjanito said..
I like the pics of the boards you posted. I watched the video and have to be honest, the first video didn't impress me. It actually showed me that he needed more on that wave( more power on the wave, or more board, or maybe a little less trying to much on very little wave.)

As I said, this is a shape geared for hollow waves (more rockered), this is why it bogs down in weak waves. Plus it was the first time of this guy with this board and location, you can see he is actually not positionned close to the curl, I guess from not knowing the spot. Since then (Feb), he has used mainly this board, he didnt post new videos yet, I am eager for them.

Sub-7' boards can ride in VERY different ways. The difference in shape are exaggerated by the short dimensions. And you must try to abandon most preconceptions till you have not ridden them. For instance, the width: the main factor is more the curvature of the outline than the width. Think of the board as 2 boards side by side: once on the rail, it is the board outline that counts. the width brings some latency to engage turns and makes the board slower to paddle, however.

A "wide everywhere" 6'11" x 30" 3/4 x 4" 7/8 "faking (mini lonbgboard) with a ~85kg rider:



The same Fatal 6'10" in hollower conditions:





Note: these boards have no handle because they have footstrap inserts, to be ridden (optionally) with footstraps, one of the benefits of the short length.

The person in that pic is absolutely ripping in the first pic. No question there. I wonder how often do waves like that come around? I like the thinking outside the box with these boards you posted. Not to many people shaping boards like that around my neck of the woods. I was wondering if the boards were tough to go from rail to rail and to do deep cuts and bottom turns but it looks like they handle just fine. I like the idea. I just have a different mind set.

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oi do like the looks of this one

Whether people like these boards or not, the fact of the matter is that it represents real time experimentation which adds to the evolution of this sport. There is no
doubt that boards are getting smaller and its obvious why. Put simply they are a lot easier to carry as well having the capacity to be thrown about more in the water.
The caveats however still apply in terms of the sacrifice with stability as well as the greater emphasis that is placed on body positioning and paddle power for the
purposes of getting onto a wave.

There are far too many videos on offer showing how the boards perform once the surfer is on the wave but very little illustrating the setup phase which along with
the associated dynamics which conflate into the final outcome. The absence of this vital information is misleading and does nothing to give a realistic perspective
of board performance particularly when an accomplished surfer spends more time kneeling down waiting for waves than standing up. It does not do the sport any
justice.

Cheers

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tamarackjanito said..
. I was wondering if the boards were tough to go from rail to rail and to do deep cuts and bottom turns but it looks like they handle just fine. I like the idea. I just have a different mind set.

Well, I think like everything in surfing, they are just a compromise: they are easier to throw around, but on good waves, a longer board is more confortable, as you can lay on the rail with all your force, with a shorter board it is easy to turn too much or too little.
Wider boards need also more footwork.
They are easier to surf the foam with, more compact.
they can be harder to push through whitewater: more width and less room for error

ghost, this is why I advocate wide enough boards to be confortable and never knee paddle. I posted those pics to show that boards can turn even if not 24" wide... I agree that you do need more timing and precise positioning to get into the wave, rather than raw power. Getting a tad off-balance and putting your weight on your heels stop the takeoff for instance, that's the main hurdle to overcome in chop with them.

Again, the idea is not to say that short SUP boards are the only kind of boards to use, nor are a kind of "evolution pinnacle". Just to dispell the misconceptions that "they do not turn properly" "they can only dishpan" "they are just ugly discs" and have shop vendors sell Hawaiians narrow guns for SUPers in everyday waves... again last week some surfer wanted to learn SUPing on a 8'x26" because he got the ideas from mags that thses boards were much better than the others because he saw them in contests...

Give me a 6' wave face, and I am quite happy with a 8' SUP :-)

Ghost,
I think you said it best, all people including myself see is the person ripping on the wave or dropping in on a complete bomb! I was lucky enough one time to be at a certain break while a couple of regular sup surfers were shooting a photo session. It really opened my mind when I saw these guys falling off there super short sup's while waiting for that SET wave also they were getting towed past the white a lot of times. To many surfers prone and standup are completely mislead by these magazines and other publications. Maybe they just want to sell magazines and the normal guy struggling and just maybe catching one good wave during a session just doesn't sell magazines like they guy sitting on his board the whole time or getting towed in or towed out does.

I reckon the most important thing with the small boards is not the ability to throw them around, though. To me it's about being able to do that thing common to good short boarding, bodyboarding, long boarding and bodysurfing - and that is being able to ride as close to the breaking wave as possible.

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Tang said..

I reckon the most important thing with the small boards is not the ability to throw them around, though. To me it's about being able to do that thing common to good short boarding, bodyboarding, long boarding and bodysurfing - and that is being able to ride as close to the breaking wave as possible.

Yes ! this is it