Hi All, I'm after a my next sup board to progress on. I have a starboard converse (9.0x30 @137l) that's got me catching and riding along the waves and confident at padddling out in small to medium surf.
Im 67kgs , 44 year old with a long windsurfing and last few years winging background but recently found myself wanting to sup in waves more.
Ive had about 8 sessions on a borrowed starboard Airborne 7,10 x 30 , 97L and can paddle around no problem but probably don't catch as many waves as my converse but think that's more paddle technique and definitely not as stable.
I really want a board to catch small to medium waves and easy to progress my supping and paddling skills on.
The two boards I narrowed it down two are a starboard spice 2023 model (can get a good deal on a new one) or a smik hipster at full price. Still unsure as to what size as I keep hearing mixed views.
any help or info would be much appreciated, thanks

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Surfing Uk said..
Hi All, I'm after a my next sup board to progress on. I have a starboard converse (9.0x30 @137l) that's got me catching and riding along the waves and confident at padddling out in small to medium surf.
Im 67kgs , 44 year old with a long windsurfing and last few years winging background but recently found myself wanting to sup in waves more.
Ive had about 8 sessions on a borrowed starboard Airborne 7,10 x 30 , 97L and can paddle around no problem but probably don't catch as many waves as my converse but think that's more paddle technique and definitely not as stable.
I really want a board to catch small to medium waves and easy to progress my supping and paddling skills on.
The two boards I narrowed it down two are a starboard spice 2023 model (can get a good deal on a new one) or a smik hipster at full price. Still unsure as to what size as I keep hearing mixed views.
any help or info would be much appreciated, thanks

I saw someone on a 2025 Starboard Whopper today..
It was 9'0x 33" and looked awesome.. New shape..
He was in Bali recently and they were doing a photo shoot of next year's boards.. and they let him buy it off them after the shoot.. He absolutely loves it.

It is always about compromise.

If you want to surf as radically as possible, get the smallest size you can stand on.
If you want to catch the more waves, go for a bigger (comfortable) size.

Between a Splice and a Hipster they are basically the same style of board - wide, flat and fast - both are great boards.

Go whatever you can get cheaper IMO.

As you are in the UK, I would subscribe to SUPboarder pro.
They have tested these boards in I guess your local conditions, so it should help you.
(I think they liked the hipster most)
And you can ask them questions, they are quite responsive.

Note that your Windsurfing experience will help you a lot in managing the "paddling around" part, especially managing getting through whitewater, you will just have to build up wave knowledge to better read the waves and position yourself for taking off.

And at 67 kg a 97L x 30" board is quite comfy, no worry.

Thanks for your replies .I've seen some of the supboarder reviews on you tube and it was hard to gauge what they actually thought of the spice, (good board but felt heavy on and off the water )!

colas what are your thoughts on going slightly bigger than the 97L ish sizes in these boards , would the 108l board be an improvement at my weight or would I be paddling around an unnecessary larger board. If a bigger board gets my wave count up and helps on getting my paddle stroke , positioning etc then I'm all for it .

Thanks

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Surfing Uk said..

colas what are your thoughts on going slightly bigger than the 97L ish sizes in these boards , would the 108l board be an improvement at my weight or would I be paddling around an unnecessary larger board. If a bigger board gets my wave count up and helps on getting my paddle stroke , positioning etc then I'm all for it .

For the volume, a good indicator is the "Guild factor", the simple ratio of board volume / your weight: 97 / 67 = 1.45

1.45 is a nice volume for an intermediate, most of us here with some experience tend to gravitate around 1.2 to 1.3 for "user friendly" guild ratios.
Getting down in volume is only important in hollow and fast waves, where you want thin rails to penetrate the water and provide hold.
Modern board shapes manage to combine comfy volumes with performance rails by "hiding" the volume away from the rear rails.

So, I would not advise to seek a bigger volume than 1.5 / 1.6, it will not bring much except board weight.
What you want is:
- width for lateral stability: stay above 30"
- length for wave catching ability and paddling efficiency. I would not go under 8' at your level.
But these are rough guidelines, the kind of board and shape is important: the wider the nose and tail, the easier.

That's a great Formula to figure out board volume.
I can get a great price on a new 2023 spice , volume is 106 with with 7,11 x 29 but the next size down is tiny at 6,9 x 25 79L.
Hipster is 7,8 x 28.5 @ 98 L or 7,10 x 29.5 109L

I guess the dims are more important than the volume in this case ?
The current borrowed beaten up airborne actually suits !

A lot depends on how often you see yourself going and what kind of waves. I went thru. 3 cheaper boards learning before I got down to 1.2-1.3 range, so your next board might not be last board and resale can be tricky. 1 board isn't going to be ideal for all conditions, but a longboard or mid-length shape with less volume (100+-) might be nice for softer beach break and could be a keeper in a quiver. I think the small spice would be way to extreme a jump in progression unless you go very often and are really ambitious.

In reality it'll probably be one session a week on average through the winter then once a month in the summer and the odd surf trip.
Yes I agree the small spice will be way to small , also I don't mind having a board for a year or so and moving down when or if I'm ready.

Of the boards you listed the 7'11 spice or 7'10 hipster would be the safest choice in terms of stability but they are a bit on the higher volume side. I've seen people using the starboards oversized and they seem to do surprisingly well well maybe due to tail. The hipster seems to be higher performance if you go by the review. I don't think the width would be an issue for you based on your experience with allstar. I'm only 64kg and my second board was 112 liter not ideal but was fine for advancing my progression.

You will struggle to find a board that isn't a bit too much volume due to your light weight that also isn't super short. I would not go shorter than the 7'10" because shorter boards require advanced paddling techniques unless you enjoy paddling around in circles.

There is a Spice in between 7'11 and 6'9" by the way - 7'4" x 27" / 90 L but I would not recommend it for the reason above. So yeah, agreed with the advice above. Both the Smik and the Spice will serve you well in your journey.

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theSeb said..
You will struggle to find a board that isn't a bit too much volume due to your light weight that also isn't super short.

True, I guess the best bet is to go for longboard shapes, that have low volume for their lengths, but in shorter lengths.

For my daughter for example I made her get a Gong NFA (its longboard shape) but in 8'0" x 30" x 110L
A lot of people a also using the Gong Zero but in 8'5" x 27.5" x 100L
I mention Gong as I know their lines, but I guess the same applies for a lot of production brands.

I was a little put off from gong after seeing a few of there earlier wing boards fall apart and some of the recent down wind boards being a little fragile, but the sups seem to being doing well.
Had a quick look on the site but all the ranges gave me a head ache , although I did see a couple of nice shapes with decent (for me) dims.

As I said, I only mentioned Gong as an example.
Plus since they ship from France, buying from outside EU will be a hassle.

There are some native UK brands, for instance Loco.

For what it's worth, I have been on a bit of a journey with boards, trying to find the 'secret formula' . My two go to boards now are the Hipster Twin and a narrow version of the Casey Revolution hipster is 8'3 and the Casey is 9 and under 30 inches. Love both these boards. Am 185cm and 80kg sans wetsuit. Even tried a 9 foot Revolution, around 26 inches and 90 odd litres. Fantastic on wave but a bugger in chop

The Hippsters seem to get great reviews , annoyingly I missed out on a used one (7'10).

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theSeb said..
You will struggle to find a board that isn't a bit too much volume due to your light weight that also isn't super short. I would not go shorter than the 7'10" because shorter boards require advanced paddling techniques unless you enjoy paddling around in circles.

There is a Spice in between 7'11 and 6'9" by the way - 7'4" x 27" / 90 L but I would not recommend it for the reason above. So yeah, agreed with the advice above. Both the Smik and the Spice will serve you well in your journey.

Yes I've definitely noticed a cross the brand that the same sizes are similar in litres , most the 7,11 x 29 boards are around 105-108 in litres.

Thats the nice thing about some of the longboards that have lower volumes, the length allows for relatively thin and narrow boards. It could be hard for op to judge stability, but I found you can go narrower on longboard or something like speed.

Really going round in circles looking at sups ! There isn't much in the used market in the uk or much stock in the stores (I wonder if they haven't been stoking due to low sales as people are foiling etc). Need to be real with my ability, conditions and how often I can get out, this is pointing me to something a little longer than the airborne I'm currently borrowing.
Luckily I have some good friends and am being lent a fantastic style master (I think it's called) 9.0 x 30ish 115L.
For some reason I'm holding off the SB Spice 7,11 even though it really is a good deal !

Speeed 7'11 ?

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Koast said..
Speeed 7'11 ?

I don't know what that is , have you a link ?

The Speeed is a Sunova model.. The 7.11 wil be 261/8 wide, Think you can say it's ambitious

Its shape makes it a lot more stable . Much more stable than the 8 by 28 Starboard Pro that I had at same time

Its shape makes it a lot more stable . Maybe the size up, but the 711 is a great board

I know the Speed quite well, had one for 5 years. When you paddle into waves the stability increases, waiting for waves was another ballgame, for me

I'd go for the smik hipster around the 8' range, depending on your conditions i.e. the roughest conditions you want to surf. And yeah the supboarder blokes wrapped them up and are in your seas fwiw.
I've not surfed the Spice but I think the chines would add a dimension that might not suit your needs/level. At least that was my decision.

Ahh I've just bought the 7,11 spice ! It was based on price in the end as I managed to get a great deal on 23 model.
Thanks for all the advice and I'll report back on how I get on.

Ahh I've just bought the 7,11 spice ! It was based on price in the end as I managed to get a great deal on 23 model.
Thanks for all the advice and I'll report back on how I get on.