Hello,

My partner is thinking about buying a Sup board and I was trying to be helpful and found reasonably cheap one on eBay. It's a bicsup, I think Davos is the model.
Anyway I wanted to ask if it would be suitable for a beginner, I think it's designed for surfing and I wondered if it would be unstable or harder to paddle. She just wants one to paddle on pretty flat water for exercise. She's about 50kg and the board is 120l displacement. I've pasted the link below. If anyone has any advice id be very grateful. Thanks.


https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=brokes%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com.au%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F123374024724

Hi Robert - if she is 50 kg and fit/agile enough (and she starts on flat water and not in the surf) then this board should be fine. At 130 L there is enough buoyancy, and 29" wide there is enough width. We would often recommend a wider board 32" or even 33" wide, but at 50 kg I would suspect she would be OK.

Will she go in the surf? It is a nice surf shape but it could be tippy. It should be fine for flat-water applications, but there are wider boards available. Have you checked buy/sell on this site?

Has your partner tried supping? What size board has she tried? It may be worth renting one to see how she handled the balance.

Also, different boards are available in different weights (often the lighter they are the more expensive they are) so you may want to check what it weighs and think about whether that will be a problem (e.g. getting it on the car). There are inflatables which can be a pain to inflate but they are lighter.

I hope that helps.

Way too small for a first board imo.

I'd suggest something super stable to start with - I've got a Naish Odysseus selling on Gumtree if you're interested (located in Brisbane). It's my wife's first board and a great option for beginners. May have a little too much volume long-term but to start with might be an option.

Agree with DJ,

Something along the lines of a Fanatic Diamond 9.6 @ 150lt is a great starter for her weight. Based on their Fly with low rocker and easy balance. It's good on flat water and introduction to surf. Atlantis and Naish probably have similar dimension boards which would be comparable. Check out the Seabreeze buy and sell or even your local sup stores for second hand equipment (often hardly used and big savings)

My girl learnt on the Diamond before moving on to a 9ft Stylemaster at 115lts.

If she gets into it, she will progress to narrower and lower litres quite quickly. Depends if she's a weekend warrior or becomes addicted, but no point making it difficult at the start.

enjoy the ride

Robert I always think of sup like mountain biking on the water and the same rules apply. I always see guys with 7-8000 dollar bikes buying their girls 800 dollar jobbies and hearin the same old story what if she quits I don't want to drop a couple of grand on her bike. Don't make that mistake. Heres a few quick tips. If your lady is going to take up sup she is going to get fitter, toned and more energetic. Join the dots. Thats going to equal great times for you.
Dont go and buy a second hand board of ebay unless you have a SUP brand representative with you or someone who has at least 10 boards of their own. Are you up in sunny Queensland. You should look for a SUP school with a girl instructor or a girls learning group. After the lesson hire a board for a week if she likes the sport in summer. Then look at buying second hand as there should be plenty of SUP boards up there in the sunshine state. So she should have at least two weeks or 10 days of supping before you need to look for a board. For the flat water and fitness I would recommend an aqua marina inflatable over a hard board anyway as they are just easier to manage. Cheap too at anaconda.
I always go back to my mountain biking experiences and remember my mate who dropped the 3-4 grand on his missus bike. She stills coming riding with us, rips it up and jumps better than me. While all the other girlfriends and wives sit at home and don't come.
Dont skimp on the cash with the missus. You will not regret it in the long run.

Wowsers, thanks for all the excellent and detailed advice. It sounds like should maybe look at something a bit more stable and probably rent for a bit first. I'm not normally one to scrimp so much but it's something I know nothing about and we're moving to the UK later in the year. Maybe I'll spend a bit more and we can take it with us, although it may get slightly less use over there.

Select to expand quote

robertgoals said..
Wowsers, thanks for all the excellent and detailed advice. It sounds like should maybe look at something a bit more stable and probably rent for a bit first. I'm not normally one to scrimp so much but it's something I know nothing about and we're moving to the UK later in the year. Maybe I'll spend a bit more and we can take it with us, although it may get slightly less use over there.

Depends where you are moving to, and how tolerant to cold, wet conditions you are. I live in the UK and I'm on the water about 4 times a week, all year round.

Can't imagine why Laurie hasn't moved this thread to the "board talk" forum