colas said..
As a side note... "Short fat boards cannot do that" - yes, they actually can (on clean faces).

Tang said..
I reckon you have to consider a few other things too.

As I have said before, fins playa a huge role in a boards performance, and IMO cdrive fins are in a league of their own for upping the performance of traditional boards. Highly recommend you try them out and see what they do to your manoeuvrability, drive and control.

you also want to think about the kind of turns you want to do. If you're into dishpanning then you will want a different board to some one who is trying to do proper full rail carves. The waves you ride, the speed they generate and the speed you are able to generate through good positioning will play a very significant role in how you're able to turn, too. Plus the part of the wave where you Are trying to do a turn.I'm see lots of people (including me) try what we might call aspirational turns in the wrong part of the wave. Sometimes to muck around but sometimes because we just get it wrong.

Your dims are pretty much mine, though I'm 6'4" and 85-88kgs depending on the paddock I'm in. IMO you should be able to handle a board around the 100-110 litre mark no probs as long as you invest in getting used to it.

you also mentioned stance. I see lots of people surfing with a wide stance, and this seems to be good for big turns. However, I rarely see wide stance surfing which is smooth and graceful to watch, which seems to be a product of a narrower stance. You can always take that half step back to plant it on the tail pad.

One thing I haven't heard much about is distribution of foam through the board. Volume is key, but they way it is distributed is also pretty important. We need volume for flotation, but I'd love to see someone moving away from creating boards that look good and focussing on boards that work better By experimenting with foam. For example, the smooth transition of curve is important on the bottom of the board and the rails, and through the rail profile, but in the deck it is inconsequential. Could be a glassers nightmare but vac bagging should be able to handle it.

good luck

Tang said..
I reckon you have to consider a few other things too.

As I have said before, fins playa a huge role in a boards performance, and IMO cdrive fins are in a league of their own for upping the performance of traditional boards. Highly recommend you try them out and see what they do to your manoeuvrability, drive and control.

you also want to think about the kind of turns you want to do. If you're into dishpanning then you will want a different board to some one who is trying to do proper full rail carves. The waves you ride, the speed they generate and the speed you are able to generate through good positioning will play a very significant role in how you're able to turn, too. Plus the part of the wave where you Are trying to do a turn.I'm see lots of people (including me) try what we might call aspirational turns in the wrong part of the wave. Sometimes to muck around but sometimes because we just get it wrong.

Your dims are pretty much mine, though I'm 6'4" and 85-88kgs depending on the paddock I'm in. IMO you should be able to handle a board around the 100-110 litre mark no probs as long as you invest in getting used to it.

you also mentioned stance. I see lots of people surfing with a wide stance, and this seems to be good for big turns. However, I rarely see wide stance surfing which is smooth and graceful to watch, which seems to be a product of a narrower stance. You can always take that half step back to plant it on the tail pad.

One thing I haven't heard much about is distribution of foam through the board. Volume is key, but they way it is distributed is also pretty important. We need volume for flotation, but I'd love to see someone moving away from creating boards that look good and focussing on boards that work better By experimenting with foam. For example, the smooth transition of curve is important on the bottom of the board and the rails, and through the rail profile, but in the deck it is inconsequential. Could be a glassers nightmare but vac bagging should be able to handle it.

good luck

Kami said..



Hi Tang, you right to talk about distribution of foam. Because with rocker distribution it's the first shaping parameter to fix. Volume is create by those two is doing looseness or stiffness of the board. Out of mood of surfing volume distribution is doing to the board in the SUP case, volume distribution is the key to paddle stood up with confort.
From my experiments on shortSUP i've built myself, using these as labs I can confirm that center of distribution foam is the meanest before all. I did'nt talk about before during this topic but it is time to talk about after all interesting things said.
For example watch on this diagram below: the center of volume distribution is just behind the maxwidth surrounded by outline curves flowing to the tail providing looseness. Also, this center volume distribution hold you standing up to paddle while nose is gliding during paddling torque action.

An other thing like "the drip " said is the bottom shape like belly shape. belly shape are very useful to induce maneuverability to the tail and fins from the nose or center of the board.
In red on this view, yellows are concave:

Tang said..
Nah you'll be right. Get yourself a 2013 starby 8'5x29 at 106L with cdrives and away you go.

hilly said..
I was thinking more like this.

SUPing said..
cSe - my stats aren't too dissimilar to yours (just a little shorter) & like you, I've been through a similar 'board hunting' exercise trying to fine-tune my quiver. I currently own the 8'5 Speeed which is awesome when it's calm (by far the most fun I've had on a SUP) but I do struggle when the wind/chop are up although I'm confident that with practice, this will become less of an issue.

Like Kuz/STC & many other Seabreezers, I'm a big believer in the magic of the Speeed shape (as you know, it's like 2 boards in 1) so I've also ordered the 8'10 which I plan to use when my 8'5 poses too much of a challenge + my other half can use this board on the rare occassion she joins me for a paddle.

I also opted for the 8'11 x 30" x 120l Acid (I ordered this shortly before the shape was fine-tuned) however I've yet to put this board through it's paces. I bought this board as a replacement for my 9'2 JP Surf Pro with the objective for it to offer me a different ride vs my 2 x Speeeds. Kuz has spent a lot of time on his Acid so he's well placed to answer questions on this board but from our discussions, he firmly believes the Acid is a versatile board & shouldn't be stereotyped as a high performance' only' board.

The only downside I can foresee with my quiver is that I still don't have a super stable board so either I have to pick the days I go out or I need to lift my game....probably a combination of both.

I personally reckon that for the average punter, the Speeed is best suited for more cruisy turns however guys like JohnnyMaya/JC/STC/Kuz have all demonstrated that the board can turn on a dime if & when the need arises. Looking at JC surfing the Speed/Acid & Flow, it's hard to draw a comparison for us mere mortals however from where I'm sitting, it looks like it's easier for him to get verticle pivot turns with both the Acid & Flow vs the Speeed. Clearly the shape of these boards help facilitate this.

As Seajuice mentions, the Soul will no doubt offer the best all-round charactersitics for for the majority of us. I guess choosing the correct size & shape comes down to personal preference i.e. I personally don't like boards much over 9' x 31" & I reckon 120-125l is about the right volume for me (still enough to pose a challenge) so in a perfect world, I would love to compare the 8'6 Soul vs the 8'10 Flow vs the 8'10 Acid. Possibly the 8'11 Soul would be a great option for a really stable all-round board?

Bottom line - I've had exactly the same questions as you & I will certainly post a comprehensive review on all 3 of my Sunova boards (hopefully within the next couple of months) however in the interim, it would be great to hear from someone that has compared the Speeed vs the Acid vs the Flow vs the Soul....or at least part of. Cheers

SUPing said..
cSe - my stats aren't too dissimilar to yours (just a little shorter) & like you, I've been through a similar 'board hunting' exercise trying to fine-tune my quiver. I currently own the 8'5 Speeed which is awesome when it's calm (by far the most fun I've had on a SUP) but I do struggle when the wind/chop are up although I'm confident that with practice, this will become less of an issue.

SUPing said..

Like Kuz/STC & many other Seabreezers, I'm a big believer in the magic of the Speeed shape (as you know, it's like 2 boards in 1) so I've also ordered the 8'10 which I plan to use when my 8'5 poses too much of a challenge + my other half can use this board on the rare occasion she joins me for a paddle.

SUPing said..

I also opted for the 8'11 x 30" x 120l Acid (I ordered this shortly before the shape was fine-tuned) however I've yet to put this board through it's paces. I bought this board as a replacement for my 9'2 JP Surf Pro with the objective for it to offer me a different ride vs my 2 x Speeeds. Kuz has spent a lot of time on his Acid so he's well placed to answer questions on this board but from our discussions, he firmly believes the Acid is a versatile board & shouldn't be stereotyped as a high performance 'only' board.

Looking at JC surfing the Speed/Acid & Flow, it's hard to draw a comparison for us mere mortals however from where I'm sitting, it looks like it's easier for him to get verticle pivot turns with both the Acid & Flow vs the Speeed. Clearly the shape of these boards help facilitate this.

As Seajuice mentions, the Soul will no doubt offer the best all-round charactersitics for for the majority of us. I guess choosing the correct size & shape comes down to personal preference i.e. I personally don't like boards much over 9' x 31" & I reckon 120l is about the right volume for me (still enough to pose a challenge) so in a perfect world, I would love to compare the 8'6 Soul vs the 8'10 Flow vs the 8'10 Acid. Possibly the 8'11 Soul would be a great option for a really stable all-round board?

Bottom line - I've had exactly the same questions as you & I will certainly post a comprehensive review on all 3 of my Sunova boards (hopefully within the next few months) however in the interim, it would be great to hear from someone that has compared the Speeed vs the Acid vs the Flow vs the Soul....or part of