Hello everybody,
I need some advice...I'm thinking to change my board, an RRD Cosmo 8.8 134L, I feel the need of something new, so here we are.

I'm not an expert paddler, I stared more or less with an iSUP 3 years ago and after some months I bought my hard board;
My board is solid and stable, fun to ride, but I want some "faster", because here in the Adriatic sea the waves aren't big, and I want something that can catch waves easily even with choppy waves or when the waves are not fast.

So, if I correct understand the hundreds of pages I read here in the forum a board with parralel rails and a round nose should help.
I really like the Sunova Speeed, but find it in the second hand market is impossibile and unfortunatelly new it costs a lot.
A Fanatic reseller suggest me a Stubby, but he said, honestly, that the Speeed is really on another level; so now I'm in doubt

- spend less money for something that could be similar to the sup I like
- spend a lot of money, more or less double the price (hopping to sell my board at a good price) and take a speeed

It is true that I can try any of the boards so I have to buy out on a limb...

Is there anyone that had the change to try each board? Or there is other options, easy available in Europe?

Any advice is welcome, thank you in advance...and sorry for my basic english.

Lgood

I would look into a performance longboard shape. When my conditions are choppy with small/weak waves, I bring out my Fanatic Stylemaster. At 10ft with parallel and thin rails, it catches everything and has good speed. For my 83kg, it is very stable at 145L.

Makes a day with not-so-good waves a lot of fun.

Thanks LavaRider,
I had a look at the Stylemaster, it looks an interesting choice, even if I prefer a shorter board and the price in this case is very similar to the Sunova boards.

I read and watched some review, I'll take it on the list :)

Chears

Hi mate, I came across a video of a guy ripping on. Naish Nalu 10'6 somewhere in Italy awhile ago, might be worth a look. And they might be more available on the second hand market over there. All the good new boards are not cheap these days.

Cheers.

Steve.

You will never regret the speed
I have just returned from another great session on mine
I have three boards to choose from and it's very rare I take the others out
I also juggled the same decision and it's worth every $

Agree with Dutchy ,you get what you pay for ,Sunova's are very tough boards and made by surfers
and they also look for what you are asking for ,it is a good investment and if it is a sport you love
it is a expense well worth it ,
I like the flow myself because it is wider and almost as fast but it turns better than the speed
naish
Nalu 's are still very good boards too ,
after you buy one Sunova the thought of the price fades ,I have 7 now everyone a gem

For the mediterranean sea, you want something specific, adapted to slow waves with short periods.

So, not too long, and a fast rocker.
I would advise to look for boards designed for these conditions, not the ones for the oceanic waves.

In the Gong line for instance (which is much cheaper in Europe than imports), this would be the Mob rather than the Karmen. Or a 9' / 9'XL NFA but no longer. There also are Italian brands such as RRD.

There are a lot of Italian SUPers on the Gong forum and Facebook, you may want to ask for feedback there, or italian groups

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colas said..
For the mediterranean sea, you want something specific, adapted to slow waves with short periods.

So, not too long, and a fast rocker.
I would advise to look for boards designed for these conditions, not the ones for the oceanic waves.

In the Gong line for instance (which is much cheaper in Europe than imports), this would be the Mob rather than the Karmen. Or a 9' / 9'XL NFA but no longer. There also are Italian brands such as RRD.

There are a lot of Italian SUPers on the Gong forum and Facebook, you may want to ask for feedback there, or italian groups

Thank you all for the replyes.

Great to read, again, the Speeed owners are happy and enjoy it!

Colas, so basically, if I well understand, you suggest to avoid the Stubby or the Speeed?
Some guys at the beach have Gong NFA, but I think 10'/XL, I'll try to have a chat with them and heard their opionion on the board.
The mob was an idea...

Have a nice day

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lgood said..
Colas, so basically, if I well understand, you suggest to avoid the Stubby or the Speeed?

No, on the contrary, these are short and wide shapes with a fast (flat) rocker, so they should work well in the Mediterranean sea.
Disclaimer: I did not try them.

I was mentioning Gong because it is a brand I know, to show which kind of models would work well.
But most brands have boards designed for slow waves in their line, what are called "grovelers" in the prone surfboard world.

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colas said..

lgood said..
Colas, so basically, if I well understand, you suggest to avoid the Stubby or the Speeed?

No, on the contrary, these are short and wide shapes with a fast (flat) rocker, so they should work well in the Mediterranean sea.
Disclaimer: I did not try them.

I was mentioning Gong because it is a brand I know, to show which kind of models would work well.
But most brands have boards designed for slow waves in their line, what are called "grovelers" in the prone surfboard world.

Good
I'll let you know what will be the choosen board.

thank you all again!

Hello,
at the end I need to exclude the Sunova Speeed, list price is higher than exposed in the local shop website, shipping costs is very high too and the delivery date is unsure...so sadly for me it is out of budget...it will remain a dream.

So, the Stubby and the Mob are the selected board, they are more or less priced the same and in stock.
I just need the last input on the size of the boards...

The Mob 8.3 is 145L so 11L more than my actual sup and the a little more width, so in this case I'm thinking about the 7.11 125L and the same width.
The Stubby 8.7 is thiner 74.3cm and has 120L, so seems a fair step from my board, the 8.3 is the finnest with 73cm and the lower in volume 105L.

I'm 180cm for 65/70kg, so for me the Mob 7.11 or the Stubby 8.7 should work...I have some concern about the stubby 8.3 that should be a "bite off more than one can chew" for me.

Thank you in advance.

Consider the starboard 8' hypernut (surf only version) as well. Limited construction is good value. It's 133 litres, so will be super easy for you.

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lgood said..
Hello,
at the end I need to exclude the Sunova Speeed, list price is higher than exposed in the local shop website, shipping costs is very high too and the delivery date is unsure...so sadly for me it is out of budget...it will remain a dream.

So, the Stubby and the Mob are the selected board, they are more or less priced the same and in stock.
I just need the last input on the size of the boards...

The Mob 8.3 is 145L so 11L more than my actual sup and the a little more width, so in this case I'm thinking about the 7.11 125L and the same width.
The Stubby 8.7 is thiner 74.3cm and has 120L, so seems a fair step from my board, the 8.3 is the finnest with 73cm and the lower in volume 105L.

I'm 180cm for 65/70kg, so for me the Mob 7.11 or the Stubby 8.7 should work...I have some concern about the stubby 8.3 that should be a "bite off more than one can chew" for me.

Thank you in advance.

They don't make the Stubby anymore so you will be buying old stock..might get a reduced price?

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theSeb said..
Consider the starboard 8' hypernut (surf only version) as well. Limited construction is good value. It's 133 litres, so will be super easy for you.

He, I had a look at it, but from what I read it seems that is less usable to go out only to paddle a little compared to other "TOMO" board.

The shop where I see the Stubby has Starboard too, I try to hear them too about.

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Slab said..

lgood said..
Hello,
at the end I need to exclude the Sunova Speeed, list price is higher than exposed in the local shop website, shipping costs is very high too and the delivery date is unsure...so sadly for me it is out of budget...it will remain a dream.

So, the Stubby and the Mob are the selected board, they are more or less priced the same and in stock.
I just need the last input on the size of the boards...

The Mob 8.3 is 145L so 11L more than my actual sup and the a little more width, so in this case I'm thinking about the 7.11 125L and the same width.
The Stubby 8.7 is thiner 74.3cm and has 120L, so seems a fair step from my board, the 8.3 is the finnest with 73cm and the lower in volume 105L.

I'm 180cm for 65/70kg, so for me the Mob 7.11 or the Stubby 8.7 should work...I have some concern about the stubby 8.3 that should be a "bite off more than one can chew" for me.

Thank you in advance.

They don't make the Stubby anymore so you will be buying old stock..might get a reduced price?

Yes, it is part of the last stock available in the EU warehouse and its price is reduced from the last list price.

Frankly speaking, I don't care about the idea of an "old" board, my focus is on if it could suite my expectation of fun :) and if the costruction is solid as mine RRD.
One plus in the case of the Stubby is that it has 5 fin holes, so I can test 2 setups. The Mob or the HyperNut are 4 fins and I'll not have any change to try any switch to a thruster.

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lgood said..
The Mob or the HyperNut are 4 fins and I'll not have any change to try any switch to a thruster.

Note that it is easy and cheap to have a 5th box added to a board.
You can even ask Gong to add it before shipping for a small fee, I have done it before (I personally prefer thruster setups to quads).
They have in house shapers/repairers that can tweak new boards before shipping.

Although I did not find the need to try my Mob as a thruster: on these very wide tails, a thruster setup would have the center fin slide a bit in turns, and the added drag of a center fin may not be worth it in weak waves. I guess it would be the same with the Hypernut. I had a 5th box added on a quad-only board but that had a narrower tail.

Do not hesitate to put the smallest rear fins as possible in the rear boxes however, to loosen a quad setup for small (less than thigh-high wave size) waves on SUPs.

Hi, at the end I think I'll go for the Stubby 2022 8.3 105L, there are the lasts available.
Maybe a big step at the beggining but reading an old post here, with the photos done by Sup the Creek, I think that the ratio of 1.52 should be fine for my training progress.

About the fins, the board come with a thrusters, but I soon hope to try the magic of the Quabbas in few months.
2L + 2M could be fine?

Thank all for the precious tips, really appreciated.

Volume is not what makes a board stable, width and the planshape are (wide at the tips)

So 1.5 guild factor is plenty stable for a "Tomo" planshape.

2L + 2M is fine if you are a backfoot surfer and put your rear foot well on the kickpad.
Otherwise smaller rear fins loosen up the board. See my experiments at:
www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=9420&start=135#p165715
(rear fins cut to 78mm deep)

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colas said..
Volume is not what makes a board stable, width and the planshape are (wide at the tips)

So 1.5 guild factor is plenty stable for a "Tomo" planshape.

2L + 2M is fine if you are a backfoot surfer and put your rear foot well on the kickpad.
Otherwise smaller rear fins loosen up the board. See my experiments at:
www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=9420&start=135#p165715
(rear fins cut to 78mm deep)

Hi Colas,
my fear is not the volume, I was able to paddle around my RRD 134L with my son on board, more or less 100Kg(67+33), without a big struggle;
I fear the new board lenght and, more, the width -5.7. For sure I need to practice a little with the new toy

About the fins, I was thinking about that image when I considered the next step! For sure I'll read again the Quobba' topic before.
Frankly speaking I'm still trying a lot of things...but at this stage I think I put more weight on the front/center of the board, at least with the RRD, so maybe it is an idea to review in the future.

PS It is a pitty that Quabbas remove the color from their fins!

gear arrived today!
very light board, great color, at least I like it, the paint layer seems to thin compared to other board so easily to scratch.

Hope to have a chance to paddlet it in the afternoon.

Hi,
Colas, you are right, the board is quite stable and after 5 minutes of "fear" I was able to enjoy it even if in rough sea.

In such condition, with almost no waves I caught a small one and the board took speed; the RRD didn't catch that type, so I can't wait the next exit with surfable waves!

yes, these "Tomo" boards accelerate instantly in weak waves automatically, as opposed to the "performance" (pulled-in nose and tail) shapes that need more rider technique to accelerate, but have a higher top speed and control at speed.

Maybe a little bit late...
But in autumn and winter I had zero occasions to go out and try the board with some good waves.
In the last month I was able to do it, so take more practice with the board in not flat condition; few sessions and now I feel good on it, even if the legs hurts after each exit...it requires more work to stay stable.

It seems necessary to push a little more on the tail to turn, at least compared to the old board, even more with the quad setup (L+M Quobba, arrived last week), with them the board turns like a skate or even better it look like to turn on a snowbord with the tail that a some point looses a little.

once again thank you all for the advice, expecially you colas.