Hi Folks

Looking to getting in SUP surfing. 88 kg and surfing a 6'2 short board at 33 L, been kite surfing since the day and now only ride surfboards. Have had some SUP experience but only on flat water on 10'2 and it felt like an aircraft carrier.... I want to get into surf SUP but really confused on the best sizing to get the most out of the waves. Keep getting told 150l minimum by the shops... what width, length and volume....too damn confusing. Have been looking at a 8'6, 32 inch wide and 138 litres volume. Too small?

Really appreciate your opinion.

Cheers

Your surfing experience will help you, but not in the learning phases, so you must start with a big board. A bit like you lean surfing on a longboard, not a shortboard. Kite surfing may help you more, in that you have already the experience of managing a power source in your hands while standing up, but Windsurfing would have helped you more.

This said, with your experience you do not need a huge volume. I would stay in the 140 - 150 liters range, but no less.
You need length, at least 9', while learning the paddling technique, which is not trivial.
The balance is given by the width. Do not get under 30", especially if you are tall.
And as you are a surfer, a generic 10'2" SUP will feel like a barge, but a properly shaped (rails, rocker) 10'2" will not.
When you try SUPing in waves, you will realize that you need a big board.

I back up what colas says. I would also look at All Round Longboard shapes.

JL Striker/Destroyer, Naish Nalu, Sunova Steeze etc. Every brand basically has one in their range.

The beauty of these is you can paddle them on flatwater and they can all easily handle waves up to 1.5xOH (perhaps not barrelling waves) - and when it's bigger you'll be on your surfboard anyway....

No matter how good you get on a SUP, you'll always go back to one of these on the right day.

Then after you are more than competent in all conditions, buy a smaller HP 'shortboard' style SUP around 120L.

G'day Capt

My experience is similar, life long short board surfer and lots of kiting experience. I'm a bit lighter at 80kg and my standard short board is 6'1 28l.

At the beginning of last summer I thought I'd have a crack at a sup and the fun factor has vastly exceeded my expectations.

Started with a fanatic allwave 8'9 145l used it for about 6 months and when I thought the board was holding me back (surfing) I upgraded to a Jimmy Lewis world wide 8'1 110l.

First time I took the jimmy out I figured I'd made a mistake as it was really hard to stay on it. Stuck with it and after about 5 or 6 sessions felt pretty stoked with the board.

The allwave was a great learner but felt like a boat on the waves.

The jimmy feels like a surfboard and goes unreal.

Really glad I didn't go too small at the start it would have been frustrating for sure.

Cheers

Thanks folks, really appreciate your opinions.

Will be looking around 140 to 150 L mark.