Those center fins.. or center board style fins are for either windsurfing or winging to prevent side slip/drift and assist going upwind.. and can also be used for learning to add stability.. They do add drag and are going to hit the bottom in shallow water before the rear fin touches.. They might assist with tracking but probably make turns harder.

Dunno why you would not just get a rigid and add a stick-on centreboard if you want to learn windsports on it also. Noobs are so easily swayed and this looks like the usual answer to a question nobody asked and at a high price...

I think beginners need to know that they will learn winging really easily on this - and then not be able to ride waves properly. But they would not know they can go buy a secondhand Allwave for example and pay $200 to get a centrebox put in. Or the stick-on centreboard. ..... And actually have something usable for learning to SUP, and ride waves, and early winging.

thedoor said..
My experience 10 years ago trying to surf on an inflatable sup, was that they are garbage for surf. Is that still the case?

They have progressed, and you can definitively have fun on them in mellow conditions, if you already know how to surf. For true beginners, it is not the best for learning as it dampens the sensory feedback to feel what you are doing.

I do not know the specifics on each brands, but I know there are different quality of the material itself (the dropstitch), and unknown brands tend to use the second rate one, as it is cheaper. Basically, although all brands have their inflatable made in the same factories, quality can vary depending on the choice of materials and the time (= money) they allow for workers on each board (important to have a reliable rocker profile), plus the quality of accessories (proper fin boxes, pad, handles...).

So, there are boards that are better than others, and they are more expensive to produce (which is not always correlated to the retail price). But I have only second hand experience, and as a Gong ambassador I cannot compare brands.

But as always, a skilled rider will make anything work, even a door... or even a window :-) but a better board will be more enjoyable.

thedoor said..
Some of the gong boards seem to have added "rails" for surfing, are they crucial? Looks like the board in the video above does not have them?

They provide hard edges to the rail, that allows the water to cleanly release when escaping the tail instead of trying to follow around round edge, adding drag. This way, when at planing speed, drag is reduced.

You want them for "shortboard style" surfing: generating speed or at least keeping speed in turns for carving, or sailboarding. But it is not worth it(*) for longboard style, where the added tail drag can actually help noseriding by locking the tail in the wave.

(*) it adds to the price, and makes it harder to roll the board tight. Important factors for the market of the bigger inflatables where people are not after "shortboard surfing"

thedoor said..
Great so it looks like that model in the video could be a good flat water sup for an older surfer who might dabble in the waves?

Any idea how much they run in Australia and where to buy?

Yes, these kind of shapes are nice. This said, for a surfer, rigid boards will always have a more pleasant feel underfoot than inflatables.

Gong only sells direct. You have to pretend to buy one on the site, stopping just before paying, to get a shipping quote... but also keep in mind the shipping delay and custom fees.

But, I am sure you can find other brands with similar models locally. And a lot of people buy inflatables, so you will find a lot of online reviews of models, eg at supboardermag.com/
Just stay away from no-name brands (basically the ones which do not mention any in-house shaper)

BigZ said..

thedoor said..
If someone was considering getting into flat water sup, is there a disadvantage to those sups with center fins eg

slingshotsports.com/collections/sup-boards/products/crossbreed-11-airtech-package-w-sup-winder

I guess they would track a lot better, but maybe have more drag.....

Considering that sup is one of the gateway drugs into wing foiling I am thinking that getting one with center fin would allow someone to dabble in wingfinning as well.

My very biased opinion. Waste of money and time. If you want to flat water SUP get a good flat water SUP. If you want to wing get a wing board. If you want to SUP surf get a surf SUP. You don't need to buy new to start. Get a used one for a fraction of the price. Contraptions like that tend to be mediocre or bad at everything. If you are new to these sports you will not be able to progress at multiple at once anyway - unless you are Kai. Pick one, focus and get to the intermediate level before trying another one.

How long would you spend on this thing learning wing foiling before you
are ready to move to the real wing board. ? 2-3 hours? And it will never be an even mediocre flat water or surf SUP. You would be better off spending money on wing foiling lessons.

Good points thanks