Long story short. I surfed for around 15 years till I was in my mid 20s. Then life and stuff got in the way. Now I am older, heavier and wiser and got back into paddle boarding last year. I then tried surfing my sup and discovered that I can still do it. I now have a 10'2" Starboard wedge that I am enjoying because we don't often get waves where I live now and it works on the flat too and catches even 1 foot waves. But I do want to get a smaller board in the future. However, I want to get into wing and sup foiling too, since it looks like a hell of a lot of fun and there are more windy days than swell days here.

The idea of a design like a Hypernut 5 in 1 is appealing, since I can use it for sup surfing, sup foiling and wing foiling, but I understand boards like this are far harder to learn to foil on and are compromised. I am 190 cm tall and a fairly large unit, but losing weight quickly thanks to paddling and aim to be around 95 kgs by the end of the year. This would mean I would probably need something like a Hypernut 8', which is 133 litres. The other option would be something like a 6'4" Starboard Takeoff, which I believe is easier to learn on.

How hard would learning to foil be on a board like an 8' Hypernut, bearing in mind that while I have good balance and sup and surf skate regularly, I have never foiled before.

Wing foiling is a tough sport to learn and you need the right beginner equipment. I'm the same size. I wouldn't do an X in one board. The Starboard Takeoff is relatively inexpensive and 130L / 6'4" sounds about right for you. 130 L will give you a stable enough platform while you're learning how to sail upwind in light wind and chop. When the wind dies, it's nice to be able to slog home on your feet or your knees and if the board is too small, that's hard to do. If the board is too long (over 7'), it's going to make it harder to gybe and unstick from the water.

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JakeDawg69 said..
Wing foiling is a tough sport to learn and you need the right beginner equipment. I'm the same size. I wouldn't do an X in one board. The Starboard Takeoff is relatively inexpensive and 130L / 6'4" sounds about right for you. 130 L will give you a stable enough platform while you're learning how to sail upwind in light wind and chop. When the wind dies, it's nice to be able to slog home on your feet or your knees and if the board is too small, that's hard to do. If the board is too long (over 7'), it's going to make it harder to gybe and unstick from the water.

Thanks. Deep down I know the answer, but I was hoping that one board could satisfy both my foiling and short sup needs.

I'm 92kg, beginner winger on the 7'4" 106L Hypernut. Works okay but 20 sessions in it's time for something smaller.
I'd need to lose 10Kg to SUP it in waves, or get a LOT better. I wavesail it with a windsurfing rig in under head high side-shore and not enough wind to reliably waterstart my waveboard, works brilliant for that.

Another vote for a dedicated shorter foil board :-) i'm the same height and weight and started on the naish hover wing 6'4" 125l for the last year. I got into the sport at 50 yrs old without any prior surf or sup experience.

Get a stickon dagger board for your big SUP and use that with the wing the first 2-5 times out to get a feel for using the wing, then you'll very quickly want to start using a smaller board with the foil.

Thanks chaps. Yup, my plan is to get comfortable with the wing on the sup board before climbing onto a foil board. It seems like the most sensible approach.

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theSeb said..
Thanks chaps. Yup, my plan is to get comfortable with the wing on the sup board before climbing onto a foil board. It seems like the most sensible approach.

Good idea, but you will get bored with that after one session, as you don't go very fast and you end up downwind fairly quickly. If you can get out on a foilboard being towed behind a tinnie or a jet ski that will give you some valuable foil time and shorten the learning curve.

Regarding boards, i'm 186 cm tall and similar weight to you and learned primarily on a 6' x 30" x 130 L Fanatic. You will find you can move down to something smaller after a few months, so I wouldn't spend big bucks on a new board at this point. If you can borrow a biggish board for a few months even better.

All of the responses that tell you you will want a smaller board quite quickly for wing foiling are right.
But, I used an 8' Hypernut for months while I waited for my Armstrong board to arrive then when it cracked I went back to the Hypernut and used it for another two months while I waited for a Patrik AIO.
The downside is of course that it's got a lot of length and you can't get past the swing weight issue. However if your spot is gusty or prone to light winds the Hypernut can be pumped pretty effectively if like me you are 95kg bare. It's got rocker so isn't the fastest to take off. The same applies to Naish, Fanatic and any other 7' to 8' SUP boards used for winging.
The big plus is that it makes a great short SUP surf board as well as wing board.
Mine worked better with Slingshot Infinity foils than Armstrong because the board suits Windfoil style foils with the foil wing further forward.
My Hypernut 8' has been a long term keeper and has been windfoiled, wingfoiled, SUP foiled, WindSUP waves and plain old SUP surf.

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FarNorthSurfer said..
All of the responses that tell you you will want a smaller board quite quickly for wing foiling are right.
But, I used an 8' Hypernut for months while I waited for my Armstrong board to arrive then when it cracked I went back to the Hypernut and used it for another two months while I waited for a Patrik AIO.
The downside is of course that it's got a lot of length and you can't get past the swing weight issue. However if your spot is gusty or prone to light winds the Hypernut can be pumped pretty effectively if like me you are 95kg bare. It's got rocker so isn't the fastest to take off. The same applies to Naish, Fanatic and any other 7' to 8' SUP boards used for winging.
The big plus is that it makes a great short SUP surf board as well as wing board.
Mine worked better with Slingshot Infinity foils than Armstrong because the board suits Windfoil style foils with the foil wing further forward.
My Hypernut 8' has been a long term keeper and has been windfoiled, wingfoiled, SUP foiled, WindSUP waves and plain old SUP surf.

Thanks for the alternative view. The fact that I could use the Hypernut as a short sup in the typical small mushy waves that we get here is exactly what attracted me to the idea in the first place of an X in one board. I have a few weeks left to ponder over things before making the purchase decision, since finding stock is dicey. 25% off the 2021 Hypernut in Starlite at a store not too far away is mighty tempting

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Pacey said..

theSeb said..
Thanks chaps. Yup, my plan is to get comfortable with the wing on the sup board before climbing onto a foil board. It seems like the most sensible approach.

Good idea, but you will get bored with that after one session, as you don't go very fast and you end up downwind fairly quickly. If you can get out on a foilboard being towed behind a tinnie or a jet ski that will give you some valuable foil time and shorten the learning curve.

Regarding boards, i'm 186 cm tall and similar weight to you and learned primarily on a 6' x 30" x 130 L Fanatic. You will find you can move down to something smaller after a few months, so I wouldn't spend big bucks on a new board at this point. If you can borrow a biggish board for a few months even better.

Thanks for the advice. I am not planning on getting anything too fancy as my first board, but I think I am likely to keep the 130litre for sup foiling. I am not into borrowing equipment, because I worry about damaging it.

I've been on the Naish crossover. 7'4" x 140 ltrs. I'm 100 kilos. It's the only board I've been on with a wing so it's all I know. It was not hard to learn on and after a year I don't feel any need to replace it. I know everyone talks about swing weight and all the other disadvantages but it works fine for me. I like having a surf board under my feet. I can paddle surf it in the waves and wing foil on wind swell. I'm sure it helps being a bigger guy but whatever disadvantages this type of board has, I haven't had a problem overcoming them.

Naish is coming out with a 7' crossover board in 115 and 135ltrs.