I'm 75 kg and I've been SUPing for a while
Those 2 boards are awesome, they are fast in the bottom turns, if you ride them from the tail, they'll turn like shortboards, and you have the option to walk to the nose to enjoy fantastic noserides, with speed and control.
The 11' I tried is the softop version ; the softop just feels great under the feet, you don't have to worry about wax, and you don't get hurt when you fall on the board, everything just feels safer ; this would be a perfect board for a light weight beginner with some surfing background or an advanced medium weight rider ; a heavy beginner will prefer the 11'6" or the 12'
I was just catching every waves I wanted to catch, and despite the chop and some backwash, I didn't fell off too often ; with 27' wide, it isn't as stable as other 11' boards, but it is way more performant
A big rider looking for a High performance board will love the 11' tuflite
But being only 75kg, I personaly enjoy more the 10', it is basicaly the same board, but shorter, and with a bit less volume ;
I tried the tuflite version with the Ocean and Earth deckpad, and it's all good, I just needed to wax the nose as I use to go up there either for nose rides or just to help a bit when I'm late paddling for the take off
I just love that kind of board ; I catch most of the waves, kick turn in 2 strokes, paddle in chop and strong currents and can easily cruise from break to break ;
In the wave, the board goes where I want it to go, it is always ready for a late off the lip or a smooth nose ride , and when you turn the thruster fins and the square tail makes it feel like a short board.
nowadays the boards are getting shorter and wider promoting radical tail turns but forgetting about all the noseriding stuff ;
I reckon that a well balanced SUP shape with appropriate rails and well positionned fins can offer both sharp turns and nose rides
In conclusion, if I was lot heavier, or if I was newer to the sport, I'd go for the 11', but being 75kg and having some SUP skills I just love the 10', and I'll stick to it until I find something better !
Just a small update ;
1rst, I had a look at the 11'6", and it looks really good, it has to be a good board.
And about the 10' .... well...
I use it everyday in Perth in small waves, enjoying noseride, tailride, cross steps, off the lips, cut back ... I love it ...
But this week end (sunday and monday), I had the chance to try the board in bigger waves, on a trip to Lancelin...
And I can't get rid of the smile on my face !
Because the board is easy to paddle (for my weight, 75kg) it makes it really easy to reach any of the outside reefs ; On sunday I launched from backbeach and paddled all the way around the reef to Eddies, I could have launched from the same place as I normaly do with my surfboards and go over the reef, but I wanted to warm up before to reach the waves...
And this have been my best SUPsurf session ever ! In overhead waves the board keeps accelerating all the time ; the bottum turns are powerfull, and in the top turns the board just carves so nicely, again accelerating, I was feeling so confident that I could get closer and closer to the lip wave after wave, kicking out of the wave just before it closes out on the reef ;
And once again, as it paddles fast, I could escape from most of the set when I was waiting too much in the inside ;
I had couple of bad wipe outs and I'm glad my Ocean Earth leash made it, I broke other leashes in smaller waves.
So once again I'm stoked about the board ; over the past month I tried it in pretty much any conditions, with and without wind, in the worst waves and in the best waves, and everytime I enjoyed it a lot, and I still havn't feel any limit to its performances.
Eric
