Do people still paddle these boards out or do they lay prone and paddle like a surf board?
7'7" x 27", rider 90 kg, need to continue padling a little to keep a float but> rides a wave like nothing else.....
IMO if you can't paddle out standing and/or stand on the board while waiting for waves the board is too small for you, also in some Sup comps you will score less points if you sit down on your board while your heat is in progress and/ or prone paddle or neel on your board while making your way out through the break
If you want to surf similar to a shortboard, ie carving turns in the pocket (especially on backhand) you need something narrow, underbouyant and rockered out. Less volume the better particularly at the tail. Im around 80kg my latest is 8'6 x 27 1/2 x about 98 litres. This is definately the comfort limit for me and only possible if your surfing 3-5 times a week.
As others have stated it's not just about the volume as width, particularly in the middle and tail play a massive role. You will lose carving performace though by going wider, which can be compensated to a degree with v or chimed hull shapes but also a loss of drive IMO in the case of the latter. A degree of V is good though!
PS: if you can't paddle it standing up it's pointless IMO
A mate is about 80kg and rides his Naish 7.3 90% of the time, only swaps up to the 8.4 if its over true 4 foot. Im 85kg and only half as good as him (at best) I have ridden his Naish 8.4 in some real crappy conditions for about 1-1.5hrs each. Hard work, but it would be fine if my regular board.
CMC, I cant see those wide tailed boards getting driving tight turns like a pin....They might be fast down the line, but I would think they be a bit skatey
Nobody believes me about bigger back fins in Quads. There is some proof right there from a fin guru.....
thanks for the info Larry. 
CMC, yep IMO one board wont do it all. 2 is even a stretch haha. For surf I have a 10.6 mal shape which is awesome and then a smaller board 8.4 say for surfing good clean days....
just need to get my feet wet 
Going small can mean many things:
- have less volume: I guess this is what we see with boards used in competition, or for good riders in good waves (tubes). For this approach, like goatman said, you tend to keep some relative length for paddling power, and keep width and rail volume to a minimum, with good rocker. Kind of "minigun" shapes.
- go shorter: this will bring you insane speed sensations: at the same water speed, a 5'9" will "feel" twice faster than a 8'9", all the more so in slow waves. This will bring SUPing to another level for people locked in places with gutless waves, or rather surfing alone on smaller peaks than in better, but crowded peaks, or with expert SUPers in good waves wanting to experiment. What it brings you is that you are not forced anymore to shift too much you weight backwards when turning, to keep the nose of a longer board from touching the wave, especially in small waves with not a lot of room. raising the nose slows the board in turns, a shorter board allows you to keep accelerating in turns in small waves.
The drawbacks will be:
* heavy row: paddling will be cautious, you cannot have bursts of speed. Not good for contests or crowded spots, hard to jockey for positioning for getting the priority.
* chop: take off will be tricky in chop, chop can stop the board or put you off balance easily
* finding a good shaper: the trick is to be able to provide enough volume but keep it away from the places it could deter performance
* adapting it to your weigth/size/ability: small changes means a very different ride, so you may have to try a lot of them to find the one that fits you. My "wombat" 6'9" rides very differently than my more "shortboard" like 6'8" (116 and 120 liters for my 100kg). and the 5'11" I tried was in another world...
* you must have the surfing knowledge to read the wave and know what to do with the potential of the board. No need to have a board that can turn if you do not know how to turn...
For the volume, you need to float. This means that the number of liters should be your weight + weight of board + weigth of paddle, wetsuit, etc... in kilos. More liters (10 to 20) will bring some comfort in chop.
Thus a 80kg SUPer could take a 90l board on glassy conditions, 110l in choppy ones.
Myself, I only use ShortSUps now (less than 7', about my weight + 15/20l), with the exception of:
a wide 7'4" for heavy chop or when I am tired or ill (+30l)
a "minigun" 8'9" for heavy conditions or outer reefs (+25l)
And for "what is stupid", I guess that would be using the wrong board for the conditions: a "minigun" in fat waves, or a 6'0" ShortSUP in big waves with a lot of chop... or just suffering trying to float on them just for peer pressure.
Have another look at the video of small wave surfing, I have brought it back to the top.
The board is a PINTAIL and has lots of tail kick.
Is this what you would call loose surfing on a rail in tiny gutless waves.
the board is 8'6 x 30.75"x 117 ltr x 7.2kg and the rider is 57yr old and 95kg
Thanks heaps for all the input. Just had four days of fun waves testing my new 8'8" by 27' at
3.5 thick. Too fun. Legs burning. Stoked
