Getting into SUP for fitness and a bit of waveriding but i'm a heavy bugger at 125kg. Can anybody recommend a board to go for. So far I am going to demo a 11'6 timpone this week when the wind drops a bit, and am thinking of the naish 11'6 (due to the thickness, might have to cover it with flexifoil stickers though!!
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Any other suggestions?
Matt
I would definitely try the Starboard 12'6. I haven't tried it myself but a few big guys on the forums have and were happy with them.
Steve
The 11'6 Naish definetly has the most litres to support you big blokes but I've also seen guys your size on a Ron House 12-0 paddle and surf really well on it they are really popular in Hawaii with all the big bra's as well.This is the number of the guy who brings them in Dave 0402107777.
Rob
It was the litres that was attracting me to the naish too (hard to give up the windsurfing roots) Also at 11'6 it should just fit inside my vw transporter swb to save me having to hoist it onto the roof.
Is there anywhere in Vic to try these boards too?
What about the surftech laird 12'1
My vote also goes to the big 11'6" Naish..You are welcome to try mine... or give SHQ a call..They have a couple of 11'6" Naish demo's.
DJ
SHQ
81 Beach Road, Sandringham, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia... FreeCall In Australia 1800 355 045
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I vote the Naish 11'6 only for the wood pattern and the surfboard feel of the thing, it's also pretty tough and light - should float you well enough.
Hi Karve, I make custom boards and can fit you to a board that floats and wave rides wll. Construction from a standard glass over EPS to full foam sandwich. My paddling buddy is pushing 115kg. Check my profile and PM me or call.
Regards Rod
I'm 125kg+/- and ride the 11'6" Naish, Good for flat water paddling and I have riden it junky small surf and really good clean reefs and beachies.
Does have a definitive hull speed when the surf gets bigger which can make keeping a high line and making sections harder.
JB said it too me one time "it's the smile board" and I have to agree with him.... just take a close look at Ice E's face
Starboard Mr Easy would be a great starting point.
200 litres and 11.6cm thick.
The 12' x32" is super easy to paddle and balance due to its extra width and length. It's especially comfortable to get started on this design, climb over white water and into the waves.
General maneuvering is also made simple. It is a big wide board, but due to it's curvy rocker, deep V, thin rails and rounded outline, it is still extremely agile and turns with a smooth carve.
Perfect for less-than-epic conditions found around the world, it turns the most mediocre of waves into a whole lot of fun.
Due to its phenomenal stability, it is well suited to moving up and down the board longboard-style. You can get up to the nose to hang ten and then shuffle back to lay down a carve.
A versatile board and even great for tandem surfing and fishing.
OR...
Starboards Ultimate Blend.
190 litres and even thicker than the Mr Easy at 12.6cm.
The 11'2" x 30" is responsive, handles greater speed, larger waves and allows tighter turns.
Still oriented towards classic longboarding style, it offers greater agility.
The nose concave provides lift which aides in catching waves, as well as getting up the front to get your toes on the nose.
This single concave feeds into a double concave through the middle and then into a "V" through the tail. This delivers the ultimate combination of lift, drive and release, tailored to suit the various positions of your feet on the board. The 30" width and wide nose provides good stability yet its narrow, thin tail makes it really very loose, especially while using the thruster set up. The thrusters also helps a lot for directional stability while paddling.
This 11'2" design offers the ultimate blend between stability, paddling speed and riding.
Thanks for all your responses!
I have been thinking and I think that I may have been a bit hung up on the volume thing, thinking it will best support my weight, whereas in reality the lift on the board is created by displacement rather than solely board volume. (remembering back to his windsurfing days and going from a 360cm longboard to a formula board with similar volumes and the difference in stability was huge)
My theory is that the less area of board in contact with the water the deep the board will sit in the water to balance the displaced water mass with your mass. The deeper the board sits in the water the greater the frontal area of the board and the more draggy the board will feel adding more depth to the frontal area will be a lot worse than adding width to the frontal area, so theorectically a board that is good for the bigger guys should be wider and not necessary longer ( I have ignored the actual rockershape in this assumption at the moment) This would explain why I have had reports of the naish being a bit draggy when paddling. This also means that the shape of the board will have a dramatic effect on the boards load carring capacity as a radically pin tailed board board will lose a lot of its effective surface area and hence sit deeper than a squarer board. (this will effect the surfability though!)
I'm going to do some homework tonight and try and calculate a frontal area for my weight for a sample of boards and the board riding height (depth the board is submerged) and I will post the results up when I have them. I think this could be an interesting area of study.
Boardbumps, I may be contacting you for a custom design if i come up with some interesting numbers.
What do you reckon? Am I grasping the wrong end of the paddle!
Way too complicated....
Get your credit card, cheque book or cash drive to a shop that sells SUP's buy a big board and get into it!
How tall are you? If you are tall enough and you are considering a custom, then you could probably use a wider board maybe 32" or even wider.
Karve, when learning, rail thickness and nose width are the best assets for SUP board stability. That is if most widths are similar, which they are.
This is what you NEED for the entry level stage. Forward thickness is needed for float, tip thickness is not. Tail width is for stability, narrower tails turn better on waves. Rocker is important for overall board performance and has to be matched to the board style.
Basically a Formula wind surf board would be a good paddling board but a crap surfing board.
You will have to increase your fitness to a new level for SUPA surfing, you are constantly moving, even though it might not look like it, your muscles perform micro movements continously while standing to keep your balance. This becomes an instinctive reflex eventually (muscle memory). After about 40 hours paddling you get to the novice stage.
I think the two main things to consider when starting SUP boarding are;
1. What are you going to use the sport mainly for, surfing or fitness.
2. how much time can you spend learning.
The answer from your post appears to be fitness for Q1.
Your second post is sort of saying I want to surf more than paddle. Volume is a guide to float, when you get to an advanced stage of paddling you need less float.
I started with a 10'4" x 30.5" x 5" with an 18" round tail and a 22" wide nose, surfing board with 175 litres volume, I was 98kg at the time, my paddling buddy at that time was 110kg, we both learn't to paddle on that board.
I'm now 90kg and riding a 9'0" x 29" 137 ltr round tail.
Today I test paddled and caught a few waves on my new 8'6" x 29" 136 ltr sq tail quad, this will be my new fave board for surfing.
Rod
SF, I'm 6'2 so reasonably tall
I am leaning towards a 11'2 starboard UB at the moment. What is the rocker like on this board and the Mr easy? as I could not find any sideways photos of them to look at.
I think that being a bigger chap, a wider board will definitely help with the paddling and general float and stability on the flat water but I do want to be able to progress into the smaller (less than head high waves) in the very near future.
I want to make the time to do a lot of flat water fitness work (and technique honing) as I have some good river and lake sites near me as well as the bay or the ocean.
Ice , I'm an engineer by trade so forgive the complex thoughts, just trying to make sure I get to spend my hard earned readies on a board that will allow me to grow with it.
Karve,
Check out the Board Showcase on Ke Nalu. (link attached) Scroll down and you will see both the Starboard boards you are talking about there. You will see rocker and plan views with a useful grid over the top also. That will help you with comparison.
IMO at 125KG you are heavy for the 11'2 though.http://www.kenalu.com/forums/showcase-index/
There are some side on photos of these boards on the Kenalu website in the board showcase http://www.kenalu.com/forums/showcase-index/.
I think the 11'2 Starboard will be too small for you as an all round board. I am 6'2 100kg and I have tested this board and it is the smallest board I would consider for all around use. Have you considered buying second hand to start off? There is a 12'6 Starboard for sale on this site in Vic, which you could resell in a few months, if you decide you want something smaller. There are also a few 11'6 Naish boards starting to come up for sale as people upgrade.
Steve
Dont know or care about all this litres stuff, but the timpone is the board for you mate, excellent choice, it will have no problem floating you and surfs really well for a big board
I have got the timpone in the back of my van and going to give it a slogging tomorrow. I'll let you all know how I get on.
Hi Karve,
I've read this forum for a while, I just signed up to respond to your post.
I was about your weight when I took up SUP last year, I'm 6' 3" tall but have now shed about 7kg and I'm still losing, also heaps fitter. I had a big shock at how difficult I found SUP. I was a competent prone surfer of many years experience and a former windsurfer. However those skills made very little difference to the initial learning process. Learning to balance and paddle as a heavyweight was the hard part, not only for me, but also a friend of the same weight who is a good longboard surfer.
At your weight I would get a board like the Laird 12ft which I ride (10'8"x31"custom on order) or the 12ft Mr Easy by Starboard which is even slighyly wider at 32". Width is more important than length in chop. Volume has to be high but any volume of around 220 will be ok to assist the stability when getting back up in chop.
The Laird is a great board but stiff in the surf. The Mr Easy I think would be a better bet for you and over here its a lot less money.
I've paddled the Starboard 11'2" and other boards of simular volume, at your weight and height, unless your extremely athletic and determined I wouldnt want to make life that hard. Learn to enjoy your paddling, get fit and change to something smaller when you've developed the skill of paddling in chop and catching waves.
You may find a look at the Ke Nalu site, board show case, very useful. Also try a demo before you buy if possible. Good luck and I hope you enjoy SUP as much as me. Big Bram.
I have just a had a couple of hours on the 11'6 southpoint timpone and i am hooked. The board didn't necessarily glide really easily but this was more due to my balance and paddling technique (i was a bit wobbly until i got some speed up)
Even better news my 10 year old boy was able to stand up paddle on my 10'2 longboard (as easily as I was on the 11'6) so we will be able to go paddling together.
I will try to test out some other boards soon.
Thanks for your input
We got my Brother-in-law into it while he was on Holidays over here.
He just loves it took about 6 months to get his Laird but totally worth the wait.
Hi Matt ,
The 11'6 Kalama Southpoint is a good choice to start off, we have a 10'10" Walden here at Strapper Surf (Torquay) that you are welcome to demo and try a board that's a bit wider 31".
Let me know if your interested and we'll go for a paddle.
Rich
I have brought the southpoint 11'6 after a being lent one for the last couple of weekends. I found it reasonably stable in the flat water of the river. In the waves I had a mare and could hardly stand for more than 10 seconds but by this time the wind had got up a bit and the sea was definately choppy.
I also managed to try a couple of other boards out. The 9'8 7s fish does not float me at all (not surprising but worth the giggle) I managed about three strokes with my feet about three inches under water. I also had a go with a 10'6 C4 (i think as the deck pad obscured the name) which only just floated me if i had forward momentum. Considering that it was so low in the water it still glided well.
This has pretty much lead me that a bigger guy does need a bigger board. I think I am going to get on well with the 11'6. Thanks for all your offers of demos.
