Board for bigger waves

Hey guys!

ive been supping for about 10months now following a snapped archillies which kept me from surfing for nearly 2 years. I'm addicted and pushing it hard.
after going through a few boards I've settled on two I like- the 8'1 gulliver vbox Evo 2 27.5x 118l which is pictured and I've taken to double overhead. And the Ecs pw2 9'0 x29.5 x 120l which is basically the same volume but longer, wider and a touch more stable when really choppy.

I'm routinely the only sup with surfers in our west coast and continually chasing bigger waves.
the pics of me surfing the vbox are what I could call small conditions. The lower ones were pretty heavy and around double overhead that I was out in the weekend.

my question:
on days like the weekend where it was heavy, relentless beach break with no rips or channels I got absolutely smashed trying to get out back. Even on the 9'0 getting over a 5ft white wash wall was near impossible and once off the board I'd head hammered trying to stand back up and get speed for the next wave.

what board would you guys suggest for getting big but out back / over heavy white wash?
wide boards I imagine would be a dog in big sTuff and lose performance. Longer, thinner boards I couldn't machine wouldn't have the stability to get out back if it's hard on a 29.5" board already. I can sometime get over big a Stuff still standing, and on smaller days I can get out back without even getting wet sometimes.
its just big heavy, relentless beach break white walls I struggle with.

thoughts and suggestions?

I don't think that a different board will help you much for this. Maybe a shape like your PW2, but with a wider tail for more heel stability, but still a narrow nose for piercing the water?

Surfing the conditions you've described requires a high level of fitness and perserverence. It's difficult getting through solid whitewash and a heavy impact zone on any board. I'd focus on the wave riding performance you're looking for in the board - down the line speed to make sections, manouverability etc. I have the same board as you ECS PW2 but 8'6. It's a good all rounder and capable in solid waves but not the ideal board for your conditions. Consider ordering a custom from a shaper who is familiar with your conditions.

Vilayta was pretty happy with the board we made him for the canaries.

Sunova flows are pretty good big wave boards ..size is up to you ...my 8.7 flow seems to do the job.they
hold a nice down the line feel ...without sacrificing movability .i like the quad set up in big swell .
i also use the 8.10 in big mess ..I'm 26 kgs heavier .

there is the acid too ...which they claim is their big wave stick ....

nice wave you got .

The upper limits of the 10' board's catchability:

Bender is right custom the way to go Sunova or Smik.
Couple of good sleds here. 10 year old PSH is a kraka too.

Keali is bad-ass. He showed up at Mavericks and was on my buddy Andrew Dorn's boat.

Andrew introduced me to him, I was on a SUP. I sit wide at "Denton's Peak" shown above. I was looking for a swinger and he paddles to the bowl and just charges it. I bow to him.

The only people that regularly SUP Mavericks are Ian Wallace, Haley Fiske, Jeff Clark and me.

My blue board is a 12' Paddle Surf Hawaii gun. I was paddling out with Haley and he say "You know that was the best Mav's board I ever owned that thing paddled in and would catch everything."

The same day I am sitting super wide at Mavericks. Ian paddles over and says "That board sucks dude you need a new board." What! I say.

Haley just said "This is the best Mav's board ever." Ian says

"Yes if you want to sit out here and catch these bombs (which I do) but if you want to go deep, into the bowl you need a shorter more performance shape (which I . . . . don't want to do).

Here is a glory shot of Haley on the PSH 12'. He will claim this is the biggest wave ever caught on a SUP. This was from 2009. Haley is a machine, he keeps going and going, and nothing kills him. I just listen.

What I love about the second photo is the look on his face. He is like the little engine that could "I think I can, I think I can. . . ."

The f--- ing wave is landing on his rear foot.

Awesome!!!

Awesome pictures beasho.
now that's a big wave ...I don't know if benji is thinking that big ,but skies the limit right .

how long do you have to be able to hold your breath on those big wipeouts .?

Thanks guys. Haha @ supthecreek, those are the exact kind of conditions I'm referring to. Big, hollow, no rip. My break more often than not has a side current so even If you find the rip, you end up being sucked down the beach in a few minutes to the break zone.

@scotty, that board looks sick!! Would actually love that as my daily!

How do you find your board in overhead stuff at 32" wide?

I think that 9'0 is about my upper limit of length, or it's just too much to handle if the wave starts getting hollow etc. I'd also ideally like this board to be able to be used from around head height as an all rounder with the ability to handle bigger stuff and not just track straight like a gun.
I mean people told me the Gulliver was not meant for Overhead but so far I've used that as my daily from waist to double overhead. Only the first time in the weekend following a cyclone did I start to feel it was slightly out of it's depth with the big fat rails, tail and flat rocker.
The hardest part for me is just getting out the back on those days.
I had one day on the starboard pro 8'5 that after 3x failed attempts and 45mins of trying later, I just gave up and sold the board the next week. Just too tippy for lots of water movement and big whitewash.

Re. the paddle, I currently had a carbon 96 sq in" blade size which I know now is too big considering my weight but I work it pretty well.
Do you think getting a smaller higher cadence blade size would help with getting past the white wash etc?

Out of curiosity, what width, length, tail shape etc would you guys recommend for what I'm ideally wanting?

This is what I use as my step-up big wave board... Perfect for reef breaks or big beachies- note not me in picture :)
The Stun Gun is the most versatile wave board for decent to excellent waves. Smooth semi gun outline with it's soft round pin tail makes it hold through quick carving turns. It has a flat bottom all the way from the nose to just in front of the fin area where the "V" starts and flows off of the tail. With that flat bottom there is no governor on the speed and the "V" bottom in the tail allows the rider to lay the board on rail effortlessly to initiate a hard bottom or top turn.
*Note-very stable for it's thickness/volume
5 fin box set up.
Comes with JL 5 fin set. (allows for thruster or quad fin set up).
Thruster set size- 4.5"
Quad set size- Front 4.5" Back 4.0"
SIZE 8'7"x29.5"x3.75" (110L)

As for your question, I don't think its gonna matter what you're on when you're about to go toe to toe with 5ft of angry white wash. You get flogged. What you can control though, is how fast you are moving between those waves. There are a heap of suggestions on your thread already. And they're all good ones. My suggestion is Surefire. Mick made me a 9'10" x 29.5" that I took to Hawaii 2015. I was there the week of the Molokai race. A big swell hit the south shore and I got some epic waves on it!!! I didn't have the issue of paddling out because I stayed at the Hilton Village which has the boat channel right in front of it.