this review was done over multiple sessions with the 11'2 up at Gnaraloo (head to waist high day) as well as some fun waist to shoulder sucky scarbs waves and a magic little session out at Dutch inn - the reef to the south of the groing - a great litlte waist to shoulder high right hander purpose built for Stand Up!

To give some perspective I am comparing the 11'2 to the Starboard 12'6 and naish 11'6 - which both surf pretty well - especially for such big , easy to use boards-i'd say close to on par with each other for different reasons.

While both of the larger boards above are predictable and provide a great trimming experience in the surf i found the Starboard to offer better flat water paddling glide with its smoother rocker - The naish had a slight stability advantage due to the fatter rails. As i said before - both are great all round SUPs - especially when you factor flatwater and new riders into the equation.

With its 30 inch width -The 11'2 wasnt alot different to the 12'6 in the standing Stability department. Even the Starboard 9'8 and 9'0 (available in future - review coming soon) hold a 30 inch width - 30 seems to be the magic number!

the 11'2 -due to its shorter length -had a bit less "glide" than the 12'6 Starboard - but still fared better than the heavily rockered naish 11'6.

Paddling you definitely need to switch sides more often as the board has less directional stability - no doubt due to its shorter waterline.

Picking up waves was a cynch - once onto them the 11'2 was definitley in another league to anything i have ridden for surfability - you could really feel the bottom and top turn rails intiating and transitoning from one to another. you can actually "pump" the 11'2 down the line- just like my old trusty 6'4- to gain more speed.

To give you an idea of how surfable the 11'2 is- you will be Looking for the breaking section to reo or floater it. And it lands em pretty easily - so your confidence grows pretty quickly!


All up i can see the 11'2 being a definite best seller as it maintains most of the flat water paddle -ability of the 12'6 while delivering surf ability in Spades!
I would probably prefer the 12'6 if i lived in an area with smaller waves and more flat water paddling. Or if i were 100kg

But if Surf starts to become more than 50% of the equation i would say go with the 11'2!