This was a reply by Blane Chambers on Stand UP Zone , regarding short Sub,s
My personal opinion is if your getting that small why not just prone surf , i find even with my 10.6 i can surf it o.k without a paddle.Horses for courses i guess!




For some Fad, for some Future. Here's what I found with smaller boards. All of them are pretty slow paddlers compared to a well foiled/rockerd 9'+ board. For flat, gutless turns more like skatey flicks, they are really good for that. For full rail carving, carrying lots of speed, devastaing gouges etc, longer boards in the 9'+ range will always be better for that. The reason being width in the tail is usually wider when a board gets shorter especially those over 28" ones. Not saying you can't make a short board rip but I will say without a doubt it's hard to make an average surfer rip a shorter board.

A lot of people may THINK they are ripping these shorter boards but when you look at the commitment on the rail and the speed they carry, well.... Not exactly true carving. Real, full power surfing is the most insane thing to watch and also the most difficult to do. Doing it on really short boards is even harder. The elite guys may be able to surf the narrower, shorter boards well but the average person will be doing a bunch of flip, flap, flat, weak turns. True ripping and performance surfing on any type of board means carrying lots of speed, putting the board on its rail and gouging big, fast, powerful turns. The hardest way to do this is with a really wide tail with a really wide center.

Let's say you narrow out the tail. Well, now comes the stability while standing issue. This is why I say, the surfers with either very light weight OR above average balance and ability will be able to paddle the narrow tailed short board. However, most average people will struggle to the point of misery. If the mid section and tail gets wider the average person becomes more comfortable BUT the surfing starts to suffer because the average person can't carve a real solid turn with the wider boards that are so short. I've seen extreme talented surfers on short SUP boards and their surfing becomes weak and flat. Turns are quick but gutless and flat. So, if true powerful, on rail surfing is what you're after super short is not the answer. If weak, flippy, flappy, type surfing is fine with you then short boards are the answer... I'm working on a few short boards and if I come up with something insane that allows full power surfing with stability you guys will be the first to know.