Board for newbie.

Looking for some advice on first sup purchase and have read up here and appreciate valuable input this forum offers

As a youngun I paddled kayaks/skis/boards competitively with some success and also surfed short boards and mals so while my surf skills have grown rusty in the 10 years I have been in Canberra the basic skills of craft in water and surf are not foreign to me

55 years young and 110+ kgs and based near Canberra my regular paddle is going to be lake/river with waves when on visits to the Coast something I am keen on

Based on my research I expect that I will end up with different or multiple boards over time as my skills and fitness change but need to settle on a starting board

My initial thoughts are to get a stable table that I can use on lake/river to develop skills and fitness and then look to add a more wave oriented board later and probably keep the stable table for flat water touring and friends/ family

The other limiting factor is I live in a unit and while it has a storage room I could not fit a 11' foot board in there so limit to 10' 6" for first board and the 10' 10" naish nalu is probably too tight a squeeze

What stable table should I start with ? I know I need to demo,demo and then demo but demo what - probably prefer a more established brand board to start with

a naish odysseues at 10' - good on flat when touring lake but limited on ocean
a naish mana 10' or 9' 5" - better in waves than Odysseus but not as good on flat water

other options or things I should consider?

Cheers

Yep, Bearlee I would agree with the above. I have a ECS 'Inception' which is pretty much a direct copy of the Odysseus (9'11" x 34").

Have had it out in waves up to around shoulder high and with the right fins it turns surprisingly well.
If you are after stability you simply cant go past this kind of board, they are ridiculously stable! My good mate has a 10'6" Nalu and he spends a bit of time swimming in chop/windy/backwashy conditions, where the 34" board just laps it up.

But, as you alluded to in your original post - it wont work as well as a flat water board on the lake, or as good as a dedicated surf board in waves. At some stage you will be looking to sell and go to one of those extremes (or both, exactly where I am now!).

I am in the ACT too, happy tomeet at some point if you want to take it for a spin to help with your choice.