Hey Tang. 95 litres.

Art in Motion

Photo courtesy Dave Lane

Cool pic Doc.

I don't think you should go too big on these things. My Minion is 7'4" x 27 1/2 103 litres. I am 75 kg or thereabouts. Due to being too busy at work lately, I have only had about 5 surfs on the board, in varying conditions and wave sizes - so am still becoming acquainted with it. I like it. But it does surf very differently to thrusters, which until now I have surfed my whole (long) life.

I'm heading over to the wilds of the Southern Eyre Peninsula for a week of surfing/camping before Chrissie, so hope to get the board dialled-in by then. I will do a report back, if people are still interested.

I am already thinking shorter and narrower. I may try to jump on Chris Clark's 7'0 x 26 91 litres board sometime and see how I go. I agree with the Good Dr that anything over about 7'8" to 7'10" is a lot of board on these shapes. You will be surprised at how (relatively) stable they are for the dimensions.

Rosscoe said..
I don't think you should go too big on these things.

Yup. On all wide-tailed boards, you will tend to ride with the rear foot on the leash plug most of the time, and it will be difficult to maintain a natural "shortboard stance" with the front foot around the handle if the board is long.
For me a 8' Simmons seems huge (I am short), but a 8' "world cup" shape feels OK stance-wise.

robbo1111 said..

Just got my hands on one of Simon's old boards, 7' and around 95 litres. The photo's really don't do these boards justice, they look so much better in the flesh. Can't wait to get it wet

Good buy Robbo - that's a great board (and even better now that it has grip and not wax)...

djansen said..
Hey Guys here is a little video I took comparing my 8'3" X32 and my new minion 7'10" X 29. I will post more vids and comments after I have given it a thorough workout. But first impressions are WOW, WOW, WOW.

Paddles easy
Catches waves easy
And Freakin Flys on a wave!



enjoy

Love the Minion at the Alley. It has the speed for the sections and a brilliant nose-rider.
Spent a week there in winter......sup heaven.
Had a sneaky early session with guru shaper Simon, to ourselves. He carves On his mini-minion

djansen said..
Hey Guys here is a little video I took comparing my 8'3" X32 and my new minion 7'10" X 29. I will post more vids and comments after I have given it a thorough workout. But first impressions are WOW, WOW, WOW.

Paddles easy
Catches waves easy
And Freakin Flys on a wave!



enjoy

Just out of interest, what does that minion weigh?

windara said..

djansen said..
Hey Guys here is a little video I took comparing my 8'3" X32 and my new minion 7'10" X 29. I will post more vids and comments after I have given it a thorough workout. But first impressions are WOW, WOW, WOW.

Paddles easy
Catches waves easy
And Freakin Flys on a wave!



enjoy

Just out of interest, what does that minion weigh?

Check out the brand new 'Deep' website. It has all the weights and specs for the minion.

In terms of choice what are you guys choosing with respect to LWCI- Lightweight Carbon Innegra or VBSC- Vacuum Bagged Sandwich Construction? The latter is heavier than the former according to data from the Minion site.

Cheers Ozzie

Ghost4Man

Vacuum Bagged Sandwich Construction for me. I am hard on decks and it is very strong, not showing any harm after months. The Minions are already small and light so I am happy to take the weight. Also not particularly keen on overly light boards anyway.

djansen - Hey thanks for taking the time to shoot and post the video. Very cool to see the comparison. It looks like those Minions have a lot of tail rocker, eh?

What are the bottom contours like on the Minion going from nose to tail? I don't see a bevel at the rail like most of the smaller sups. Does it have bevels?

Anyone who knows these boards well, care to suggest a size for me?

66 yo, 100 kg + wetsuit, Surfing nasty cold New England winters with lots of wind, bounce and size.
I can handle myself in surf, but I am not looking to cat balance for long sessions, I have more struggles than you 40 year olds

I am very comfortable on 8'10 x 31 @145L... in a fuller shape like an Allwave... pointier shapes, I need longer or wider

I'd like to go narrower for surfability and think this shape may help me... but unsure what numbers I should be looking at.
I don't need short as much as narrower.

Does 8'8 x 29 @ 135 make sense?.... thoughts?

Stev0 said..

supthecreek said..
Anyone who knows these boards well, care to suggest a size for me?

66 yo, 100 kg + wetsuit, Surfing nasty cold New England winters with lots of wind, bounce and size.
I can handle myself in surf, but I am not looking to cat balance for long sessions, I have more struggles than you 40 year olds

I am very comfortable on 8'10 x 31 @145L... in a fuller shape like an Allwave... pointier shapes, I need longer or wider

I'd like to go narrower for surfability and think this shape may help me... but unsure what numbers I should be looking at.
I don't need short as much as narrower.

Does 8'8 x 29 @ 135 make sense?.... thoughts?

A Minion for you would be approx 7'8 x 29 @135L rather than 8'8. The thing about the Minion is that you need to forget about 'I need longer or wider' conventional thinking of length v width. Volume distribution is still important but you can ride at least 1' shorter and 1" narrower than your normal board and still have reasonable stability and volume.

Supthecreek, I would recommend a 7'10" x 29 x 4 3/8" @ 119 litres.
I ride 7'8" x 28 1/4" x 4 1/4" @ 115 litres and I am 92 kg, and just a bit younger than yourself. I have ridden the 7'10" and found it significantly more stable than my board with not much loss in maneouvreability. You would be very surprised at how stable they are.

I differ a bit from StevO regarding volume........I believe that with these smaller, narrower boards you gain stability from having your feet level with the waterline, effectively most of the board submerged. At 135 litres I feel this effect would be lost and the board would be corkier and tippier because of the extra float. IMO

supthecreek said..
Thanks for the replies, I figured I was aiming too long, but it's hard to compute without being able to demo one.

Anyone got a vid of a big ol' boy riding one?

Check this one out at 3:30, a big boy ripping on his 7'8". He's around 105kg
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/SA-SUP-Surf-Championships-2014-2/?SearchTerms=SA

Stev0 said..

TheGoodDr said..
I differ a bit from StevO regarding volume........I believe that with these smaller, narrower boards you gain stability from having your feet level with the waterline, effectively most of the board submerged. At 135 litres I feel this effect would be lost and the board would be corkier and tippier because of the extra float. IMO

I agree with you but what I was trying to say was that the volume of a 104L Minion is about the same as a conventional SUP i.e my Fanatic 8'5 ProWave @109L 'feels' about the same as my 7'4 Minion @104L in terms of displacement @ 85kg. As I have chopped down boards in length and volume I also think boards that sit at the waterline seem to be less corky as chop washes over the deck and they are less inclined to need that 'secondary stability'. In fact when it is glassy I find them tippier for some weird reason!?

Yep, with you there.....prefer a little wind chop regarding stability