Brenno said..
Had my first crack at my minion yesterday, and the only problem i had was trying to wrestle it back off my kids! The shortest sup i had prior to this was an 8'3" x32, which i found a struggle especially in the slop. The minion is pleasingly stable, and "wake you up" quick. Thanks to Simon at Deep, for another superb board, and cheers to Darren for talking me through the process and getting the board half way home for me. I predict many hours of fun with this beasty.

Brenno,
I'm currently riding a 8'8" X32 x 140L, am 5'11" and 82Kgs, intermediate SUSer.
Having a lot of fun on my X32, but still struggling when it's choppy.
I'm hoping get something a little more stable, easier to catch waves and more turnable.
I am looking at the Simsup which is made here in Calif.
But, the Minion has caught my attention esp seeing how popular it is down-under....
What size do you think would be right for me?
I wonder if Deep has sales outlets here..... or will ship.
Bob

Thanks Toppleover for your helpful response.

Husband and I bought a 7'8" Deep Minion today. Demoed a 7'4" which we both found too small, not enough stability, surfed very well when we managed to catch a wave in between falling off. It was the only size available to demo. The shop we bought our minion from put clear rail tape on it at our request. We also use electrical insulation tape on our paddles. Cheap and easy to apply. In our experience there has only been pro's to using rail tape.

Ive tapped my rails from the front to the back. Just gives me some piece of mind really.

DEEP 7'10 Minion FOR SALE

AHH those words would bring shock horror to this thread... But...

Its because I have another love...my Stretch minion 8'4'

The board has very little use and all the pictures are here on this thread www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/DEEP-Oceanboards-84-STRETCH-Minion-Review/?page=-2#lastpost

Just PM me for details

P.S. It its the premium Vacum Bagged version so definitely no dings or repairs Surfed approx. 10 times (and that's honest as the 8'4 arrived 4 weeks later)

Was going to keep it for the young fella but at 6 years of age he has a long way to go and I will probably go thru 20 boards by the time he becomes of age.....

Regards

D

PPS can deliver anywhere on the Sunny coast thru to goldie as I travel there every few weeks

Me & a mate of mine who has been consistently bagging me about the Minion/Vangaurd shape "being just a fad" for the last 4 months swapped boards the other day. His being a 9'3 Prowave & my 7'10 Minion.....I was surprised of the glide & how much more stable his PW was but it just wasn't as much fun to surf as my board is & was glad to get mine back.

The very next morning my mate bought djansen,s 7'10 pictured above.........fad,,,,,,pfffft.

Just got back from Bali having taken my Minion over there to surf the beautiful East coast for 10 days.
Only board I took and surfed the Sanur-Simszy/Shipwrecks area but spent half our time surfing Baby Serangan with the last couple of days on Oka Point just around the corner which surprised with wave quality and length of ride.
Surf was generally in the 3-6ft vicinity with the wedge at Oka almost doubling any size we were on.

Loved the way the board handled and nice to finally get it in some big/clean/fast waves to really push its abilities as well as my own.
Had a lot of people very curious on the design and a few converts coming from tyring no doubt.

I picked up my Minion on Friday morning - thanks to Chris Clarke and Simon at Deep - and took it straight down the Prom. I had been out of the water for almost 4 weeks (with travel) so I was pretty keen.

Minion: 7'10" x 29" 4 3/8 124 ltr
Current board - Naish Hokua: 8'8" x 32" 140 ltr
Me: 90 kg, SUPing for 16 months

Conditions were pretty good: sunny, light wind, but smallish waves.

First thoughts: Pretty unstable at first. That was in part because of lack of match practice, and I just had to get used to the board. And it is 7'10" x 29"!

I was very happy with how the 3.5 hours session went (but I was knackered by the end). Although it took a while to find the sweet spot (still searching in honesty) I was very happy how it handled. I was surprised how smooth it seemed to be on the wave.

I am like Zoolander - I struggled to go left. That has never been my strength, but I have to figure out how to use my back foot more. Using my front foot didn't give the same control as on my X32.

And I often struggled to turn the board before catching the wave (i.e. turning 180 degrees to paddle for the wave)... I kept tilting/rocking the board rather than turning it. It wasn't windy but there was a lot of backwash off the rocks, so that didn't help. Just need more practice.

I had another 1.5 hour session on Sunday at Zappers, but the waves were tiny. All the same, I was very pleased that I was able to catch my share and ride them all the way. I caught a bunch that I think I may have struggled to catch on my X32. My theory is that the lack of rocker made it have less resistance when paddling on to the wave, and the extra weight (it is heavier than the Naish X32) gave it extra momentum on to the wave - if I paddled hard of course. I also thought it was more stable when the wave broke.

And I only fell off a few times - and only when I had tired legs. But I used a different stance thanks to the forums - feet staggered and closer to the centreline.

Anyway, not a proper review, and it is early days; just two sessions.The picture of the board follows, and some video from the Prom - pretty lame but I had fun!

Thanks.

I went out yesterday in very trying conditions (great waves, but strong 20-25 knots off-shore wind) and I reverted back to my Naish. Had a ball. Similar conditions today. May try the Minion.

tempo2 said..
good to know I have ourded a 7'10 and was thinking that my whate 90kg would be to much for it, but now I think its a good step down from my 10'6

will update when I get it...

Any update Tempo2........
I have JP 10'2" X 32 and am thinking about one of these boards. I'm also about the same size as yourself.

I took the Pepsi challenge today. Yesterday in 25 knot winds I did 'OK' on my 8'8" X32 so I thought I would try the Minion today. (I wore a helmet because of the number of times my Naish was blown off the water over my head yesterday.) Again, there were some good waves around, but it was 25 knots off-shore and there was some wind chop. Bottom line, I need more time on my Minion... These weren't the best conditions for my third session... I caught a few, but I caught more on the Naish - but that is far more about me than the Minion. But I would say to Bobajob that going from a 10'2" to a 7'10" Minion is a pretty big step. (I am 90 kg)

ghost4man said..

cantSUPenough said..
I took the Pepsi challenge today. Yesterday in 25 knot winds I did 'OK' on my 8'8" X32 so I thought I would try the Minion today. (I wore a helmet because of the number of times my Naish was blown off the water over my head yesterday.) Again, there were some good waves around, but it was 25 knots off-shore and there was some wind chop. Bottom line, I need more time on my Minion... These weren't the best conditions for my third session... I caught a few, but I caught more on the Naish - but that is far more about me than the Minion. But I would say to Bobajob that going from a 10'2" to a 7'10" Minion is a pretty big step. (I am 90 kg)

And I would say that this is precisely the sort of conditions that you need to take your board out in to determine efficacy. Too often we are subjected to reviews which depict the fluffy niceties
of glassy waves when most of the time conditions are not like this. How does a board handle in extreme chop with the wind up and plenty of cross current is what you need to determine.
CheErs Ozzie

OR you could just come to terms with "needing" (as I tell the missus) more than one board.....
Just had five days off shift. The first 3 of those I had an absolute ball on my minion, and the 4th was a challenge dealing with big backswell coming off the beach, as well as a hangover. This sort of day will in future be reserved for my next board......
Yesterday was nice lippy beach breaks, but choppy with a very strong offshore gusting up to 20 knots, definitely not minion conditions (for me anyway), so out came the Jackson Close. Great Fun.
I've spent the last 20 sessions nutting out the minion, and what conditions I can use it in. This isn't to say that a better SUPper could use it more often!
I never imagined I would be carving on an 8 foot SUP, even if it does need a rest from my fat ar5e every now and then.

cantSUPenough said...
Yep-as they say "horses for courses" - you need the right board for the right conditions. The challenge is to a) figure out what the right conditions are for a given board and b) get used to the Minion (or any new board) so that you making the most out of it. It is a bigger step from the 8'8" x32 to the 7'10' x 29" minion than I expected, but I am sure it will be worth it. 20 sessions is a lot of time on the water to invest in a new board, and that is the tricky question - how much time can you invest? Yesterday I caught half the waves that I caught the day before in identical conditions. I felt like I was wasting a lot of very good waves - it is a crime to see them unridden... But again, that was my third session in pretty tough conditions. Not long ago I would have struggled on my 8'8".

So, I am enjoying the challenge and I am convinced it will be worth it. And I am also pretty happy about being >50 yrs old and on a sub-8' board (that isn't 33" wide like the Raptor)...

Invest bud, it's worth it. It took me 5 or 6 sessions to work out that the 8'3" x32 was out of my league/height/weight/whatever. After the same on the minion i was so stoked i kept pushing it in all conditions, until i worked out in what conditions i would be spending more time swimming than surfing - and sometimes it's just nice to pick up that big ol' favourite el relaxo board and chill.......

Yeah, many reviews were done in glassy conditions, concluding "go smaller than you think on a Tomo shape". When considering the shape dimensions of my "WindSUP projekt" i was afrarid of going too small because i often have to surf in chop and i only want ONE board for all conditions (have to deal with another 7 windsurf/kite/surf/SUP boards i have in my + 2 sons quiver).
Now my fears get confirmed by the above reviews, accompanied by the "Stretch Minion" thread and the dimensions and first reviews of the bigger sized Hypernuts.
Good point of orientation is that the stability of a 7'10 Minion should be like a 8'5 Pocket Rocket, so when i ride a 9' Converse today and do NOT want to loose stabilitiy in chop i have to stay in dimensions around 8 x 30 - 8'2 x 31.
Alex

I have to correct myself, the Hypernut 7'8 is said to have the float of a 8'5 Pocket Rocket, not the 7'10 Minion, but they should be about the same (just wondering?).

Congratulations - looks good. Do you have to put the deck grip on yourself?