How Short is your Short SUP ?

Select to expand quote

John4F said..

Length (<8')
Width
Brand
How well it rows ? Or it just turns with every row ?
How easy to get onto a wave: small waves - medium waves - big waves ?

7'10
27
3 3/4 thick
85L
under 5kg
custom east coast surfboards
paddles well but sits under water
easy to catch waves surfs unreal

Lengths: currently 6'8", 6'8", and awaiting a 6'10".
I have had already and resold a 7'7", 7'10", 6'6", 6'9", 6'8", 7'4", 6'9"
All between 115 and 125 liters, for my 100kg. Widths between 29.5" and 32.5". Shapes totally different each time. Single, Cheyne Horan Starfin, twins, thrusters, quads, 5-fins..

Tried a 5'11", definitely fun on small waves, but you need to hone your skills first some time on 7'+ and 6'+ boards first

I have also a longer SUP at 7'11" for faster paddling speed, for going to outer reefs, or when the waves have no precise peaks, and you have to move a lot on the spot to catch waves. My longest board is a 8'3" nowadays, but I bought a 8'11" semi-gun for my Hossegor trip that I will resell there.

All production Gong or Drops boards, except 3 custom Gong ones. Various constructions: PVC sandwich, simple glass, bamboo layers, full carbon...

"The row is in your mind". Seriously, if you are asking how much row a board, that means your paddling technique needs work :-). With technique, you can have "anti-row" on these boards (turning when paddling on your right), as they are so sensitive to the paddle movements. Paddle like on a 10' and you will spin in place. You can look at the technique I detailed here: www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=15897.0 and here www.gongsup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1623



The secret is to practice a lot on flat water and very slow and small waves. These are the kind of "waves" that are best to train with these boards

A powerful paddle not longer than your height is mandatory.

With training, it is very easy to get in a wave, whatever the size, if it has some "push" in it on take off, if you can feel a kind of "hard bump" in the wave face to push on it to take off. Their very slow paddling speed makes them hell in case of rips, wind, lots of water movements, hostile crowds, and not adapted to contests where you need paddling speed to position yourself for priorities.

The idea behind these ShortSUPs is to have the same board length as you would have on prone surfing, to get the same take off rush (a real "pop up" feeling), speed (less wet surface) and acceleration (be able to pump the board like on a skate). Also, you can commit fully on your front foot to drive the board at full speed in turns without having to stall / dishpan somewhat to avoid catching the nose as on a 8'+ board on small wave faces. The secret of their shape is to hide the needed volume away from the rails to keep rails thin enough, and to think of the board as two boards side-by-side and not be focused on the overall width. It allows to enjoy short non-oceanic waves, by exploiting every inch of the available wave faces. But at the same time, with the ample width, keep a lot of stability in the chop.

This is different from the small SUPs you see now in contests, around 7'6", where riders try to get as narrow and low volume as possible, to cut as much as possible on latency in turns (no need to move your feet around a lot), and have faster paddling speed and easier rail-to-rail and vertical on hollow waves.

It definitively pushes water when not planing, that's for sure. front rail/hull design can help, but only to a point. Once on the wave face, not really, on the opposite, it uses the wave power much more efficiently, so you have much more speed and glide better. Of course, if the wave is powerful enough you will have too much power and things will become hairy. Basically, these boards make miracles for the conditions where, with a normal board, you would think "I would like these waves to be more powerful". Wide boards are also more sensitive to chop on the wave face... but provide more balance. On fast waves with some size, a traditional board will feel much more secure and directionnal, allowing for higher overall speeds with more control. Just like with prone surfboards.

On steep faces, you will have to move your feet closer to the rail to hold on. Also, the boards will tend to track or feel skatey if your rear foot is not on the leash plug (but once on the leash plus the benfit is that you do not have to move your rear feet to the side so much). Narrow boards will be more tolerant in hollow waves, that's for sure. Look at Mika, 85kg on a 5'9" www.gong-galaxy.com/magazine/news/session-5-9-finch-not-finchy/ On the bottom turn, imagine his board as just 2 boards side-by-side, and in the cover up, look at the position of his feet, on the rail.

On fast waves, a lot of curve in the outline will make the board "squirelly", you will want to have straighter outlines to be confortable at speed. That's why I have two 6'8", one for slow waves, one for fast waves. Board behavior on the wave is more dependent on board shape than just length.

What I found is that a quad setup on these wide board can be strange, the board when not on the rail (between turns) can kind of "float" direction-wise. But a quad setup is better when on the rail (a central fin kind of lose grip on wide tails), so a 5th trailer or a nubster really work well with these boards

If you live in a country with frequent quality powerful waves, I guess you do not need to have these kind of boards, except maybe for trying fun things if you have flat conditions in summer. I wouldn't have considered them if I lived in Hossegor, too much hassle (but now that I have learnt the technique, I will gladly try them there). But for the original poster, which I think lives in The Netherlands, it may put fun in a lot of sessions. And it definitely allow me to SUP alone most of the time, being able to enjoy conditions / peaks unattractive to the crowds. Think of these boards as "wave amplifiers"...
Also, SUPing must be fun, not work. If you do not enjoy overcoming technical challenges, no need to bother with these short boards.

Starboard Carbon Pro

Length - 8'
Width - 28'
Litres - 96

My Weight - 85kg



Great board - not so good at getting into smaller softer waves but everything else is fine,

mauourable and great down the line

not to tippy 90% of the time

I do not notice any excessive yawing

Enough glide to get into waves if you are in the right position

this or a board similar is what I need to attempt to surf the wave how I want to.

First, I want to say that I will reply generally on board sizes here, not specifically push specific brands. If you want more info on these specific models, I guess it should be best to start a separate thread on the Gong models.

I would say it depends on your prone surfing experience. If you are used to shortboards, you can get down directly to 7'-something boards. For your weight, a 7'2" x 30"-31" x 115 l can be the board you would end using using most. You will have to learn to master the row, but it is easy with some flat paddling sessions, and your surfing reflexes will kick in to "get" the take off and the board handling on the wave.

If not, I would advise reducing length progressively. Getting an around 8' board will be best, as a it will allow to master at the same time the increased row and the dynamics of the take off more with the body weight than sheer paddling force.

On width, you will need width if you are tall. A 6' guy will need a 32.8" to feel the same stability as me at 5'6" on a 30" board. You will need volume for your weight. Basically the board volume in liters should be 30l / 40l more than your weight in kg to feel confortable. Later you can get down to +20l
Too wide will provide more stability in chop, but will be slower to paddle. A 34" wide board will be good for you only if you are very, very tall, or have balance issues (bad ankle, these kind of things), or are surfing mostly with chop. For instance a friend your weigth was kind of "traumatized" by paddling once over some (small) sharks, with a lot of chop. He got then a 7'4" x 32"5/16 because he was seeking stability above most, but in my opinion he coud have went a tad narrower.

I think Colas has made a good point here that many forget - you need to take into account your height re the width of a board if you want good stability....unless you are naturally gifted

I'd love to try a small SUP but I reckon I'd suffer too much frustration in falling off time in between waves....and I love the fact that with bigger SUPs you can get waves soooooooo early However, I often see another SUPer on my break who is turning his wee one on a dime and getting heaps of waves very late on and having a ball.

2012 Starboard Pro 8.0 x 110L x 28"

92 kg, 6'5" plus 5mm suit

LOVE this board. Challenging when it's lumpy and windy. Fast, loose, and pretty light! Tried the 7'7" Pro and had to work like hell to stay upright and non submerged, but so sweet on the wave.

I also discovered shortSUP thanks to Gong.

Colas made a very good report about the +/- of this kind of boards.

I am 80kg (175lb) 6'1.
I have the same board as Colas but a smaller version (6'4 and 105L) and love it in very small wave (1-3ft). I mostly surf it in very crappy waves as on these videos of my first sessions with this board (full screen and hd recommended very poor quality vids):

I also have a 6'10 105L that I use in better waves (3-6ft)

For bigger waves when I am brave enough (not very often), I now use a 8'4 27" under 100L custom Hobie.

I surfed both the 6'4 and 6'10 in 2 contests recently and that was a quite successful choice despite the lack of paddling speed. In very mushy waves, I managed to be more explosive than the other SUPers thanks to the board even if it was almost impossible to compet for the priorities all the more as it was very windy.