See if you can demo a Laird Pearson 10'6, it could be just the board you're looking for
I had one for a year - great board - not tried the Naish.

The Laird has never excited me... just personal preference.

FH - Thanks....I agree about the side bites.. I have found that I like a bigger single fin when longboard SUPing, which means I can get the cheaper GS model
I can relate to your comment that it feels "right" under foot... I get that... It's what I'm looking for.

For a noserider my opinion is that you want:
- thin, low volume rails, especially in the nose, 50/50 or classic depending on your tastes.
- low front rocker
- semi-pointed nose outline for fast waves, more round or square for slow waves
- generous tail rocker

I have only tried a 2011 10'6" nalu (I understand the newer ones may be a tad less bulky), but I found it having too much volume to offer a performance ride. The rails have so much volume you cannot use them as a "wing" to plane on it foil-like in the wave on the nose. It has a good outline and tail rocker, but the rails, especially in the front section are too bulky. It is a good board, but for performance there are much better choices in my opinion.

Begin by taking your weight in kg, add 30 liters and you should have the volume you should seek in a board for performance (110l for a 80g guy). More volume and you will most likely feel that there is "too much board". Less volume is doable, knowing that you will tire faster in chop. Then, look at the rail volume in the front and you should have a good rule to select appropriate boards.

Trying to find a pic of a non-Gong board for example, found this of Rob Machado, now this is what I call performance rails on the nose ! (but too much rocker for my taste)

Looking at longboard type SUPs myself , the Nalu 10 6.5 at 160 liters is a bit too much volume for me .weigh 75 kg .

Anybody tried the Nalu 9 foot , wondering how stable it is at 27 3/4 wide , sounds nice though .

Tried the Jimmy Lewis striker 8 11 in flat water , very nice board , felt instantly at home on it , reminded me very much of my favourite longboard .

Have you considered the coreban icon looks like a good nose rider not a classic longboard shape though . I've been looking for a longer sup for those fun days a bit of an allrounder the coreban caught my eye. My other board is a 8/8 jp .cheers

You need some of these - real noseriders!

www.gong-galaxy.com/magazine/news/

I'd like a shot on the Laird too.....

Bolero
do you mean slippery as in: no pad.... needs grip?
or:
slips on wave face because the shape does not hold well on wave face while on the nose?

I expect to put nose treatment on any board to enhance grip.

supthecreek said..

Bolero
do you mean slippery as in: no pad.... needs grip?
or:
slips on wave face because the shape does not hold well on wave face while on the nose?

I expect to put nose treatment on any board to enhance grip.

I put surf wax on the front of mine rather than grip and that's fine

colas said..

Great photo!

Do you want to discuss nose ride mechanics? This pics has it! (Even though Rob is not on the nose!)

At the mid point, the wave face is "lifting" up... You can even see it... look closely. This 'lift' is what you want when you are on the nose...
When on the nose, you want the lifting face under that rail, right up front, and you actually want the 'folding down' wave, forcing the tail down... It's like a see-saw... It's mesmerising!

Ask Lacey, he knows, he's a Longboarder!

well, you could always come down and give my 9-6 tipsup a go. i started off riding it with a 10" pivot fin and had a hard time w/ the board. more recently, i've dropped down to a 9.5" relatively thin and sweptback fin, kind of like a greenough 4a, and it improved the board a bunch. stability while paddling is better, turning on the wave is better, and noseriding (if that's what you can call my feeble attempts) is not messed up by it at all. pretty cool! plus, it's got everything colas mentioned: thin rails, hardly any nose rocker, and a good bit of tail rocker. i'm loving the thing.

Hi Mate,
I have been a longboarder for probably 20 years now and recently demo'd the 10.65 Nalu. I found it to be super, super stable for my 88kg frame, and as a noserider I was surprised at how well it held in through a particularly critical section when I was on the nose. Surprised because I wouldn't have expected it because it does have chunky rails through the middle of the board. Naish have built up the rail volume to aid stability. But that goes against the grain for a noserider because you want the water that flows from beneath the board to wrap over onto the deck in order to hold the tail down. That is why classic noseriders have 50/50 rails and are fairly thin, some even have chimed rails. You don't want the water to release from the rail as a hard edge will allow.
I had a Starby Drive which I found to be a decent nose rider, it has softer rails forward of the fins than the Nalu and not as chunky even though they are still rather chunky.
Although I am still yet to get a demo on one, I consider the Hobie CM LB range to be the best looking longboard style sup around. They have a deck that chamfers down to reasonably thin rails, classic longboard plan shape, single into double concave. The rails have a harder edge toward the tail than a classic noserider, but I suspect that it won't be too much, to stop it being a good noserider.
There is always a trade off, harder rails = faster & quicker acceleration, more drive, superior hold in steep, fast walls.
Softer rails = slower, (in terms of a long board allows the board to hold back in the pocket rather than accelerating out of there, you want to hold back in the pocket to set up for your noseride), easier to turn, easier rail to rail. Not the best in long hollow waves as the rails don't hold too well in the face, and the board is often too slow to make the fast sections.
This description is only to give you an idea as these are really the 2 extremes, there are combinations and variations that fall somewhere in between.
It's about knowing what you specifically want from your board and in what conditions. Also where you are prepared to compromise, because if you are are like most of us you will only have 1 or maybe 2 boards to handle everything. Whereas in reality, if you want the perfect board for every style of riding and every different type of surf you will encounter you will require a vast quiver.
Well, that was a rather long winded reply, hope you find it useful.
Regards,
Ken.

KennyK said..Whereas in reality, if you want the perfect board for every style of riding and every different type of surf you will encounter you will require a vast quiver.

So true.... for instance Gong has 4 "classic noserider" production models with varying rocker lines and shapes, in order to adapt to waves of different speed:
From front to back:
10'10" large board with a general shape for slow waves, but a nose thinned out for better handling in more hollow or fast conditions
10'1' square nose, maximum lift for slow waves
9'9" with tail & nose streamlined for noserides at speed on fast hollow waves
9'6" a bit like the 10'10", but with less inertia (I had it during one year)



And this is only for the "retro" noserider lines. There are other lines for performance noseriders...

I am not trying to say promote Gong, just saying thet there are many, many kind of possible "longboard" shapes...

Great shot BrisKites!

Thanks Homeally

Slab said..
the only things putting me off all the designs is the noserocker - looks so low I reckon I may well get a bit frustrated...

Actually, When I first saw these kind of boards, I was thinking the same thing... no way I will be able to keep this nose over the surface. But in fact, the boards has rocker, but "hidden" more in the middle and the tail. And once on the water, it works!
The benefit of a low entry rocker is glide, and not pushing water when you go to the nose, so you can actually ride the nose by carving in the wave face with the inside rail, and react to wave changes by piloting the rail.

Of course, you will not want such a rocker for a "performance longboard" shape. But for a noserider, it works surprisingly well in a lot of conditions.