My go to board atm is my Starby 8'2X32 widepoint. Its pretty solid stability wise and I have had it out in onshore and cross/onshore conditions up to 20kts with no problems. Allthough that said I did finish up alot further down the beach from where I started. And surf wise sounds well suited to the conditions you described, I find it very loose and quick when on a wave and easy to throw around. I would like to try it as a thruster for a comparison but it only comes in a quad If that makes a difference to you? Definitely worth a try if you can get a demo.

Cheers.

9'8" x 30" custom.

wavelength said...

Hi all,
Looking for some advice re your favourite mushy/choppy beach break boards.
I have a Naish Hokua 9'5 which I love in clean waves. I am a very experienced surfer on shortboards and mals. But i'm relatively new to SUP surfing. I am 50 years old and about 85kg. I like to avoid crowds, which means I do a lot of my surfing on beach breaks, often after the wind has come up.
So anyway... i think the Hokua is the right board for me most of the time but I have had less than 10 surfs on it and it has been pretty glassy. I still struggle a bit with stability when the wind comes up. Perhaps that's just a matter of more time on the water in those conditions? Hope so - that's the inexpensive answer.
Still I'd like some opinions on the best board for choppy, small-to-medium beach break waves. I don't really mind what length – and yes, i know that wider often means more stable. I'd like it to be reasonably quick once it's on a wave. What do you reckon? What's your own favourite board for choppy surf -- and what do you recommend for a geezer like me?
Thanks heaps.
Cheers, Dave

Stick with it go out in anything. Your skills will improve. I am 105kg and use a 9 7 x 29 1/2 psh in heaps of wind.

Wide boards surf poorly in solid waves

Luv my Naish Hokua 9'5 - when clean but I find it tough in chop @ 105kgs the new 9'10 would prob better suited for me now...

I just got me a Paddle Surf Hawaii 10'4" XWAA surfs ok and its nice not having to worry about chop and falling off its just a really fun board...

hilly said...

Stick with it go out in anything. Your skills will improve. I am 105kg and use a 9 7 x 29 1/2 psh in heaps of wind.

Wide boards surf poorly in solid waves

+1 on that , just do the hard yards in all conditions , it will become easier.

Thanks guys. Excellent advice -- and it's really interesting to hear what others are riding. Don't see many SUPers (or anyone else) out when it's real choppy, but that may be because they all had a nice long session early when it was heaps better and it's only anti-social scroungers like me who would rather it onshore and empty than perfect and crowded.
I don't mind doing the hard yards -- it will be easier to do them now knowing that if there are any long-term problems on those junky onshore days, it's not the board.

n8wx said...

Luv my Naish Hokua 9'5 - when clean but I find it tough in chop @ 105kgs the new 9'10 would prob better suited for me now...

I just got me a Paddle Surf Hawaii 10'4" XWAA surfs ok and its nice not having to worry about chop and falling off its just a really fun board...

I bought a 9'10 Hokua recently for this exact reason. Choppy windy less than perfect days & the first time I took it out it was HOWLING cross on shore. Conditions that I'd never SUP'ed in before & it was great. Stability is awesome, paddles great & surfs well too.
I did sell it though for 2 reasons. 1 being the nose rocker is a little too flat for my liking & I found it nose dived fairly often during steeper drops. The other was the width. Just a bit too wide once on the wave. It is a very fun board though & I'd recommend it for those days requiring a bit more stability.
On clean days I ride a 9'6 Hull Ripper.

My advice for such a board is to go:
- wide for stability
- fast (flat) rocker for enjoying the gutless faces. A tad of nose rocker at the tip with help in take offs however.
- not too wide a tail to be able to "apply the brakes" in a whim
- as short as possible to be able to react instantly to the constantly changing waves. Basically as short as you can manage to still padlle out at your break (depends on rips, amount of whitewater, etc...)
- long enough to beat your crowds (to keep away from other surfers/SUPers). But too long and you will nosedive

The first 2 points are not strong points of the Hokua-style boards in my opinion (although you CAN use them in these condition, for a very intensive workout).

For my 100kg, in mediterranean (slow) waves, currently my best board is the Gong 7'4" x 32.5" x 130l shake (see , www.gong-galaxy.com/magazine/pics/1-hour-4-boards/ ). In more powerful (fast) waves with bigger bars of whitewater to go through, I would use a bit the same shape but in the 8' range for more paddling speed. I have ordered a 8'3" for this purpose: www.gongsup.com/+PHOTO-8-3-Empire+.html
The Jimmy Lewis Kwad seems also very good for these conditions (although may be a tad long), or the Naish 7'3" and 7'8" (although a tad narrow). The 2013 7'11"x32" starboard or the 8'2" widepoint seem interesting, too, but there are others...

As a 9'5" Hokua rider my tip is use a quad setup for more windy/choppy days, that will give you extra stability.

Spend $150 on quad fins instead of $1500 for another board IMHO.

That topic did not suggest if a paddle was required,here is mine

Without a doubt my 10.0 nsp coco.

I've had this board out in near-on unsurfable conditions in the last coupla months and the board has never ceased to put a smile on my face - remarkable board.

Real nice board 62mac. I love the colours.
I have an old faithfull Jason Blewitt Model 9'1" that i will never part with as it surfs beautifully and just feels right. I agree taht we all should have a McTavish.
Not sure about his SUP's though.
ET.

Ray knows his stuff particualarly nose riders and cruisers. If he is surfing Bob's SUP's then he will be worth a look.

wavelength said...

the answer is clear: One board is great, two boards is even better.]

Two paddles as well. Get an adjustable one, put it in the
short position, kneel up and catch more waves in these
conditions.

62mac said...

Thanks mate good to see someone appreciates quality

McT have a new range coming out soon,Ray Gleave is behind the design

I've never owned a McTavish until I bought a 7' X 23" X 3" Sumo recently.
I'm 92 kgs but went with the width/volume in a shorter package to give me the paddleability to be able to snare a few waves.
After only a few surfs it had some impressive heel denting that would have looked right at home on a 4oz decked 6'1" hpsb (high performance shortboard).
So the yang of your ying.
Board has been sold off at 1/2 it's rrp which was all I could get for it with the heel denting.
On the other hand my Dick Van Straalen carbon/eps 8' allrounder was surfed in everything from ankle snappers to as big as it got within exactly 2 years I had it.
Still looked as good as the day I bought it apart from very light heel denting and I bought it for $1300 and sold it for $1100.
That's quality and the value of carbon/eps over poly.