Read a interesting article from the Peter Hart's web site on SUP's for light wind wave sailing.

Been thinking about getting one for a while now and I must say after reading the article I'm convinced that it will open a whole other world of sailing / wave riding between too windy for surfing and not enough wind for a regular wave board. Well worth a read....


Any recommendations on which board will suit?


http://www.windsurf.co.uk/wave-riding-the-long-sup-of-it/

Hi Dungbeetle,

Inresting article

This guy www.caloundrawindandsurf.com.au/ give him a bell to find out more.

The rocker line, flat spot and step tail and key to allow the board to plane as well as turn. Most sups convert to windsups won't plane for this reason, not that there is anything wrong with this but if you want like the option to hook in a blast into the break or reef or go somewhere they are a bit slower. Then on the flip side most windsup aren't that get in the waves. Cap n Kirk has unlocked a sweet concept for his local break though and do the same with a different board on the sunshine coast.

Dungbeetle depends a bit on what you want to do? I'm still Sup racing my old second hand 12'6 and having a ball on it in the surf when its light. Depending on your size and ability to throw around a big board something around 10' gives you the option of still being able to SUP. Other wise if its a dedicated light wind wave ripper go for something a bit smaller with good wave-sup cred'.

Good drawn out tail rocker gives ok speed by sailing it off the tail and setting a bottom turn. Moving your feet around and shifting weight to tail turn it off the top whilst timing it to come down with the foam on the tail so as not to nose dive takes a bit of practice.

Just remember to mother it as most SUP's are not built for planing as such and getting treated like a real sailboard. That said I give mine heaps in the surf as well as on the drag strip . Either way you will have a hoot and increase your time on he water, sure beats paddling them Enjoy!!!

What size sails are you guys putting on your Sups?
I am wanting to put a complete rig on mine (11'4" Naish Nalu). Haven't windsurfed since 2001 but **** it looks good fun on a Sup.

Hendo84 said..

What size sails are you guys putting on your Sups?
I am wanting to put a complete rig on mine (11'4" Naish Nalu). Haven't windsurfed since 2001 but **** it looks good fun on a Sup.

5.8, 6.2, depends how light it is, all relative to ones size strength and skill along with how well the sup glides. if your smaller most wll get away with a 5.3, 4.7. Either way it's a he'll of a lot easier than what we used back in the day on a heavy one design with a hanky for a sail and a wobbly teak boom/ uni.

Cheers guys. I was thinking in the vicinity of 5.4 - 6.0. I'm 94kg and 6'1".
Now to find a cheap rig setup.

WA71 said..

russh said..

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Get out there and enjoy it

How come they dont plain?

I could be wrong but i think it is because they're very rockered and small fins with a really wide tail - they do plane but not "comfortably"

Say one was wanting to get into windsurfing. Would I gain the same skills from SupSailing as say from sailing a funster/other beginner board?

If I can use the board to SUP and Sail, that's excellent value, right? Someone tell me I'm right.

WA71 said..

russh said..

WA71 said..

russh said..



/







Get out there and enjoy it

How come they dont plain?

I could be wrong but i think it is because they're very rockered and small fins with a really wide tail - they do plane but not "comfortably"

That would sound right, too much rocker slows things up. Same on surfboards. I thought SUPs had less rocker as a rule??

??? They plane ok, my 12'6" has heaps of rocker indicated by how far the nose is off the water at full speed as shown in my vid above. I was getting average speeds of over 30 knots so guess this would indicate that you can get them on the plane. Smaller SUP's would surely be easier. Peak speed was 34 knots, I had a Ka wave fin with the side fins out, no foot straps, 6.6 Koncept, ..... And a weight jacket

Here's a few more details about it......

www.surfertoday.com/windsurfing/the-super-speed-windsurfer-named-craig-spottiswood

If theres enough to be planing it goes back on the car
Its a 2008 - run 19cm centre m5 sides and a 5.5 - all adds up to fun on waves but pretty ****e planing - I think you may find the rocker on the old 9'8 wave is quite a deal more than the 12'6 cruiser and tail is probably 2 inches wider (swallow tail) and a half an inch extra rocker

Sup for waves, funster for flatwater.

Some factors to consider are volume and width, if wave sailing underpowered with small sails it's important to have enough stability to keep from falling. The weight of the rig needs to be factored in as well.
It's supposed to be fun and easy for small waves so I would want a really big board. When you start adding footstraps, daggerboard, flatter tail and less volume well now it's becoming more of a windsurfer.
A quad fin setup could be useful in shallower spots.
A domed aft deck is also useful for sailing, a lot of SUP's are completely flat on top.