Weight Loss

[surfercook]

I'm down to 169 lbs this summer. 10 lbs less than last summer. Pretty sure it's from surfing so much. My low vol sup feels REALLY good now. I hardly struggle at all to stand on it compared to last year when I first got it (June, 2015). My middle vol sup feels almost sluggish now but is still a joy to cruise on. It seems to make sections a bit easier but doesn't have near the turning ability.
July 23rd here in New Jersey.

[Night Wing]

I'm curious.

You said you're down to 169 pounds, but you never mentioned what the volume of your board is in liters or it's length. What is the length of your board and how many liters (volume) is it? I'm only asking since I'm a lightweight at 145 pounds, but my custom sup is 8'11" at 140 liters. Your board seems shorter in length than mine is.

BTW, that is an excellent video. I enjoyed watching it.

[supthecreek]

Another good one Marky Mark!
You are surfing that Box well!

I'll ask my brother if you qualify for the "Skinny Kid Surf Team"

You can join Quido and Bug Billion at the annual slimfest!

[RATbeachrider]

Nice rides Cook.  I see that you are still having fun with the SoloShot2.

[Badger]

I'm a lightweight at 145 pounds, but my custom sup is 8'11" at 140 liters.

140 liters is way too much volume for you at your weight. 100 liters would give you plenty of float and you could go even lower.

My stock 8'4 Sunova Flow is 110 liters. I weigh 165 and I'm still an intermediate. That board is perfect for me on clean days.

My 8'10 Flow had to be special ordered in 119 liters, which is more volume than I need. I wanted a bit more length and width for days when it's big and choppy. The 8'10 feels big compared the the 8'4.


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[Night Wing]

140 liters is way too much volume for you at your weight. 100 liters would give you plenty of float and you could go even lower.

But 75%-80% of my sup paddling is done on flat water. At 100 liters, this will work well for me in the surf, but on flat water, I might have the "deck awash" syndrome.

I've seen some big guys who easily weigh over 200 pounds sup surfing on the upper Texas coast on some of those low volume short boards at 100-110 liters. They do fine surfing the waves, but without waves, their deck looks like what I call "decks awash" while they're standing on their sup waiting for a wave to ride. The person who I talked with told me he uses a simple rule of thumb (forumla) which is "the persons weight (in pounds) plus the weight of the board (in pounds) plus the weight of the paddle (in pounds) without wearing a wet suit". Convert the total number of pounds to kilograms and then times that number by 1.7 and it will give me a minumum weight in liters to float me.

So for me; I weigh 145 pounds plus my sup weighs 17 pounds and I rounded my paddle weight up to 2 pounds. The combined weight is 164 pounds. Converting 164 pounds to kilograms comes to a little over 74 kilograms. Then multiplying this number by 1.7 and it comes out to 125 liters for a minimum liter weight standing on a paddle board on a lake without any wind so not to experience "deck awash".

Since I will be paddling on lakes, the beach is 90 miles from my home, flat water paddling usually is done with a long lengthed sup in order to paddle in a straight line without the nose wagging from side to side which shorter boards are prone to. Since my sup is 8'11" (and I've only had three sessions with her), with 3 different fin combinations I can paddle in a straight line where I don't have to switch sides paddling to keep it tracking straight. With one of my fin configurations I used, I can track a straight line while paddling on my left side for almost 60 yards (without any wind) before I have to switch over and paddle on my right side. Since the production liters is 148 for this model length of sup, this is why I had the sup custom built for 140 liters mainly because of most of my sup paddling will be flat water. Talking to the developer of this model is what he recommended also. So far, but with only 3 flat water sessions, it has worked out well for me.

Sorry for the "long" manuscript reply, but my situation is different from yours so I figured I had some explaining to do.

[Badger]

140 liters is way too much volume for you at your weight. 100 liters would give you plenty of float and you could go even lower.

But 75%-80% of my sup paddling is done on flat water. At 100 liters, this will work well for me in the surf, but on flat water, I might have the "deck awash" syndrome.

I forgot that you use your 8'11 for flatwater.  In that case you need all the volume you can get.

I think if I could only have one board for flatwater and surf, it would be a 10'6 around 150 liters. My paddling is 70% surfing. 10'6 is short enough to still surf well, yet long enough for good flatwater glide and speed.

One board can't do it all though. I'd be giving up a lot to have just one board.

Surfercook was on the 8'1" Gulliver V-Box-116 liters.  He lists his boards at the bottom of his posts.

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[Badger]

But 75%-80% of my sup paddling is done on flat water.

Wait a minute. It says at the bottom of your post that you also have a 12' Hobie ATR-II.

Why on earth would you want to flatwater paddle a tiny 8'11 surf SUP when you have a nice 12 footer that is designed for that purpose?

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[Night Wing]

Wait a minute. It says at the bottom of your post that you also have a 12' Hobie ATR-II.

Why on earth would you want to flatwater paddle a tiny 8'11 surf SUP when you have a nice 12 footer that is designed for that purpose?

I use my 12'2" Hobie for "paddling to a camping site for an over night stay on the lake fishing" since the Hobie has 14 tie downs on it. My Hobie is 238.5 liters, but on my overnight camping trips on one of our area lakes (whose surface area is 21,000 acres); it has to transport me, a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping bag underneath cushion, camp stove, cooking utensils, fishing rods, tackle box, etc.

If I paddle my Hobie without any gear on it, at 238.5 liters it is unstable for me since it is designed for a much heavier paddler which I would guess is 200 pounds and above. In other words, it's way too buoyant for me since it gives me a very corky feeling. The Hobie makes me stand up higher from the water line than my 8'11" sup because the Hobie is thicker than my Hammer. With my 8'11" Hammer, I'm closer to the water line and I don't get that corky feeling (stability wise) even though my Hobie is 32" wide, but my Hammer is 31" wide.

I chose the 8'11" Hammer length because I thought it could do double duty for both flat water paddling (in a straight line) as well as surfing because of it's length, it's chisel tail and the 5 fin configuration (quad + 1). I thought the Hammer 8'5" would be just too short length wise for long distance flat water paddling (to paddle in a straight line), but I liked the 140 liter volume of the 8'5" Hammer standard production sup. This is why had my custom built Hammer 8'11" volume lowered from it's standard production volume of 148 liters to 140 liters.

Like you, I have tried to have "one sup which can do it all" for flat water paddling and surfing and I think my 8'11" Hammer at 140 liters is the one that can do it all. I just need to have my spider bite wound heal so I can get back on my subdivision's lake and then take my Hammer down to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to surf some waves for confirmation.

I won't go into details; but I did a lot of research online on different sups from many manufacturers, lurking on forums and watching YouTube videos before I settled on the Hammer 8'11".

[Badger]

Wait a minute. It says at the bottom of your post that you also have a 12' Hobie ATR-II.

Why on earth would you want to flatwater paddle a tiny 8'11 surf SUP when you have a nice 12 footer that is designed for that purpose?

I use my 12'2" Hobie for "paddling to a camping site for an over night stay on the lake fishing" since the Hobie has 14 tie downs on it. My Hobie is 238.5 liters, but on my overnight camping trips on one of our area lakes (whose surface area is 21,000 acres); it has to transport me, a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping bag underneath cushion, camp stove, cooking utensils, fishing rods, tackle box, etc.

If I paddle my Hobie without any gear on it, at 238.5 liters it is unstable for me since it is designed for a much heavier paddler which I would guess is 200 pounds and above. In other words, it's way too buoyant for me since it gives me a very corky feeling. The Hobie makes me stand up higher from the water line than my 8'11" sup because the Hobie is thicker than my Hammer. With my 8'11" Hammer, I'm closer to the water line and I don't get that corky feeling (stability wise) even though my Hobie is 32" wide, but my Hammer is 31" wide.

I chose the 8'11" Hammer length because I thought it could do double duty for both flat water paddling (in a straight line) as well as surfing because of it's length, it's chisel tail and the 5 fin configuration (quad + 1). I thought the Hammer 8'5" would be just too short length wise for long distance flat water paddling (to paddle in a straight line), but I liked the 140 liter volume of the 8'5" Hammer standard production sup. This is why had my custom built Hammer 8'11" volume lowered from it's standard production volume of 148 liters to 140 liters.

Like you, I have tried to have "one sup which can do it all" for flat water paddling and surfing and I think my 8'11" Hammer at 140 liters is the one that can do it all. I just need to have my spider bite wound heal so I can get back on my subdivision's lake and then take my Hammer down to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to surf some waves for confirmation.

I won't go into details; but I did a lot of research online on different sups from many manufacturers, lurking on forums and watching YouTube videos before I settled on the Hammer 8'11".

At some point I think you will find the 8'11 to be very slow. It also will not track very straight compared to a longer board.

Flatwater boards are supposed to be high volume so that the board sits on top of the water. This helps the board glide and reach higher speeds. 12 to 14 feet is the most common length for flatwater although you can get by with 10 or 11 feet as long as the board has enough volume. In general, the shorter the board, the slower it will be to paddle.

Usually we use the word corkyness when referring to surf SUPs. I've never heard anyone complain of a flatwater board being too corky. My M-14 was 290 liters. My present M-12'6 is 237 liters. That's fairly typical of flatwater boards, downwind boards and race boards of that length. My first board was an 11'2 Starboard Blend @ 170 liters. That board did alright on flatwater but I soon wanted more length and volume for increased speed and glide.

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[Zooport]

Dude, you are ripping on the Sunova.  Good job.

[Night Wing]

At some point I think you will find the 8'11 to be very slow. It also will not track very straight compared to a longer board.

Flatwater boards are supposed to be high volume so that the board sits on top of the water. This helps the board glide and reach higher speeds. 12 to 14 feet is the most common length for flatwater although you can get by with 10 or 11 feet as long as the board has enough volume. In general, the shorter the board, the slower it will be to paddle.

Usually we use the word corkyness when referring to surf SUPs. I've never heard anyone complain of a flatwater board being too corky.

Speed is not a factor for my situation with regards to flat water paddling. I'm not racing and I'm never in any hurry to get anywhere when I'm paddling on the flat water on a lake. As for the glide, my Hobie does glide very well because of it's length, better than my Hammer. But the Hobie becomes a barge if I have to turn quickly. The Hobie is not designed to change directions quickly. The Hammer can change directions quickly and I say this because in my three sessions with her on my subdivisions lake; I've tried one session using a large single fin placed at the back of the fin box. The second session was with a 3 fin setup and the last session was with a 5 fin setup. I was surprised to find the 5 fin setup can paddle in a straight line, but it can also change directions quite quickly. I guess my 12 years as a sit on top kayaker honed my paddling skills since I learned how to turn my 14'9" long, 26" wide Scupper Pro TW kayak, 180 degrees in only 3 paddle strokes. Which means, I've never been one to follow conventional thinking. I like to experiment to see if something can work when it shouldn't work. This is more akin to, "thinking outside of the box".

Although you've never heard of the term "corkyness" (tippiness) with flatwater paddling, you're hearing it "now" from me probably because I only weigh 145 pounds and my shorter length Hammer feels more stable to me than my longer length Hobie since I'm closer to the water's surface when I'm standing on my Hammer than when I'm standing on my Hobie (with no gear attached to my Hobie for added weight).

[RATbeachrider]

The 8'11x31 Hammer at 140L is a great board for cruising the lake and few trips into the surf.

I'm at 142 lbs (145 lbs soaking wet) and I cruised around on a King's SS 9'x28 120L.  She's like a slow locomotive versus the 12' race SUP but then I don't go racing with her.  She's best when in her environment ... knee to shoulder/head high with wide open face reef break.

[Badger]

I paddle my 8'10 around for fun all the time, and even my 8'4, but I never go more than a mile or two. To me, flatwater paddling means 5 or 10 miles. This might be where we get confused. 5 or 10 miles on my 8'10 would take forever.

I have no interest in racing either. My M-12'6 is no speed demon. It's designed for downwind but it's also a good flatwater board for doing distance. I do a lot of marshes with tight winding creeks and it maneuvers pretty well. It can do a 180 in just one stroke if needed. It doesn't require any fancy footwork. All it takes is paddle technique.

Nothing wrong with exploring or getting exercise on a shorter board. You just won't go as far as a longer board would in the same amount of time.

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[Night Wing]

Badger

I've really enjoyed this topic thread to get different viewpoints which for me comes down to, "food for thought" since I'm a newbie at standup paddling and I'm always trying to learn new things for flat water paddling and sup surfing. Thanks for starting this topic.