Pros and Cons of each type of water craft, IMO.

[jumpfrom13k]

I'll start with a SUP.

SUP
Pros: Easy to watch the set coming, easy to spot the take off zone, much easier to turn than a longboard. Somewhat less tiring/exhausting.
Cons: Nightmare to get caught inside, heaviest equipment out of all surf boards, once your leg gets tired you are useless.

Longboard
Pros: Catches very mushy and small wave, very stable while pop up, paddle like a champ. Least tiring/exhausting. Can be surfed all day.
Cons: Hard to maneuver once on the wave, hard to swing it around and go, hard to make late and pitchy take off.

Shortboard
Pros: Very easy to maneuver on the wave, duckdiveable, light, simple, super easy to swing it around, easy late take off.
Cons: Little less stable while poping up, requires the waves to have some size, most tiring/exhausting.

I think the easiest surfboard is whatever you spend the most time on. I think it is a complete myth that one type of surfing is easier or certain types are harder than the other.

[SUPflorida]

That's one way of looking at it, but the title of the thread made me think you were going to compare SUP > Kayak>Surf Ski > OC1>Dory...that kind of thing...

[Badger]

Another pro for stand up is the advantage of mobility. I will often paddle a mile down the beach to check out another surf spot. I even do it on my 8'4. Very few if any proners would want to do that. They are pretty much stuck at the break they are at. Paddling with your hands is tiring.

.

[wrybread]

> That's one way of looking at it, but the title of the thread made me think you were going to compare SUP > Kayak>Surf Ski > OC1>Dory...that kind of thing...

I'll add a couple since I'm landlocked and procrastinating work:

Surfski

Pros:
Wicked fun on soft waves especially if they're not quite breaking.
Pick the right spot and you get 300 yard rides from waaaay outside.
Also wicked fun on down winders.
And fast and easy to cover a lot of distance.
Great for open ocean paddling.
And at most places people have never seen a surfski so their mind is blown as you catch wave after wave and surf them for hundreds of feet.
Very technique oriented.
Rudders are fun.

Cons:
Absolutely brutal learning curve.
If the surf is breaking even a little too hard you're doomed.
The dreaded broken rudder syndrome, not to mention boat.

Sit Inside Whitewater and Surf Kayaks

Pros
Fun if the waves are steep enough, but if they're steep enough personally I'm always wishing I was on a board.
Can surf shallow peelers, especially if there's sand underneath.
Still fun when its blown out.
Translates well to river surfing.

Cons
If the waves are good its more fun on a board. And you'd better have a good roll or at least pack a fin for that long swim to shore dragging a swamped boat.

Sea Kayaks

Pros
Fun to hang with the kayak geeks and practice strokes. That's the dirty little secret about sea kayaking, working on technique is an oddly big part of it, where I paddle (Northern California) at least.
Fun to paddle a craft that's so obviously unsuited to waves and try to make it work.

Cons
Kayak geeks
Pearling.


SUP

Pros
Great mobility, super easy to get to distant breaks.
Can catch waaaaay more waves than on a regular board, sessions go from 10 or so waves to 60.
Can surf far bigger waves, its like having super powers, I call the paddle "organic tow in".
Too big to paddle out the front? No problem taking the 2 mile detour out the back door to get to the break.
Nice to get up out of the water when its cold, and you're not dangling limbs in front of sharks.
Once you get used to the paddle its handy for all sorts of things, like carving turns, protecting your head and swimming to the surface.
Personally I don't find getting caught inside much worse on a SUP.
Great for exploring the ocean or whatever body of water. Every bit as mobile as a kayak and much more portable. I get a chuckle from laydown surfers who call themselves watermen when their whole experience of the ocean is within a couple hundred yards of shore.

The original poster said longboards are easier than SUP, I don't find that to be the case. I can have much longer sessions on a SUP than a longboard, and catch about 30x more waves, even on a small SUP.

Cons
Relatively slow on waves even compared to longboards.
If its a super steep break it's harder than a shortboard to catch waves, at least for me. Basically any break that doesn't work on a longboard doesn't work on a SUP. That's my current theory at least, though as I get to smaller SUPs maybe that will change.
Sucks ass in a headwind.
Scary to have that big board flying around, I got hit by my board on the thigh once and it hurt for a good two weeks.
By far the biggest con for me is all the anti-SUP attitude.
People who are new to SUP surfing breaks that they're not ready for, and re-enforcing all the anti SUP stereotypes.

Laydown surfing in general

Pros
Much less board than a SUP.
More technique involved.
You catch fewer rides but the rides are more fun.
You don't look like a dork to other surfers.

Cons
Catch much fewer waves
Much much much harder to paddle.
Much more exhausting.
Hard to go back to the super slow pace of laydown surfing after SUP.

[SUP Leave]

Great thread. I bounce back and forth between surf craft, but I am not really a good enough surfer to catch lots of waves on a short board yet. It is interesting to get folks opinions on this stuff. For me it comes down to conditions as to what I will ride.

Long period and mushy swell:

#1 Single fin log. Everything about riding a longboard in this situation is uber fun. Gliding leisurely into a wave look left, look right, pop up, trim, walk, trim, walk, trim, kick out. Its glorious. I had a surf a couple weeks ago at a place in Oregon named after a geologic mammal and I bet I caught nearly half the amount of waves that I could have on my sup (which is a lot). Paddling a longboard prone is not much more tiring than paddling a SUP under these conditions.

#2 SUP in those conditions is fun too but the sensation of the glide on a log can't be beat. For me it is the take off on a longboard under a smooth swell that beats the stabbing and pulling of the SUP.


Medium period, any swell:

#1 SUP. To me this is where the SUP shines. Up here in WA that means any period where about 9 seconds or more is dominant. There is enough time to paddle quickly between waves and I am just much more confident dropping in on a larger swell on SUP than a log. Plus when the period is shorter the SUP allows you to track a peak much better


#2 Any other board.

Short period any swell.:

I will SUP on tiny short period waves because there is not far to go back out and they are easy to paddle over, once the size goes over 3 or 4 feet at less than 8 seconds then it is bigger shortboards (because I am a bigger guy). Wave quantity is going to go way down, but it is pretty easy to adjust your expectations.

I just got a McCoy Nugget yesterday on a craigslist steal. Can't wait to try it on Sunday.

Happy surfing to y'all.

[surf4food]

> That's one way of looking at it, but the title of the thread made me think you were going to compare SUP > Kayak>Surf Ski > OC1>Dory...that kind of thing...

I'll add a couple since I'm landlocked and procrastinating work:

Surfski

Pros:
Wicked fun on soft waves especially if they're not quite breaking.
Pick the right spot and you get 300 yard rides from waaaay outside.
Also wicked fun on down winders.
And fast and easy to cover a lot of distance.
Great for open ocean paddling.
And at most places people have never seen a surfski so their mind is blown as you catch wave after wave and surf them for hundreds of feet.
Very technique oriented.
Rudders are fun.

Cons:
Absolutely brutal learning curve.
If the surf is breaking even a little too hard you're doomed.
The dreaded broken rudder syndrome, not to mention boat.

Sit Inside Whitewater and Surf Kayaks

Pros
Fun if the waves are steep enough, but if they're steep enough personally I'm always wishing I was on a board.
Can surf shallow peelers, especially if there's sand underneath.
Still fun when its blown out.
Translates well to river surfing.

Cons
If the waves are good its more fun on a board. And you'd better have a good roll or at least pack a fin for that long swim to shore dragging a swamped boat.

Sea Kayaks

Pros
Fun to hang with the kayak geeks and practice strokes. That's the dirty little secret about sea kayaking, working on technique is an oddly big part of it, where I paddle (Northern California) at least.
Fun to paddle a craft that's so obviously unsuited to waves and try to make it work.

Cons
Kayak geeks
Pearling.


SUP

Pros
Great mobility, super easy to get to distant breaks.
Can catch waaaaay more waves than on a regular board, sessions go from 10 or so waves to 60.
Can surf far bigger waves, its like having super powers, I call the paddle "organic tow in".
Too big to paddle out the front? No problem taking the 2 mile detour out the back door to get to the break.
Nice to get up out of the water when its cold, and you're not dangling limbs in front of sharks.
Once you get used to the paddle its handy for all sorts of things, like carving turns, protecting your head and swimming to the surface.
Personally I don't find getting caught inside much worse on a SUP.
Great for exploring the ocean or whatever body of water. Every bit as mobile as a kayak and much more portable. I get a chuckle from laydown surfers who call themselves watermen when their whole experience of the ocean is within a couple hundred yards of shore.

The original poster said longboards are easier than SUP, I don't find that to be the case. I can have much longer sessions on a SUP than a longboard, and catch about 30x more waves, even on a small SUP.

Cons
Relatively slow on waves even compared to longboards.
If its a super steep break it's harder than a shortboard to catch waves, at least for me. Basically any break that doesn't work on a longboard doesn't work on a SUP. That's my current theory at least, though as I get to smaller SUPs maybe that will change.
Sucks ass in a headwind.
Scary to have that big board flying around, I got hit by my board on the thigh once and it hurt for a good two weeks.
By far the biggest con for me is all the anti-SUP attitude.
People who are new to SUP surfing breaks that they're not ready for, and re-enforcing all the anti SUP stereotypes.

Laydown surfing in general

Pros
Much less board than a SUP.
More technique involved.
You catch fewer rides but the rides are more fun.
You don't look like a dork to other surfers.

Cons
Catch much fewer waves
Much much much harder to paddle.
Much more exhausting.
Hard to go back to the super slow pace of laydown surfing after SUP.

You forgot to include OC1/OC2.  I'm saying this because I am seriously interested in giving these AND surfskis a try.

[wrybread]

> You forgot to include OC1/OC2.  I'm saying this because i ma seriously interested in give these AND surfskis a try.

I've never ridden an OC1 or 2, but kind of randomly have ridden an OC4. I got paid to do it even! A stock photography company needed people who were comfy in waves. Some footage:



Pros

Is bad ass
Catches waves really easily. Almost too easily.
Is fun for those few short moments before you wipe out.
Goes well with the Hawaii 5-0 theme.

Cons

Tough to steer! The stern is much harder to control than it looks.
If someone so much as looks away from the ama its going to flip over and you'll have all those helmets, elbows, knees and paddles flying every which way.
After assessing the injuries its time to bail out that giant boat, scoop by scoop.

[surf4food]

> You forgot to include OC1/OC2.  I'm saying this because i ma seriously interested in give these AND surfskis a try.

I've never ridden an OC1 or 2, but kind of randomly have ridden an OC4. I got paid to do it even! A stock photography company needed people who were comfy in waves. Some footage:



Pros

Is bad ass
Catches waves really easily. Almost too easily.
Is fun for those few short moments before you wipe out.
Goes well with the Hawaii 5-0 theme.

Cons

Tough to steer! The stern is much harder to control than it looks.
If someone so much as looks away from the ama its going to flip over and you'll have all those helmets, elbows, knees and paddles flying every which way.
After assessing the injuries its time to bail out that giant boat, scoop by scoop.

You got more guts than I do.  That's sure sure.  That being said, my personal interest in OC1 or surfski is downwinding rather that shore break.  What did you think of the ski for that?

[wrybread]

I super extra love the ski for down winders.

But it takes awhile to get there. Have you paddled a ski yet?

[surf4food]

Have you paddled a ski yet?

No and have never paddled an OC1 either.  I've paddled kayaks and canoes (even an OC6 once) and of course paddleboards.  Both intrigue me and truth be told I'm more leaning towards OC because of it's Polynesian/Hawaiian roots and similar paddle stroke to SUP but I feel I need to try both.   

[surf4food]

Downwinding on a SUP of course gives more of the surfing feeling (I'm assuming) but OC1 and skis seem to have longer glides in downwind bumps.

[wrybread]

I think oc1 is a bit easier than a ski too. I surf pretty often with a friend who uses an oc1 while I use a ski and we surf similarly. But he went out and bought a used ski for some reason and he couldn't get past that learning curve hump. He wound up selling it.

If I were starting fresh I'd probably get the oc1 too. Especially if I was coming from sup. Personally I love the wing paddle (fancy kayak paddle) but there's something to be said for the single paddle style.

That said, now that I'm well past the learning curve hump and can paddle a 17" wide ski (what they call elite skis) even in crazy open ocean down winders it's so damn fun. In the right conditions (super mushy waves and down winders) it's my favorite surf craft.

[wrybread]

* I should say, it's my favorite surf craft except a sup on a good chunky swell. Nothing beats that.

[surf4food]

Yeah OC1 I'm sure is more stable but you obviously have to learn to work with the ama.

[SeldomScene]

> That's one way of looking at it, but the title of the thread made me think you were going to compare SUP > Kayak>Surf Ski > OC1>Dory...that kind of thing...

I'll add a couple since I'm landlocked and procrastinating work:

Surfski[/b

Cons:
Absolutely brutal learning curve.




Yep