Considering a new board even though its probably a bad idea

[Noo Noo]

It’s a shame that Gong aren’t selling any of their 11ft NFAs right now. I have one, and it is an excellent board at a totally bargain price. Which is probably exactly why there aren’t any available any more... You could ask them when they next expect some in? At the price they sell them, and the excellent construction, it’s kinda a no-brainer: A SUP retailer of another brand recently said to me “I just don’t know how they do them so cheap”. And they are high-performance shapes, not beginner barges. Performance, excellent construction, and bargain price: it’s a kinda SUP owners’ dream, isn’t it? I have the 12-6 Gong Perv as well, and it’s amazing how well it surfs. It’s made many a crappy choppy windy session fun for me. It cost me 600 pounds GBP delivered! (I got one in the end of year sale.) Rock solid full wood sandwich construction with carbon-Kevlar rails. For 600, delivered... it’s surprisingly fast as a flat water tourer too, given that it is a surf-type shape. It actually surfs better than several 11ft surf SUPs I’ve tried. I’ve even thought about buying the 10-6 version in the new full PVC sandwich bombproof construction... it would probably surf really well and get into waves easily. But I’ve already bought 2 new SUPs this year already

Just thought I'd focus on this bit if I may, to get the thread back on track.

No 11' NFA's at the moment but I have sent them a message this morning. Same with the 10'6" Perv's.

Forgive me if I'm slightly confused but the Perv is labelled as their cruiser board with some surfing ability / basically a real mix. How is this different to the JP Hybrid which you advised to avoid. I'm just trying to figure out the difference or what makes one a better option than the other, especially as you own one of them. On paper they appear very similar apart from the Gong being far lower in volume

Starboard does have resale value, so if a nice used one crossed your path ...
A10’s Naish 11’ suggestion is a good thought. It has a good surf reputation.

Agreed that the Starboards do have a good following and are easier to sell later. But I'm certainly no fan of their bottom level construction.

Only seen and heard good things about the Naish. Any second hand one's sell very quickly too and they don't come up that often. 

[Noo Noo]

Thought I'd keep this thread going as I'm still looking round, getting confused, changing my mind, going back through this thread etc etc.

Updated list is:
JP hanalei 10'8" - I am a bit concerned with the width on this though - only 29"
JP longboard - 10' 6"
Fanatic Fly 10' 6"
Hypr Nalu - take your pick there
Loco Inca 11' - Price is good
Naish Nalu 11' or so. There's so many to choose from!!

I've also found this which looks an extremely interesting shape and there is always part of me that likes the quirky

https://www.nahskwell-sup.com/en/boards/fluid/

Anyone know anything about this board? As usual its slim pickings

They also do a Longboard which I can get a decent price - 10'6" 29" wide (tad narrow perhaps) 142L. This one could be a bit too performance orientated again.

Gong do not do an 11' NFA anymore. 10' is their longest which might still be enough. There is also the 10'6" Perv pr larger but finding stuff out is again proving awkward.

[Night Wing]

@ Noo Noo

Let me start off by saying, "I do not always run with the pack and there are times I do not follow conventional wisdom". This statement has served me well many times.

Now, I think you should choose a board for those wave height and conditions of waves you're going to encounter where you normally do most of your sup surfing combined with your own weight.

Speaking just for myself, most of the wave heights and wave conditions I find on the upper Texas coast, the waves are wind driven and they are usually between 1'-3' in height. So the performance type of boards where the boards are low volume and the riders weigh considerately more than the liters of the board they're riding does not go well.

So a board with a length of 10'6", they are usually between 160-165 liters of volume. If the waves of the day are around 1.5' in height and a guy weighing 180 pounds, he will find this board isn't going to be the best for these wave height because this wave height is not going to generate enough dynamic lift for him to get a nice long ride.

But if a 10'6" board is between 180-190 liters of volume, he will absolutely enjoy the ride (glide) because the 180-190 liters of volume will be better for him.

So with that said, I'm looking at a guest board for two of my friends. One of them is 170 pounds and the other is 190 pounds. For the wave conditions I normally run into down on the upper Texas coast, I'm looking at two boards now.

One of them is a Blue Planet "Duke" model and it's specs are 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 liters with 5 fin boxes. The link to it is below.

https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/105-x-32-duke-2019.html

The other board is an Australian made board company named ECS. The model I ran across is the EVO and it's specs are 10'6" x 32.5" x 4.5" @ 180 liters with 3 fin boxes. The link to it is below.

https://ecsboards-australia.com/collections/sup-boards/products/evo-blue

And I have two videos for it.





ECS does have a few US distributors and one of them is SoBe Surf at the link below.

https://sobesurf.com/shop/

Both the Duke and the EVO would be good flat water paddlers as well as sup surfers, in my opinion, for me and my two friends.

You seem to be leaning towards a 10'6" board length so the comments above from me is just "food for thought".

[jpeter]

You mention Nahskwell,  the parent company makes the sealion series.  Available in Europe.  I own a 8'3 and 9' sealion.  Both great to surf in crap conditions.  (they windsurf well also)  And very forgiving.  Only 29.5" wide but super wide fish tail makes it stable to stand on.  The new 8'6 wings would be an option that gets you foiling if you ever go that route.  JP

[Noo Noo]

Thanks for the input.

Your logic seems sound and I have in fact been looking at anything 10' 10'6" and over to honest although I do admit there is a bit of length snobbery going on which I do need to shake off. Volume wise I haven't been too bothered unless it starts dipping below 150L as that starts to indicate that a board is a real performance machine and not for someone at my level.

Dealing with chop is an issue so stability is key as well as getting enough glide onto, what is normally a really messy wave. Thinking about it there's very little point in me getting a board that will thrive in head and half clean waves. A) I'm unlikely to see those conditions and B) I'd probably drown.

So I'm looking for some kind of Utopia board I guess. Super stable in chop, good glide, and a board I can grow with and not have to sell on in a year or so.

The big problem I have now is actually finding some useful information on each of the above boards. It's a tough ask. A demo would be great but far from practical. Information on boards seems to be really thin on the ground as far as real world thoughts and discussions and even in some cases proper reviews.

[Noo Noo]

You mention Nahskwell,  the parent company makes the sealion series.  Available in Europe.  I own a 8'3 and 9' sealion.  Both great to surf in crap conditions.  (they windsurf well also)  And very forgiving.  Only 29.5" wide but super wide fish tail makes it stable to stand on.  The new 8'6 wings would be an option that gets you foiling if you ever go that route.  JP

Thanks for the suggestion. I've seen these but simply discounted them thinking they were for advanced surfers. No harm in looking into them but as a kitesurfer any thoughts of windsurfing is a big no no. 

[Night Wing]

@ Noo Noo

Just to give you something how I think when I'm doing research for sups.

Speaking just for myself and looking into getting a third board; not a guest board, just a board for me, I'd be looking at a production made board between 10'-10'6". For the conditions I usually find on the upper Texas coast with it's smallish waves which is dictated by wind speed, for a production made board, I'd be looking at two boards.

One board is the Blue Planet "Duke" and which it's specs again are 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 liters with 5 fin boxes. The link again is below.

https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/105-x-32-duke-2019.html

There are no videos of it however so I have had to find it's predecessor named the Nirvana 10'5". The Duke is a tweak of the Nirvana and I was able to find one video of the Nirvana, so I can actually see it. Not the best video since the guy never showed the Nirvana on it's edge, but "beggars can't be choosers" as they say. The link to the Nirvana is below.



But the Duke is one of a few different models in the Waikiki series so I can get a look at a smaller model in this video and it will give me the general shape of the Duke.



The second board would be another Blue Planet board named the "Easy" and it's specs are 10'2" x 32" x 4.5" @ 181 liters with 5 fin boxes. The link to it is below.

https://www.blueplanetsurf.com/102-x-32-easy-2019.html

And I was able to find two videos where the Easy can be seen. The videos are listed below.





For me, the better glide for flat water paddling is going to be the Duke. And I think both boards, Duke and Easy, will be good for sup surfing for where I go and the waves I usually encounter.

BTW, I'm a big fan of 5 fin boxes because any waves, no matter their wave height and the wind conditions which produced the wave, the 5 fin boxes will cover just about anything I will run into on the upper Texas coast wave wise from 1'-7' waves being generated from 7 mph-30 mph wind speeds.

Like I said previously. Choose a board that you can use for flat water paddling which will give you a good glide and will be good for sup surfing in the wave height and wave conditions you will "usually" encounter.