Riding SHORT Foil SUPs

[Beasho]

I just spent the past weekend riding some hurricane swell in Maine with my 7'2" board akin to the board I saw you on this summer.  Boy, what a difference.  So much easier to get on waves compared to the 6 footer.  Just got me re-thinking this whole short board craze.

Agreed!

The objective of the Short Board SUP is to keep up with the proners.  Pumping ability and turning. 

When things get big e.g. 7 ft++ the prone guys are OUT.  This is where we need to go back to BIG WAVE SUP FOIL BOARDS. 

We can get in earlier and fly away from the energy.  I am frantically trying to re-build my preferred big-wave FOIL Board.  This 7' 4" L41. 

It was significantly better at handling BIG waves than my 6' 6" Easy Foiler and therefore MUCH, MUCH better than my 6' Jeff Clark.  I just have to get the Tuttle re-installed.

[Evan Lloyd]

Beasho,

How long does it take you to get used to the longer board?  I recently dusted off my starboard Hypernut 8-0 because it was big out and the first 3-4 waves felt crazy weird.  I had to relearn where to put my foot, how to turn without touching the water, and when to shift my feet just before takeoff.  I'm sure if I swapped out more often it would be easier, but its getting harder and harder to find days that I can't handle on the 6-0 Kalama.  That said, I'm not in HMB and not dealing with the energy you have up there. 

Cheers
Evan

[Beasho]

This weekend was bigger and I took out my BIG BOARD THE 6' 6" Easy Foiler. 

Compared to the Jeff Clark 6' 2" the Easy Foiler has the box installed further towards the rear.  Despite similar lengths there is 9" more nose on the Easy Foiler.  The Easy Foiler is also 5 lbs heavier.  I refer to it as ALL NOSE WEIGHT.

Wave faces were 4.5 to 7 feet. 

1) Waves were MUCH easier to catch.  Paddle speed higher and my feet didn't have to be spread as perfectly as with the smaller board
2) It was nearly impossible to breach on takeoff.   The heavy nose stays down
3) It was much more lumbering when it came to pumping.  The larger rig displayed a much slower resonant frequency

I caught 10 waves and never fell on takeoff.  Even with 2 big, boomy whitewater takeoffs.  With a front foot in the strap the Easy Foiler stayed DOWN.  I had to consciously think to lift the nose to fly.  Once up and going the board would fly well, just with less responsiveness than the smaller board.

I remember my 7' 4" feeling MUCH more comfortable in rougher, bigger surf than this 6' 6".  I am confident that the 7' 4" will be even more dramatic with regards to it's wave catchability and ability to ride out large takeoffs. 

Average Wave was 290 yards lasting 49 seconds.   Longest wave 430 yards all on the GL210 wing with narrow pedestal tail.   
   

[clay]

What is it about your threads that invites such drama over how grown people choose to ride their plastic water toys? Imagine if it was something that anyone really cared about. 😉😂🏄🏽😆

Wait, what were we talking about?

I love a good cowboy response, busted a gut laughing out loud.  2 minutes ago I was feeling really tired and irritable, right on man.

[PonoBill]

I've been going back and forth on whether I should take Mr. Fugly (7'2" X 33") back to Maui this year or just concentrate on Little Fugly at 6'11" X 30". I think you guys talked me into it. If I want to get into the bigger stuff (I do) then I know Mr. Fugly won't let me down.