Surfboards (Longboards)

[Night Wing]

@ Badger

You really cannot prone surf a sup because they are not designed to be prone surfed. They are too wide in width.

As an example, my 9'3" Parallax is 23 1/2" in width. Easy to prone paddle because of it's width. It is also designed to paddle fast when prone paddling back out from the beach to catch a wave. So I get the maximum amount of effort with the least amount of energy expended. This is why, even at my 73 years of age, my surfing sessions are around 3 hours long with rest breaks included.

My 11'1" One World sup is 30" in width and it is not designed to be prone paddled because it is too wide. Longboards and sups are "two different animals".

The reason why I don't foil is two fold.

Where I surf, the water is basically shallow out to 300 yards from the beach. The waves are wind driven. The bottom is sand and the sand is brown in color. When the wind comes up really good, the brown sand gets caught in suspension so from the bottom to the surface of the water, the water looks like "chocolate milk" in color.

Foil boards have the wing underneath the board. If the water is brown in color, since one can't see the sand bars, if the wing hits the sandbar, the foiler is going to go air borne.

Lastly, if the wave forecast is for waist high waves with a 7 second period and the foiler gets down to the beach and the waves are knee high with a 7 second period, the foiler is going to have to constantly "pump their legs" to keep foiling.

If I had to pump my legs to foil, after 15 minutes of time, my legs would be worn out and subsequently, my energy level would be spent for the day. This is my definition of "work and not fun".

Since I now have three new pop-ups which are easy for me to do and take less energy to do, I can keep longboard surfing.

One last item. With Thunderbolt Red construction, this type of construction makes any longboard easy on the body when riding it. In other words, easy on your knees.

To sum up. I'm 5'8" and weigh 144 pounds.

Below is review of the Parallax from a guy named Travis who is 6'4" and weighs 240 pounds. He rides a longer 9'9" Parallax with a Flying Diamonds 10.0 Involvement fin and he gives some great details from riding his Parallax and I agree with him since my 9'3" acts the same when I'm riding it.

The video is best seen in 1080p high definition and in full screen mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiXHlzVd-Pk

[Badger]

SUPs do have a slight disadvantage paddling prone but it can be done. They are by far easier to pop up on from a prone position due to their stability. That's why many surf schools use SUPs for teaching the basics of prone surfing.

My foil board is 23" wide and I sometimes have to prone paddle when the wind dies. I get so exhausted prone paddling that I usually alternate with knee paddling to get back to shore.

There seem to be quite a few videos of people Foiling at Surfside and Quintana beaches. Wing foilers have the advantage of not having to pump the foil to get back out.

https://youtu.be/jRUVjyghQt8

https://youtu.be/R5aYbGPUtuo

-

[sflinux]

You really cannot prone surf a sup because they are not designed to be prone surfed. They are too wide in width.
As an example, my 9'3" Parallax is 23 1/2" in width.
To sum up. I'm 5'8" and weigh 144 pounds.

My main complaint of prone surfing a SUP is you can't comfortably sit on the board in the line up.  You either have to lay down, or have both knees on the board and your bottom on heels. 
I would think the shorter you are, the more limited in width tolerance of a board.  I am 6'2" and am comfortable prone paddling a 28.5" wide board.  Your 9'3" Parallax is 78.8L giving you a guild factor of 1.2.  If you were in your 20s, this board could be your SUP.  Mo Freitas's SUP typically were the same width as his surfboards (i.e gun), ~ 23".  When our surf gets junky and windy, conditions where light weights would use a 8' wavestorm, I use a 7'6" x 28.5" 110L L41 S5 SUP that is a similar relative guild factor for me 1.17.  A 10' x 23" x 4.2" prone longboard on my wish list will be of similar volume.
When I got into SUP is when I found I had more fun prone paddling a 8'10" x 30" Blair SUP (gf=1.4) than on a 9' x 23" Stewart CMP (gf=0.7).  Volume is your friend.  Blair is an interesting shaper where he can shape for older & heavier guys, packing volume into boards that perform well.  I have a 8'8" x 25" ~85L (gf=0.9) Blair Quad step up that paddles like a longboard.  With my height, I have no problem with the 25" width.  He puts a SUP handle in the board to make it easy to carry.

[Night Wing]

@ Badger

I've seen the wing foilers down at Quintana Beach and at Surfside Beach. They don't wing foil too close to the beach because I'm sure at some point, their wings have hit the unseen sandbars when the wind is up which turns the water in chocolate milk color. Once a foiler hits a sandbar the first time and the consequence of hitting that unseen sandbar, they know exactly where the sandbar is from then on. "Once burned, a lesson learned" moment.

I've also seen the wing foil videos for Quintana Beach and Surfside Beach. I can't wing foil because as you know, I have had both my right and left shoulder joints "surgically repaired".

One has to have "arm strength" to hold on to the bar to control the sail. If I tried to wing foil, on a good windy day where the wind speed is around 20 mph and gusting to near 27 mph, with my surgically repaired shoulders, I'm sure a gust of wind would come along and try to "yank the bar out of my hands on the bar".

I'm guessing the "yanking wind gust" would put lots of pressure on the scar tissue in both of my surgically repaired shoulder joints. The left shoulder joint was surgically repaired in 2002 and then my right shoulder joint was repaired in 2017.

The same surgeon did both of my shoulders. Since he knew I surfed, he told me to stick to longboard surfing which would be "easier on both of my repaired shoulders".

When I last saw my spinal surgeon in January of 2023, at that time I was 72 years old. He told me if I wanted to keep longboard surfing; since he himself surfed when he was younger and he knew my love for the water since I chose a procedure, if things went wrong which could have put me walking with crutches for a partially paralyzed right leg, or worse, being relegated to being in a wheel chair for the rest of my life because my right leg would have been totally paralyzed, to find a surfing pop-up which would be easy to do and put very little stress on my repaired spine.

My style of longboard surfing is what I call, "finesse surfing" or as the younger surfers call it, "boring". I like a long gliding ride of 200 yards where I stay out in front of the wave making slow lazy "S" shaped turns so the tail end of my longboard stays in touch with the wave.

All of my outdoor water activities, I play smart instead of hard. My way of longboard surfing  is best seen in this YouTube video from Flying Robot Movies. And since your now 66 years old, I think you could do this type of longboard surfing.

This video is best seen in 1080p HD (high definition) in full screen mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3bhDHLJAZA

[Night Wing]

A 10' x 23" x 4.2" prone longboard on my wish list will be of similar volume.

When you eventually get your longboard above, ask your shaper what fin, fin length and where to position the fin in the center fin box if you plan on using your board as a single fin setup.

If a single fin setup, take a look at a Donald Takayama "Halo" center in. They come in different lengths. If your board has multiple fin boxes, Halo fins also come in side bites and they also come in a set of quads.

The video below will explain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNoM2f7x8YA