Laird 11' 6' Soft top or Randy French 11' 6' Soft top?

[midwestnowaves]

Which'd be better for a beginner in calm, flat water (lake in the good ol Midwest)? I'm 6'2, 185 pounds.

Any advice is much appreciated.

[Old School]

I haven't tried the Laird 11'6", although I'm demoing the Laird 12'1" tomorrow.

The French softtop 11'6" is a HUGE board.  The minivan of boards.  5.25 or 5.5 inches thick.   I weigh 250, and it floated me and my 50 pound kid like we weren't there. 

Definitely try the Laird, but the French will be very forgiving, especially at your weight.  I thought about getting one after I rented one for three days, but my concerns were a) it's so big I'd get bored with it, and b) personally, I think it's ugly.  If it wasn't brown it would have a better chance of winning me over.  I like to make fun of the French, but it was a very fun three days, and perfect for me as a beginner.  I just don't want to be a beginner forever. 

Hope that helps. 

[caseyg]

The French is a much better board for a beginner, especially at 250lbs.  I have the 10'6 version (238Liters) and I use it any time I take new people out for a lesson.  Its an extremely stable platform to learn on.  The Laird is a great board too, but its not near as stable, at least not for me, when I rented on for the day.

I have a buddy who is 6'4 and 270lbs and I put him on the Laird 11'6 (at our local demo day) and he was in the water constantly.  I then put him on the 11'6 French and he never feel in again the rest of the time on the lake.  He bought it that day, and hasn't looked back.

I don't think there is a better board on the market for a new beginner than the two Randy French boards.  Most places sell them for around $995.  My dealer had a deal out here for $899 with a Surftech carbon paddle.  Tough to beat that.  The best part is, some day you might want to graduate up to a nicer board.  Either of these will make great back up boards to loan to friends or family to use.  Since they are Surftech Softops, they can take a beating.

[Old School]

Finally took the plunge today - bought a 11'6" French softop.

Demo for the 12'1" Laird fell through.

Went elsewhere and demoed a 10" Naish Manu (didn't have a 10'5" in stock) and established that 210 liters is not a big enough board for me on flatwater - although it would probably be a fun first surfing board if I ever try it.  Board and paddler both struggled balance wise, but at least it was forgiving.  Would have loved to try the 10'5", but oh well. 

Also demoed a Doyle 11' - also not big enough.  Would have loved to try the 12', but alas, not in stock.

Lastly tried the Naish 12" Glide.  Nice board, a little out of my price range, and a little hard for me to control.

So the French it is.  $800 brand new.  Picked it up and got it wet in the Elizabeth River this evening, before the hurricane blows by tomorrow.  Hope to be back in the water Saturday morning. 

[jlapp]

I also tried out the French 11'6" and the 10'6" this weekend.  I found both boards to be pretty stable at my weight 210 lbs.  I did get over confident on the 10"6' and ended up in the water.

The big board feels so stable and great, it makes you feel like you already know how to do this sport, and I really like that.  The smaller board is appealing as there is much more feed back, your a bit more connected to the water somehow.

I had the same experience with the 12' C4 Pohaku vs the 11'.

I would really love to get the 11'6 french and the 12' C4 Pohaku side by side to try out, does anyone have an preference for either of these?  Performance/durability/etc?

[Rdubach]

Just out of curiosity, why the soft top limitation?  I have been SUP'ing for about 2 years now and have tried a few soft tops and I can not for the life of me figure out why people go for them.  They still feel like a plank hit you if you get hit with them and they generally cost as much to get one that will not break in the surf or with too many people on them.  I would just get an extra deck pad on a regular board and call it your soft top.   

[jlapp]

Soft top.... that's a good question I guess because we have a little dog that likes us to paddle him around like we are on duck patrol...

However, I was not aware that the soft tops were structurally weaker?

I dream of surfing it, but in reality I'm a ways away from that.

To be honest those are two of the highest volume boards I've found that don't cost $2k, which I've felt comfortable on.  I am certainly open for suggestions as by nature I am some what of a gear geek (like knowing about the equipment as much as I enjoy using it), but financially I'm not able to satiate that part of me.  Plus my wife, daughter and friends have the stoke now too, so better to have a couple of $1k boards that one $2k board in my eyes!

To be honest until we tired the French boards the girls loved the Liquid Shredder board best, and despite my feeling that they are ugly and cheap looking, they really are a stable/comfortable board. Heck I could almost by three of those for the cost of a bark expedition or coast runner, which are my favorite boards I've never tried.

[Rdubach]

Generally speaking, if the price tag is lower on a soft top it means the construction is a serious question mark.  Any soft top worth purchasing for stability will end up costing you almost the same amount as a good stand up.  The problem that happens is called de-lamination.  The best way to think of it is the flex point of the board (typically where you stand).  If the board bounces then there is a significant amount of flex.  The constant movement or bounce  overtime will cause the epoxy or glass mold to become brittle and eventually crack.  No bueno.

Dog + nails + Soft top = disaster.  The dog will destroy the soft top.  I think your best bet would be to put a solid deck pad on your board where you stand, then cut one up in little triangles and put it all the way up to the nose (doggy traction). 

As far as recommendations, I have paddled a Coreban Cruiser 11'6 with a 215 liter volume which was ample enough for me to paddle around my wife (125lbs) laying on the deck and myself (175lbs).  With a 40lb dog I could have surfed it.  They run about 1,350-1,450 I think.  Which is steeper than you want to go, but they publish their construction on their site and it's pretty great. Better to buy one great board than two crappy boards in my opinion.

For the family, I would suggest getting some inflatables as the pricing point is cheaper and kids can jump on them without hurting themselves   

You have to have at least one quality board in the mix though

[jlapp]

Definitely food for thought..  I was really thinking I was honing in on THE board too.

Thanks for your input and recommendation though, it's much appreciated.