Anyone experienced these new designs? I'm thinking of making a board for sup surfing and the new narrow designs seem very popular now, I like the idea of getting good board speed to get on foil. how stable are they to stand on and paddle on to foil. I have a SMIK 9'2"x29" 124L surf sup which gets tricky in chop, not sure how the smaller size boards would fair.
never tried sup foiling so have no idea of how the foil set up affects the stability.
all advice appreciated.
thanks.
I have read a report on the Gong forum. In French, but with Google Translate it should be readable:
www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=15411&start=15#p171247
Basically:
- The guy says it is not too hard on this 19" board... but he was already using a 24" wide board. Coming from a 29" will be quite a step.
- It is tricky to get up, especially with chop, but once standing up it is not too bad
- Surprisingly, it is the for/aft balance which is the hardest. The thin tips are designed to go through water without drag so they do not restrict the rocking motions
- I asked him on Facebook if the foil was stabilizing the board with speed, so that may paddling a bit to give the board some speed made it easier to get up, he said it didn't seem to make a lot of difference.
In my experience of SUP foil (but not with these boards), the foil reduces the stability at first, as it is pushed around by all the water movements. But with practice, it becomes the opposite, you learn to use the foil for balance.
I have read a report on the Gong forum. In French, but with Google Translate it should be readable:
www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=15411&start=15#p171247
Basically:
- The guy says it is not too hard on this 19" board... but he was already using a 24" wide board. Coming from a 29" will be quite a step.
- It is tricky to get up, especially with chop, but once standing up it is not too bad
- Surprisingly, it is the for/aft balance which is the hardest. The thin tips are designed to go through water without drag so they do not restrict the rocking motions
- I asked him on Facebook if the foil was stabilizing the board with speed, so that may paddling a bit to give the board some speed made it easier to get up, he said it didn't seem to make a lot of difference.
In my experience of SUP foil (but not with these boards), the foil reduces the stability at first, as it is pushed around by all the water movements. But with practice, it becomes the opposite, you learn to use the foil for balance.
Thanks for the information, appreciate it.