All sorts of questions come to mind. Would like to hear your experience.
Has anyone paddled the Exocet windsup? Sailed it? Foiled it?
For mushy sideoff Pacific waves that can sometimes be more than small, would a performance longboard be better than a nose rider? A wide tail?
How about an L41 with mast track?
Is length or width more important for ease of uphaul?
For waveriding, would narrower be better?
Would Sunova Style be much slower off the tail, than, say an L41ST size 8'10" or so? Or SP25 9 footer?
I have a Sealion wings from AHD.
It is a sup and a windsup. Not a beginner SUP for sure but very nice to use in the waves with a sail.
They are more agile than the competition so a bit more radical.
If you do not want a perfect windsup (if they exist) I'd recommend buying a second hand sup and putting a (long!) mastfoot rail in.
I can give you distances from the fin from my setup for reference.
With 90kg I use a Sealion Wings 8'6, Volume 130 L, Length 259 cm / Width 74cm
I am rookie supper, way to small for me. But for riding waves (I am a good windsurfer) it is very nice and fast. The difference between a 115 ltr freewave board and the sealion is huge. The sealion punches through the waves / white wash with no effort. Much harder with the 115. Though when the wind picks up (>18kn) you do not want to be on the sealion.
When you use a board with a sail the sail provides a lot of stability so you can go for a more narrow board so you have more speed and punch through the waves easier. I stand on it with ease with a sail, with a paddle I cannot if there are small waves.
I used to sail my sunova 8'5 speed until I got rid of it, but mostly used it for sup. It was way stabler for uphauling than a waveboard, but still a little tippy. I can't uphaul a normal waveboard at all. Also I could go upwind pretty well in light air even with stock thruster fins. Wave riding was just ok, definitely too much tail rocker and slow turns but it gives you something to do if it's too windy to sup but too light to wavesail. The width can really put a lot of force on the mast in any kind of bigger surf or crush your foot.
You can basically have a board thats good at sup, but it won't be ideal for windsurf but can still get you out there riding waves. Or a better windsup that you can paddle but won't surf that great. I think the exocet boards would be a safe option if your main focus is sailing, and flat water or small wave paddling.
At one point all sunovas over 8' came with a mast track and its a pretty solid install, I'm not sure about putting a track in a custom board unless it was SMIK or someone with a windsurf background, and I'm sure SMIK could make a sup with less tail rocker for windsurf if you talked to them.
Select to expand quoteslsurf said..
I used to sail my sunova 8'5 speed until I got rid of it, but mostly used it for sup. It was way stabler for uphauling than a waveboard, but still a little tippy. I can't uphaul a normal waveboard at all. Also I could go upwind pretty well in light air even with stock thruster fins. Wave riding was just ok, definitely too much tail rocker and slow turns but it gives you something to do if it's too windy to sup but too light to wavesail. The width can really put a lot of force on the mast in any kind of bigger surf or crush your foot.
You can basically have a board thats good at sup, but it won't be ideal for windsurf but can still get you out there riding waves. Or a better windsup that you can paddle but won't surf that great. I think the exocet boards would be a safe option if your main focus is sailing, and flat water or small wave paddling.
At one point all sunovas over 8' came with a mast track and its a pretty solid install, I'm not sure about putting a track in a custom board unless it was SMIK or someone with a windsurf background, and I'm sure SMIK could make a sup with less tail rocker for windsurf if you talked to them.
I know nothing about windsurfing, I have a Speeed 9'2, any idea what type of sail would go good with it?
I use a 4,9 meter 4 batten wave sail.
You need something that gives enough pressure to get through the waves, then you'll want as small and light as possible to ride the waves back in. With light winds (8-10 knots) you probably want something bigger.
Sea lion work rather well, but if you can find an older Exocet thruster without centerboard that would be my pick.
SMIK does a Mongrel Wind/Sup, F-One has a Papenoo, i think also some Starboard Hypernut have a windsurf option and afaik all have a flatter, faster rocker (for windsurfing). The Sealion too.
All the above mentioned boards are rather short, narrow stubby/fish shapes to enhance turning despite the flatter rocker lines.
Any longer/wider/classic shapes with these rockers would be quite stiff for turning.
I had a custom board with the shape of the Papenoo 7'11, just a little thicker to get it to 130 liters. (Before that i had an AHD Sealion XL)
Quite a nice board for both windsup and wavesup, but i focused more on supsurfing and changed it to a 8'6 Quatro Glide to get more glide/speed for the takeoffs and also more stability in choppy conditions. The Quatro Glide SUPs have a windsurfoption too, but are not specifically designed for windsurfing.
The Quatro is fun to windsup too but hasn't the accerlation on a wave like the Papenoo-shape had.
I had a Hypernut, I wouldn't choose it again. Lots of drag and kind of weird on a wave.
I forgot to mention actually the speed with the parallel rails has a really nice glide in light wind for cruising around. Sail size depends on your weight and wind strength, beginners usually learn on smaller sails. If you haven't windsurfed do yourself a favor and take a lesson or two before wasting any money on equipment, you can learn the basics in a day easily for light wind sailing but without a lesson it will take much longer and be frustrating especially on a surf sup.
Hi Billekrub,
I've got an Exocet 11'8" which I mainly use to windsurf in offshore winds at local beach.
It's a big board and best session Ive ever had was at local surf beach about 8 - 10 knots cross shore with shoulder high sets using 5 batten 7.5m and centerboard was handy to crank upwind to the takeoff spot. Being a big board, you had to stomp on the rail to turn but still awesome fun. Its also fun in marginal onshore, and first board that I supped in waves. In terms of supping it will catch anything but moved to smaller surf shape board.
I used to wave sail dtl Taranaki before having family so understand how to ride the wave and so many variables to have the ultimate board for you and the conditions that you sail in.
When my mate got hooked on foiling I brought his Kona 10'5" (no centerboard) and I've had great sessions on that in 15-20 knots cross - onshore and head high plus sets, with the step tail they sail like a much shorter board. Great back hand turns but front side bottom turns you had big nose to get around.
If I was living in Taranaki I would like to try the Sealion but then Smik would be best choice of custom board 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and sharing your experience. Too much length could be wasted since the sail makes it easier to catch waves. Too narrow while faster and more maneuverable, rules out paddling. No need to be planing when focusing on light wind wave riding. Probably better to surf the waves with little sail assistance and use the sail only to get around. Then one gets a board that surfs better. Would be good to use carbon extensions which can snap instead of an alloy extension which would penetrate the board deck. Better to get a performance shape rather than a nose riding shape to be faster riding the tail in softer surf. Smik is one source that understands windsurfing.
Select to expand quotebillekrub said..
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and sharing your experience. Too much length could be wasted since the sail makes it easier to catch waves. Too narrow while faster and more maneuverable, rules out paddling. No need to be planing when focusing on light wind wave riding. Probably better to surf the waves with little sail assistance and use the sail only to get around. Then one gets a board that surfs better. Would be good to use carbon extensions which can snap instead of an alloy extension which would penetrate the board deck. Better to get a performance shape rather than a nose riding shape to be faster riding the tail in softer surf. Smik is one source that understands windsurfing.
I use a surfbent, it is a ring around the base of the mast.
Designed for board protection during windfoiling.
I use it on the sup too as it protects the board and your feet.
It does not work with cardan mast bases and those Duotone extensions with a integrated ratchet system.
