A turn on Speeed

If your ever wondering how to unlock the full potential of the Sunova Speed, check out these pics of a local ripper demoing the 7'3 this week.

Stomp, stomp, stomp on that tail pad!








Pics: Jasmine Fluhrer

Man, on a 7'3 I'd be more likely to step right off the back of the board. Better make sure that tail block is extra tall.

Yeah Marty rips!
7'3 is too small for him but it was the closest we had that suited and credit to him - he rode it for 3 or 4 days.
'I'm hurting all over' he said with a big grin on his face!

Select to expand quote

cantSUPenough said...
Nice photos!

The pad is not far away on a 7'3", but he is really ripping. Was he prone on the way out?

About 60/40 standing to prone paddle outs so far. Getting easier but will always be a challenge at 73L and 75kg. Toughest thing standing foam hopping and prone paddling through whitewash.

Select to expand quote

cantSUPenough said..
When you are out the back, do you lie prone and jump up with the wave approaching?

At my 97kg, I tried this summer a 84l 7'10"x 27 3/4" Imagine Impact, and I definitely could not stay upright more than 30s. Basically I had to be hyper-focused and as soon as my focus loosened, I fell. Thus trying to paddle around, then positioning to get a wave was too hard because the change of focusing would make me fall.

I then just lied prone and stood up when seeing a set approaching. This way I was continuously concentrated on making the wave and di not fall or miss a wave. Alas, once on the wave I was so mentally exhausted from the take off that I did not really surf better than with a bigger board...
But turning to get the wave was not an issue as long as my focus was not disrupted. You should practice.

Also, on very small board, you must put your front foot very close to the stringer, and away from the rail, as possible. Having the front foot close to the rail will bury it on takeoff. This may be your problem.

On flat summers, I sometime fought the boredom by trying to SUP my 70l 9'1"x22" surfboard. This is an excellent workout, exhausting and an excellent balance practice. I was very proud of me when I was able to be able to stand up for 10s, paddling furiously, only to hear a kid tell his mother: "look, the guy is so fat he sinks his board" :-)

Ive been "re-learning" last 2 months as i am on the 7'11 Speeed. 94l (im 80kg)
mates at local recon i look like a "cat on a tin roof", but i feel im getting better.
agree with all of above. if its not too choppy, or water moving or in our case at local reef break the water is bubbling round reef holes you can stand ok but you fatigue so quick. back leg burns so bad at the quad. i do some sort of leg and upper body training near every day but still fade out after a solid hour on the speeed, i can stretch out to 2-3hrs if waves are good and i sit down between.
Things i found with these narrow boards are:
-you cant paddle on knees, but rightly so as you should not if you are a real surfer. only kooks paddle on their knees. prone paddle
-getting up is a new skill to master on narrow boards. i do like funsurfn says, go from seated to upright via hands in pushup position, kicking rear leg around and under and front leg up in squat position. from there got to get up quick and get a stroke in or paddle in. got to keep nose up and climb out of water, nose down and its near over. getting way faster now, can get up and with about 3-4 strokes can be around and onto a wave. get ur front foot on stringer and rear foot back so semi surf stance (like colas says) and like funsurfn says they come around super quick and get gliding.
-the wide nose allows you to paddle onto a wave so efficiently, these things glide unreal especially for the size. better than any of my older larger boards with way more volume.
- feel of the speeed is between a high performance long board and a short board. when i say this i mean you can ride it like a long board and do some real nice drawn out turns to cut backs and feels nice in control, or you can race sections in middle of board and boy she can boogie, or you can get back and really drive the tail around like the pictures and movie of funsurfn does. I think this board still suits a reef break be it slow n sectioney or fast and hollow. have surfed it in long mellow reefs where you can move between middle of board to generate speed either on flatter sections or wall ups where you need to make it, then get back and nail some hacks. have also surfed some super hollow "you gotta make this or ur gonna get shredded on the table" waves and the speed belts thru and loves it. forehand or backhand feels real nice. hats off to Bert.
doesnt feel right for a beach break, tho have not found a board that does yet. maybe a hypernut or somethig super short would feel better but all sups at our local beacheys just feel cumbersome. i move to my shortboard if i surf those breaks. they are generally just drop in and get 1 hit so nothing missed or special anyhow.

still plenty of "angry" times when i kook it and fall getting up and miss a wave or fall on a chop spinning around, but then realise it is back on me as i have not moved my front foot to stringer and dug rail in, or not got my feet in right position, or fumbled with paddle to get that first stroke in.
challenges and preciseness, its what i like. otherwise id just buy a 10 foot soul and catch every wave and pee everyone off. (still contemplating one for fun days...)

Great comments guys! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks!

Select to expand quote

colas said..

CAUTION said..
doesnt feel right for a beach break, tho have not found a board that does yet.

In my experience, this is where the short length (7' or less) really has an advantage. You feel the board as a compact pinball ball under your feet rather that a "vessel" that you have to manage the pitch during the ride.

And you are right, the wide nose on short SUPs like the one on the speeed (that I have not specifically tried) brings an incredible stability on take off on short SUPs, and are not too cumbersome in turns if the board length is short enough, or if the nose is a tad pulled in rather than a full square nose.

Ive got a 7'10 Acid (81ltr) and its perfect for beachies. Its got a lot more rocker than the speeed and with the pointy nose it can make ridiculously late take offs and handles sucky waves well. It seems like its a lot shorter than it is. My last board was a 7'6 Vbox (square nose) and it would 'catch' a lot on late/sucky take offs or reos in sucky waves. The Acid is unreal how it handles these sort of waves. Also if u pump it it makes sections as fast as the speeed. Id say it would be harder to balance on than a speeed with the same volume due to the pulled in nose and tail ( Ive only tied the 92 ltr speeed), so there's always trade offs! But if u want a SUP that rips from 1ft to 6ft its a winner.

Select to expand quote

Traff said..
My last board was a 7'6 Vbox (square nose) and it would 'catch' a lot on late/sucky take offs or reos in sucky waves.

Yup, I find most of the "Tomo" SUP have a too wide nose.
A semi-wide in my experience gives you the best of both world: superb stability, but still a good paddling speed and you can commit all the rail in turns without catching a rail.

Select to expand quote

Lindz1510 said..

supthecreek said...
A guy in a Kook hat that rips!!!

...and keeps on ripping after not dying from skin cancer

Totally agree,,,Iindz .I wear a kook hat too,after years of nothing my skin is stuffing up ,went to the doc ,he said wear a hat or we'll start cutting .
whats wrong with a cowboy on a surfboard .

also great comments on riding 7.0 having just brought one myself ,It's a different world .the moves come easy on them too.Even though mine is not
the small literage of those mentioned .but you gotta start somewhere at 128 litre a 7.0 board is lots of fun .I can stand waiting for waves .most of the time.

Select to expand quote

chrisrum said...
Marty, you were all over it like a bad case of herpes on Monday. Every time I looked up you were laying back in the pocket like a man possessed. Riiiping on that Speeed.

Ha, froth o'clock. Tom's energy infectious. Would have had a lot more if you had your paddle with you as well. Your Eye Symetry looked sweet out there.
How many litres was your custom speeeed?

Heya Marty, 7'10 (longer, pointed nose), 83.5 litres. A little too big in retrospect. I have been riding an Acid at 78 litres and I could go down to 74 comfortably I think.