My first ever surf SUP was an 11’2” x 30”, it was an easy choice back then. “What SUPs do you have in stock?”, “We have one, it’s an 11’2”, “I’ll have the 11’2” then.” I loved that board, it did everything I asked of it – catch waves while fumbling with a paddle, clichéd sunset paddles and most of all improved my strength and fitness by having to hump an eleven foot board around the beach! Life was simple; here was a sport I could thoroughly enjoy with just 2 bits of equipment, a board and a paddle.
I looked at my quiver of surfboards and windsurfers with the disdain of a newly born socialist intent on campaigning for a minimalist approach to surf sports. The one board fervour didn’t last long though, soon I’d convinced myself that I could go a little bit deeper on take off with a 9’8”, then it was a 9’0” to turn faster before settling on a 8’5” to really make things fun off the top. Of course I could have been dogmatic in my views and stuck to my first love, the 11’2”, but I would have missed out on a whole lot of progression. SUP shaping has advanced rapidly to meet the demand for more performance and we now have a market with a healthy maturity of shapes on offer. With more choice comes more challenge to pick the board or boards to meet your needs but in ‘plain speak’ I hope to aid the process.
