I currently ride a 10'8 and am looking to take my surfing to the next level. Do you transition easy with a 9'5 Naish Mana which at 190 litres offers additional stability or do you push yourself for more performance from a PSH 9'6 WR? at 135 litres? Also does less volume generally mean more performance?
my opinion go to the 135 ltr board if it floats ya all right, and yes to the second question, no doubt, and if you can afford to keep the 10 8
I am 6'2 and 85kgs - should be ok to float me from what I have heard, am testing a 9'3 WR this weekend and will be testing a 9'6 soon, I hope.
85kgs, if you have been on a sub for a bit i dont think you will have any trouble with the smaller board, good luck with the testing
I have just dropped down from an 11foot board to a 9'6 PSH WAA and did it all in 3 days. It was like starting over again on the shorter board but within a few hours you get the hang of it. Had the death wobbles for the first day and by the 3rd had a 2 hour session with only one fall. My body is sore all over but I am loving the shorter board. So much so I am picking up a my new 9'6 tomorrow morning.
I am 6foot and 93kgs so you should have no worries.
Cheers Scott
I went from an 11'2" Starboard to an 8'11" custom. No transition. No worries. Everything was so much better from day one.
I did have a crap session in a lumpy cross chop that would have been less difficult on a bigger board.
I did have a fair amount of experience trying out the various production boards before I got my custom. They were not particularly difficult in decent conditions. The custom is way better than the production boards.
I ride an 8'6" x 28.5" x 4" and have just ordered a 8'2" x 28.5" x 4". That's going to be challenging but I reckon that's a good thing for increasing your performance. The new one is going to be just under 100 litres and I'm 84kg. Worst case scenario is I'll have to lose a few more kilos!
Go for the challenging option!
Hmm. I have a similar dilemma. I am currently riding a Naish 9'5" mana which I love and plan to hang onto, but would like something smaller.
Thanking of getting either the new 9' Hokua when it hits our shores, or even the 8'11", but wonder if the latter may be too much of a leap (I'm 6'2" and 85kg).
Perhaps SUP8383 should think about the 9' Mana. It's 140 litres so plenty of volume but small enough for you to feel the difference and challenge you. I'm tempted with that option, but worry it's too close to my 9'5" to warrant keeping both.
appreciate the advice. one drawback from dropping down a few sizes is that you don't have a good excuse for another new board in a years time.
Definitely push yourself... I only started a few months back.. gone from a huge board to a 9'9 mano to a 9'3 naish hokua.. And now i am waiting for a custom 8'11.. its cost me $$$$ every time .. I would suggest bypass the 9'6 WR and grab something smaller but still with a bit of width.. 30".. it will only take a few days to get the hang of it.. At 95kgs I had no problem adjusting to the 9'3..
but if you can afford to turn your boards over in 6 months it's the way to go. I think the PSH 9-6WR is a pretty good choice and then from there in a few months go a sub 9 custom 
In my opinion you don't really have to go small (in litres) to gain performance. I have recently had a coupla surfs on a 9.5 Mana and it has every bit as much performance in the surf as pretty much any board I have surfed between 9 and 10 ft. Litreage isn't something to be afraid of and you should ignore the numbers and just try the different boards. To give you an idea - I surfed this morning with a mate who was on a sup with 40litres less volume than what I was riding. We swapped over and his board felt much less stable (but still fine) but most certainly didn't perform any better than what I had been riding. Both boards were around 9 1/2 ft and had similar dimensions other than the volume (litres).
I went from a 9'8 *board to 9'0 Coreban fusion I use the small quad fins and around 88kg - took 4 surfs to get use to the lack of paddling direction with the quad set up - admittedly its quite high volume for a 9ft board -the thing but great fun in any size wave I have managed to surf it in so far from knee to overhead and are super floaty over white water. well worth a try out if you get the chance. Looking forward to checking out the 8'5" x 28 cause I do feel like something shorter would be good to get the back foot on the tail easier
I'm 95kgs and am on a 7'10" board..ok its quite wide but to be fair standing and paddling is really easy. I have to be honest and say I haven't had it in any waves of substance just some knee high rubbish but still found it very manageable.
I also stuggle with justifying financing new boards but know that one board won't do all, conditions and moods vary. I think you'll be fine moving down the sizes though. In fact I think you'll surprise yourself.
