Hi
I am a fairly experienced surfer, riding short boards for over 25 years now but have never tried SUP. I have never got into long boards and mals because I have always wanted to do tight radius turns and surf as radically as possible in a way that short boards allow. Now I am getting older, less fit and not catching as much waves as I used to. Line ups are getting more crowded and competitive and the surfs not always that good.
My next short board will have more volume, I'm not going to stop surfing shortboards when the surf is really good but I am basically wondering if I should get into performance mals or SUP? I would like to get more waves and yet still surf in a style as similar to what I would on my shortboards. I know that I would get more waves on both but wondering:
What can be surfed more radically, SUP or mini mals or performance mals?
Will my skills on a shortboard translate over to a SUP board in the waves or is it a different beast and not comparable?
If you have surfed short boards for years and now SUP, I would like to hear what you think about SUP compared to surfing performance mals and even short boards and what gives you the best stoke for hours spent in the water??? I have spoken to a couple of guys in surf shops and they have written SUP off and said I should get a performance mal but I am also aware that SUP is not that popular amongst alot of surfers... If you surf, let me know your thoughts on SUP...
Im 5'8" and 80kg, if I was to get into SUP, what length board and width should I go?
Your feedback welcome
Ive surfed short boards since i was 12. i was a competent short boarder, surfed all over wa. i lived to surf. in my early thirties i needed an anterior cerviacal fusion, or in laymans terms i had my spine fused from the c3 vertebrae. this was in part caused by a surfing accident. in my mid thirties i found myself overweight, injured and time poor due to increasing work commitments and lack of mobility from the surgery. i could no longer ride my favourite boards. my magic board a rusty 6.4 that i rode on anything up to eight foot just got too small. As surfing became harder i surfed less but still pined for the surfing stoke. i refused to ride a mal so i experimented with just about every board design under the sun. i had oversize nuggets shaped, i tried fun guns, i rode my rhino chaser in small waves due to its increased volume. i tried big twins, thrusters, quads and even a five fin pig that was supposed to give me the same ride as my magic rusty. a decade later, i was surfing less and less as none of these boards felt the same as, or allowed me to surf as freely as my 5.10 to 6.4 shorties i rode. finally i aquieced and had a couple of mals shaped. catching waves with the mals was easier but every movement and manouver was like a slow motion version of what guys were doing on their short boards. it also meant that i was sitting at the same line ups with the younger guys who could now well and truly outsurf and out paddle me. line ups that were semi secret in the 70,s and 80,s now had 50 to 100 surfers competing and jostling for waves and try as i might i just could not get enough waves on these breaks. in frustration i stopped surfing for a couple of years. at this stage i thought that my surfing life was over. as i guy who had lived to surf i felt a huge loss, but i just couldnt see how i could stil enjoy surfing given how hard it was all getting. 12 months ago the lovely wife decided she was sick of me moping around all day and reminded me of how much more fun i was when i surfed every day. she did some research and bought me a naish mana 10 footer. at first i told her to take it back to the shop. there was no way a surfer was going to paddle around on a sup. in spite of not being on a board for two years and not having surfed well for more than decade before that, i still felt that snobbery about riding anything other than a shorty. my wife being the subtle angel that she is reminded me that i was now 30 kg heavier than when she met me, and that if i didnt want to surf the mana i should at least paddle the damn thing and lose some weight. and thus began a new chapter in my surfing life. i realised that for the past 15 years i had ben trying to regain the stoke of my twenties and early thirties. physically given age surgery and weight that was never going to happen. unfortunately having once been very good at surfing meant that i coudlnt meet my own expectations of how i should surf and how it should feel. for me from the earl thirties my short board surfing declined. i would never be as good as i was then and thats why i searched for a way to relive my best days when naturally those days were over. had i not injured my back and neck, i think the decline in ability would have ben more gradual and probably more graceful. my first play on a mana was a mixed affair. i paddled for a while fell off twice then paddled some more. while unfit, fat and out of practice, a surfers balance makes paddling on a sup pretty easy, and the mana is about as forgiving a sup as you will find. i paddle into a 12 inch ripple legs parrallel, the board immediately takes off and im thrown straigt off. all morning i paddle into little waves and all morning im thrown off the back. finally i figure to get into surf stance, and catch small barely breaking waves 50 to 80 metres down the beach. ive never had so much fun on tiny waves. i go home excited and stoked, because this sup thing is different enough from surfing so i have no preconceived notions of how it should feel, yet close enough to surfing to figure out the basics like a good bottom turn, trimmong the board etc. i went home babbling to the wife about the amazing waves id ridden, before i realised i was frothing at riding ankle high ripples. every opportunity i get im now on my sup. its different enough to ensure tt you need to learn how to do it well. this means that i am getting better at it all the time. it also means i can find waves and breaks that are unrideable on short boards and mals or have an absolute hoot at name breaks when its too small for other surf craft. i have now amassed quite a quiver and am alternating between my trusty mana, a cabrihna 9.8 and an all wave 9.6. compared to many of the guys on this forum im probably a gumby, yet every day i wake up chafing at the bit to go out and get better at sup. is it as good as pulling into supertubes on a 6.8 aloha, or racing the barrel at jakes on custom 6.6 with pig dog channels. probably not. however its different enough and new enough to give this ageing, greying, fat bastard a stoke that he hasnt felt in decades. if youve been or still are agood surfer, going to a mal will frustrate you. its too close to your short board minus the manouverability. youll catch waves easier, but do less on them. a sup requires a different learning curve, and provides more possibilities. keep your short boards for those epic days, use your sup for the others. also the sup fraternity are generally the most mellow and welcoming people in the water. st your weight id look at a mana 9.5 or an allwave 9.2 or 9.6.
Good luck
YES, but then again it depends if you like paddling and sitting, or catching heaps of waves. 
Mate, it's a no brainer really.
Everybody that does Sup will tell you they love it cause it is so much fun.
There is something special about standing up on the board as opposed to lying down. It will be a new challenge for you and it shouldn't take long to get a grip off as you mentioned you are an experienced surfer.
When the waves are crap just go for a flat water paddle. I have been flat water paddling for 10 months and just love it. Today I got my first Sup for the surf and can't wait to get back put there as I haven't surfed since 1995.
Just do it. Good luck and keep us posted.
Do it (but don't tell all your friends)
Similiar story to your self but a little older.
Got into SUP surfing about 5 months ago and love it (the shortboard has been very dry). I have small windows of oppurtunity to get to the beach and know that i will get waves even when very small and full and even with not great banks you still have alot of fun. When the waves are good ther always an uncrowed bank up the beach.
Also demo has many boards has you can you will advance fast with your experience, you could pretty short IMO. (I'm 97kg and 6'1 and ride and 8'5 with 126lt).
Have fun
Supn does your shortboarding many favours with timing balance and fitness.
I love riding my shortie a couple of times a month but get more satisfaction riding my Sup or paddling up the coast on a hot flat afternoon.
Theyre good fun - if you can ride a shortie you will be surprised at how "radically" a SUP will surf if you get the right board and fin set up - if thats what you want to do.
But remeber to ride your shorty every now and then - they feel like riding an icecream stick with no fins after a SUP.
Mals are for old fat blokes !![}:)]
why the hell not, all youve got to loose is your credibility[}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]
just joking on the cred thing.
I think you should start off looking at a board like the Naish 9.5" Mana and once you've got the hang of things (may take a few months) then look at something like the Naish 9'5" Hokua.
I paddle around Elwood/St Kilda most days so if you want to catch up one day just PM me.. I can arrange some demo's for you.
DJ
Nope it will take all your spare money!!! And once the addiction takes hold one is never enough just like a true addict ...
Shortboard as long as you can, but it is a brilliant option once you get older, slower etc. It's saved my sanity. Most of the really good guys are supping boards way shorter than Mals! Therefore you can see a lot more vertical in their surfing than the Mal riders and a good barrel rider will find a way inside no matter what they are riding. Give it a shot you'll be either pleasantly surprised with the challenge of becoming good at it or say it sux and join one of the mindless!!
Hey waveripper get into in mate, best thing you will ever do. I have an unusual surfing background but have ridden shorties on and off for nearly 40 years and ended up having a gutful of crowds, ordinary waves and dare I say it, mal riders hogging the sets when the surf was small.
Despite what some people might tell you, a lightweight shortboard sup will surf not too dissimilar to a shortboard and is actually better for generating speed in most surf that we get here in Sydney anyways.
The biggest surprise for me is how awesome they are for big stuff particularly reefs and bombies. You can ride stuff that is very hard to paddle into and infact some of the tow guys here have gotten right into standup. The other surprising thing with the small sups is that you can ride mega sucky shallow stuff such as ledging reef breaks - which we have a lot of here. I find I can ride all the same difficult waves on sup that I could on my shorty, and you can still pull in as well - although harder on backhand.
Then there is the whole down wind thing which is a whole other world of fun. In short it is freaken awesome.
Thanks heaps for your responses guys. Ive enjoyed reading some of your stories and experiences which just confirms to me that I think SUP will be alot of fun and will be a fantastic option alongside riding my shortboards when the waves are pumping. Cheers Guys, I am going to demo a few boards in flat water and will ask about the Naish Mana about a 9'5". Awesome, thanks guys : )
ps. I wont go into crowded line ups until I know what I am doing on a SUP and have plenty of control on it and even then I would imagine that the only crowded lineups you would go into are ones that are predominantly filled with mals. I reckon I might have a ball on a SUP but reckon that the guys on shortboards would not find you too popular. Not that I really care, I reckon you would just spend a bit of time on each spot and paddle off to another one and whilst you are there let some good waves roll by you...
Ummm yep get one, its the same but different. I could count on one hand the number of times I have surfed in the last 18 months. Im loving the SUP and Im yet to meet anyone, except for one bloke, that doesn't love it. I have now discovered racing boards and that has opened up a whole new world.
You have to demo the Starboard 9-5 wide point its a rocking little toy.
Mate, what some aren't getting is it's ALL surfing. I reckon SUP is an extension of my overall experience as a surfer. After 30 odd years of riding a short board it starts to feel a little stale. Sure you get the odd days where the stars align, the crowds for some reason vanish and you score an epic session but those days are to few and far between. Most of the time it's a frustrating drive up and down the coast ending in a pathetic grovel at my local.
These days I've got an almost overwhelming choice of boards to get me pumped in almost any conditions from an 8'10 shortboard style board that is fun in a 2 foot beachie or a 6 foot point break up to a 14' downwinder for offshore paddling when the wind is over 20 knots and you are literally surfing the entire coast. There are some great people involved in this sport, people with incredible knowledge of the ocean from a wide variety of backgrounds (surfing, life saving, sail boarding, kite surfing, outrigger, K1, triathlon etc etc)making SUP a real focal point for people who have dedicated their lives to the ocean who are willing to share their knowledge with others who share the love of the sport.
The question shouldn't be "should I get into SUP" but "why wouldn't I get into SUP"
Be prepared to increase your water time in multiples.
Be prepared to get nothing done at home.
The opportunities to hit the water come far more regularly.
Those early feelings when you first stood and surfed a wave will come back.
But don't tell your mates.
Don't stuff round with 9/5 if your a surfer go the 8/5 range go through the pain a few days and start ripping unless you like the mal style surfing then go bigger
Shortboarder getting into SUP?
Here's an article all about it ...
www.seabreeze.com.au/Articles/Stand%20Up%20Paddle/From-Shortboard-to-Stand-Up-Paddle_4230649.aspx
Go as long as possible as its totally different to surfing.
Get the biggest ugliest sup you can find and learn how to sup that. Then if you like it go down in size over a period of time. Too many crew go out and buy a small sup and give it up cause they see someone riding one and think its easy. plus a bigger sup will make it more fun. Supin sucks when you go to small to quick.
I reckon nothing under 10ft to start off with. Ring TSJ from Laguna Bay. He's done the whole shortboard and sup thing.
