Read a interesting article from the Peter Hart's web site on SUP's for light wind wave sailing.
Been thinking about getting one for a while now and I must say after reading the article I'm convinced that it will open a whole other world of sailing / wave riding between too windy for surfing and not enough wind for a regular wave board. Well worth a read....
Any recommendations on which board will suit?http://www.windsurf.co.uk/wave-riding-the-long-sup-of-it/
Hi Dungbeetle,
Inresting article
This guy www.caloundrawindandsurf.com.au/ give him a bell to find out more.
The rocker line, flat spot and step tail and key to allow the board to plane as well as turn. Most sups convert to windsups won't plane for this reason, not that there is anything wrong with this but if you want like the option to hook in a blast into the break or reef or go somewhere they are a bit slower. Then on the flip side most windsup aren't that get in the waves. Cap n Kirk has unlocked a sweet concept for his local break though and do the same with a different board on the sunshine coast.
Thanks for the advice,
I'll give this fella a ring.I suppose wave sailing will be the priority over actually plaining but will have a bit of a dig around and see what the general consensus is.
Dungbeetle depends a bit on what you want to do? I'm still Sup racing my old second hand 12'6 and having a ball on it in the surf when its light. Depending on your size and ability to throw around a big board something around 10' gives you the option of still being able to SUP. Other wise if its a dedicated light wind wave ripper go for something a bit smaller with good wave-sup cred'.
Good drawn out tail rocker gives ok speed by sailing it off the tail and setting a bottom turn. Moving your feet around and shifting weight to tail turn it off the top whilst timing it to come down with the foam on the tail so as not to nose dive takes a bit of practice.
Just remember to mother it as most SUP's are not built for planing as such and getting treated like a real sailboard. That said I give mine heaps in the surf as well as on the drag strip 
. Either way you will have a hoot and increase your time on he water, sure beats paddling them
Enjoy!!!
I have a Fanatic Allwave sup and its great fun in the waves. CKs video gives a good idea of what to expect. I've stopped using the paddle.
I hate paddling in the surf. It sucks getting through the break, much easier when you've got a sail to lean against. Even with small sails its much faster than the paddle and hence catching a wave is super easy. Once on the wave fun begins. It's right at home with up to 10knts of wind and waist high waves. If you're a wave sailor then I would say it won't be exciting. If you are into flatwater, it's a great way to start and you'll be right at home. I've found it easier than surfing with the paddle.
I've tried to ride it on flat water in strong wind just to see. It felt all wrong. Though you can get it on the plane, feels to draggy, slow and nothing like the vid above with me riding it.
What size sails are you guys putting on your Sups?
I am wanting to put a complete rig on mine (11'4" Naish Nalu). Haven't windsurfed since 2001 but **** it looks good fun on a Sup.
Hey Hendo,
I have a Naish 11'6" Nalu for just mucking around on and have used a 6.2 wave sail on it and was sweet. Also put a 4.7 Zone on it to help teach my daughter to windsurf. Still worked fine. Still got to try the JP 10'2' x 32" with a sail on it.
You can cruise around, check out reefs and still have fun catching waves. Best of worlds.
Enjoy.
Select to expand quoteHendo84 said..
What size sails are you guys putting on your Sups?
I am wanting to put a complete rig on mine (11'4" Naish Nalu). Haven't windsurfed since 2001 but **** it looks good fun on a Sup.
5.8, 6.2, depends how light it is, all relative to ones size strength and skill along with how well the sup glides. if your smaller most wll get away with a 5.3, 4.7. Either way it's a he'll of a lot easier than what we used back in the day on a heavy one design with a hanky for a sail and a wobbly teak boom/ uni.
I use an old blue and white starboard 9'8 and a 5.5ish sail - I don't think you need anything bigger - back strap & front on the wave riding side - if you can get your hands they'd be pretty cheap these days - I highly recommend it.
****load of fun in 10-15 knt cross off. Planes like its got a bucket hanging off the back - but its surprisingly good to bottom and top turn - just scary in the closeout with so much board in front of you
theres some old 2011 footage from Dave Lane (around 2.00min -3.00 min mark) www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/South-Australia/Kurt-gets-more-waves-than-his-dad-the-movie/
Get out there and enjoy it
Cheers guys. I was thinking in the vicinity of 5.4 - 6.0. I'm 94kg and 6'1".
Now to find a cheap rig setup.
Select to expand quoterussh said..
I use an old blue and white starboard 9'8 and a 5.5ish sail - I don't think you need anything bigger - back strap & front on the wave riding side - if you can get your hands they'd be pretty cheap these days - I highly recommend it.
****load of fun in 10-15 knt cross off. Planes like its got a bucket hanging off the back - but its surprisingly good to bottom and top turn - just scary in the closeout with so much board in front of you
theres some old 2011 footage from Dave Lane (around 2.00min -3.00 min mark) www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/South-Australia/Kurt-gets-more-waves-than-his-dad-the-movie/
Get out there and enjoy it
How come they dont plain?
Select to expand quoteWA71 said..russh said..How come they dont plain?
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Get out there and enjoy it
I could be wrong but i think it is because they're very rockered and small fins with a really wide tail - they do plane but not "comfortably"
Select to expand quoterussh said..WA71 said..russh said..How come they dont plain?
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Get out there and enjoy it
I could be wrong but i think it is because they're very rockered and small fins with a really wide tail - they do plane but not "comfortably"
That would sound right, too much rocker slows things up. Same on surfboards. I thought SUPs had less rocker as a rule??
Say one was wanting to get into windsurfing. Would I gain the same skills from SupSailing as say from sailing a funster/other beginner board?
If I can use the board to SUP and Sail, that's excellent value, right? Someone tell me I'm right.
I have a bic jungle 11.4and it's a great learner board and does plane well with a 7 m sail in 18 pluswinds. It's fun in small waves with a 5 m sail too. No tight cutties or snaps but puts a smile on my face.its not a performance sup by any means, only slight tail rocker helps it plane and volume means you can put your kid up front. More useful than a fat learner board you will outgrow in 6 months
, my 12'6" has heaps of rocker indicated by how far the nose is off the water at full speed as shown in my vid above. I was getting average speeds of over 30 knots so guess this would indicate that you can get them on the plane. Smaller SUP's would surely be easier. Peak speed was 34 knots, I had a Ka wave fin with the side fins out, no foot straps, 6.6 Koncept, ..... And a weight jacket
Select to expand quoteSuperPoop said..
Say one was wanting to get into windsurfing. Would I gain the same skills from SupSailing as say from sailing a funster/other beginner board?
If I can use the board to SUP and Sail, that's excellent value, right? Someone tell me I'm right.
Agree, you will gain valuable skills if you persist and make up for the short comings of a SUP's windsurf-ability. Hence getting it on the plane and flying off the tail. The surf ones with heaps of rocker like my one carve gybe easily once you get it dialed in.
When you get on a short board you will have skills that will help for sure and make riding them feel easier some what. As Tony Wynhoven mentioned in the Quickly Go Mad movie, ~us older crew who learnt on old heavy massive difficult gear, learnt to compensate for it to get the most out of it at the time. This ability transferred onto more modern equipment helped us greatly in riding it fast and and being in tune with our gear.
If theres enough to be planing it goes back on the car
Its a 2008 - run 19cm centre m5 sides and a 5.5 - all adds up to fun on waves but pretty ****e planing - I think you may find the rocker on the old 9'8 wave is quite a deal more than the 12'6 cruiser and tail is probably 2 inches wider (swallow tail) and a half an inch extra rocker
Select to expand quoteSpotty said..
Agree, you will gain valuable skills if you persist and make up for the short comings of a SUP's windsurf-ability. Hence getting it on the plane and flying off the tail. The surf ones with heaps of rocker like my one carve gybe easily once you get it dialed in.
When you get on a short board you will have skills that will help for sure and make riding them feel easier some what. As Tony Wynhoven mentioned in the Quickly Go Mad movie, ~us older crew who learnt on old heavy massive difficult gear, learnt to compensate for it to get the most out of it at the time. This ability transferred onto more modern equipment helped us greatly in riding it fast and and being in tune with our gear.
I know this is a how long is a piece of string sort of question, but... Funster/other beginner board or SUP for a sailing beginner?
SP'. A big wide style beginner board will probably offer a bit more stability as a learning platform and be a bit more durable if your going to be dropping the rig on the nose etc whilst learning. Some Sup's have provision to fit foot straps or even have a daggerboard like on one version of the starboard cruiser. Bonus with a SUP is you get to use it for both sports, best bet iis try and demo both setups and see for yourself the difference in learning on each.
If I had the choice I'd go a SUP, cause they offer the option to do both whilst getting you hooked on windsurfing and mild wavesailing at the same time. if you enjoy the experience and progress well updating to a Funster or shorter lower volume board etc will be another step up, and open up another challenge of fully planning without the feeling somewhat of dragging a bucket as some have described here.
Some factors to consider are volume and width, if wave sailing underpowered with small sails it's important to have enough stability to keep from falling. The weight of the rig needs to be factored in as well.
It's supposed to be fun and easy for small waves so I would want a really big board. When you start adding footstraps, daggerboard, flatter tail and less volume well now it's becoming more of a windsurfer.
A quad fin setup could be useful in shallower spots.
A domed aft deck is also useful for sailing, a lot of SUP's are completely flat on top.
