My prediction for board length.

[Cardiff Sweeper]

You could always cheat, just to feel the difference between a 30" and 25" wide board. Prone paddle into a wave, then stand up.  You might get a few boo's from the crowd, though.

[Fark]

Trends help to expose you to new designs and shapes that you may have never tried, but in the end you have to do what works for you.  Strand Lepers style and ability doesn't match mine, so what he rides won't work for me.  Not to say that either one is right, just getting the most out of your gear is important.  I've bought boards that have ended up gathering dust because they don't work for me.

Basically it's a long winded and off topic way of saying that if you need to paddle in prone to get a feel for the style, do it.  F the crowd and go your own way!!!!

[corran]

Reduction in WIDTH, NOT length, is the key to increased performance.

Corran, I disagree. You should say "the key to increased performance in very specific type of waves". The kind of waves I never see where I live (or once a year), and some rare days in my travels. I tried a narrow board (27" ...  a wide board for you) in my waves, it was as fun as piloting the queen mary, slow, stuck in the water, on a rail, as much excitation as a week old dead rat. I'd rather have to move my rear foot than have a dead board.

It is like saying that the only high performance cars are the Formula Ones, forgetting that you need a specific place to ride them... Formula One cars are the highest performance cars you can find... on a Formula One circuit.

You forget I live in SO Cal... = Crap surf. Waist high, gutless garbage for the most part. We have decent swell period, but the waves themselves are junk.

Now, in knee to waist high surf, I have to give it to you... My Static is more fun (29" wide 7'3" design) but as soon as its more than waist high, my 25" board is way way better every time.

Stability (see my post on this in another thread) is learned. Its like say a 3 wheel bicycle is better than a 2 wheel one because its more stable. We... sure... but learn to ride a 2 wheel bicycle, and then the world opens to you. Also, don't forget that the original poster asked what the future of HP SUP surfing was... NOT what works for intermediates. So I'm talking about HP surfing, and what makes a board work better... and I'm NOT discussing what makes a board more ENJOYABLE to ride when you balance out speed of paddling, ease of paddling, ease getting onto a wave and surfing performance (as only 1 of 4 criteria). I'm addressing "what makes a board perform better ON THE WAVE.

NOW, it's possible that the narrow board you tried was simply a crap design and its bogging down had nothing to do with its width.

Corran

[corran]

Colas, having ridden several of his boards, they are not for me. They are "high performance" boards in the truest sense. For me, it was quite difficult to remain upright while paddling. I believe in a happy-medium for volume and stability. I can't relax on them.  However, I'm sure he could shape me one that I would like.
Say, a 7'4"x28"x3.75.

I'd love to drive a Formula 1 car someday. Would I be relaxed in it?  Hell no!

THAT I can do ;-)

[corran]

There is one thing I'm curious about.

Corran has spoken about the benefits of narrowing the board. Colas prefers to shorten his boards. Where does this leave the third dimension, thinner boards?

If one has excess volume to trim, what benefit is gained by thinning a board out by .5" versus narrowing it by 1.5" or shortening it by 6"?

Most of 2011 I dedicated to this... I was riding boards in the 90ltr range, about 7'9" x 26" x 3'- 3.5"... getting the board thin made sense to me then... make the rail skinny like a shortboard... but after much experimentation I realized that the key was a pinched RAIL... what happens at the stringer as far as surfing is concerned matters less... better to increase stringer height and narrow the board... crowned boards are also more "lively"... basically: when I moved away from the idea of a 3" thick board and towards a 25" wide board... performance increased... on anything from waist+ to Head high surf.

UNDER waist high... its a totally different game....

Corran

[colas]

Stability (see my post on this in another thread) is learned.

Yes "stability is in your mind" and I found your stability post very well written. I was actually speaking of performance in the wave. I found that wide boards with pinched rails (I agree totally with you there) and volume "hidden" in the front part of the stringer gave insane speed boosts on the wave in the turns, so they offer the highest performance for my conditions. Some SUP brand I like has even "revisited" prone surfboards with this concept of wider thinner boards with amazing feedback from riders.

On the narrow "dogs" I tried, I cannot think Ron House, Hobie, and Gerry Lopez make bad boards. Just boards that do not perform as well as wider boards with thinner rails for most of my waves. My Gerry Lopez "little Darling" full carbon slows down in turns, I guess due to the high volume round rails, but it may come handy in Hawaiian waves I guess.

Actually, I think we agree on most things. I guess we differ in the meaning of "High Performance". For me it is a board capable of extracting the most performance of given conditions, and I suppose you mean the highest Performance in the most challenging conditions.

[Surfershane]

the idea that there is an ideal board length for paddle surfing is ridiculous. There are many serious surfers out there that have a 9' nose rider, a 8' gun and 6' shortboard or three.  Sup'rs are no different. I also disagree you need to go as small as you can for 'performance' as you can lose the things that make paddlesurfing great ie. the ability to patrol around for waves, get in early etc.  thats just me though.  

I also totally agree with the quiver concept.  Prone boarding I still ride everything from a 5' 10" box to a 9' 9" old mal and almost everything in between except the typical short tri fins most surfers ride.

Applying the concept to SUP, I would love to at least have something like a simsup and a good ten footer like my like my old Ron House Laird.  Even then it is disappointing the Laird, which is excellent in either tiny waves or huge, is not a better noserider.  This is just my personal situation and you also need to consider a lot of others will require a racing board.  I am also happy to concede that I am a "versatile" surfer.