Is anyone still stoked on SUP ?

[Tom]

I haven't seen many SUP posts lately, except from Cookie so I thought I'd post myself. I just recieved a new custom 9'2" Sunova Speedand will take it out tommorow. I loved my 8 10 for about 10 years and my advanced age made it a bit of a chalenge. I rode an 8 10 Placid for a while (grerat board) but missed the Speed, I ordered the 9 2 with a few modifications, width increase to 30 1/2 inches and decreased the volume to 135 lts. I'll let you know how that works for a 77 year old SUPer.

[exiled]

Beautiful. Still my all time favorite surf sup.

[Dusk Patrol]

Nice board Tom and glad you're still stoked!

I still am . . . I don't paddle flat water so much anymore, but I sup surf whenever I can and it puts me at my happiest. So there's that!

[Night Wing]

I mostly use my sups now for flat water paddling. For surfing on the upper Texas coast, I have been "seduced by the Dark Side of the Force" by using my 9'3" Parallax single fin prone longboard instead of my sups. The fin I use for the longboard is a Flying Diamonds 10.5 Parallax fin placed right at the front of the fin box.

[Dusk Patrol]

Tom if you did get a chance to take the new Speed out, how was it? 

[surf4food]

I mostly use my sups now for flat water paddling. For surfing on the upper Texas coast, I have been "seduced by the Dark Side of the Force" by using my 9'3" Parallax single fin prone longboard instead of my sups.

Other than a couple failed attempts in the past 10 years, I've only flat water SUPed. Surfing wise I just liked the glide and feel of a longboard. I just didn't have the patience to get more skilled at surfing a SUP. Sadly I no longer surf at all due to a combination of factors but still love to get out on the water.

[dietlin]

I'm stoked enough to have a new board on order. Will post pics and review after received and ridden. 

[FRP]

Tom and Exiled

I agree that the Speeed is a wonderful board. I have and an 8'10" for years and as an incentive to get out in the water again after hip surgery purchased an 8'5" Speeed that was on sale. I will start flat water paddling it in a couple of weeks and then should be out surfing a few weeks after that. The anticipation of a new board and getting back out surfing after a few months away is great.

Cheers

Bob

[Tom]

I was able to take it out twice in fun size surf and it felt great. I caught the first wave I paddled for and had a fun ride. I've ridden several boards other than the Speed, but the Speed always works the best for me.

[Tom]

I was able to take it out twice in fun size surf and it felt great. I caught the first wave I paddled for and had a fun ride. I've ridden several boards other than the Speed, but the Speed always works the best for me. I've got the stoke back.

[APPST_Paddle]

Interestingly enough, I was all in on SUP surf until about 3 years ago, when foiling kinda took over. I pretty much was on a SUP foil 95% of the time because where I live is much more conducive to foiling (Charleston, SC). This summer I went back to longboarding and it's both frustrating and rewarding. One reason I moved over to longboarding was the torque of the paddle on the SUP foil was tearing up my shoulder (it's not paddle length, I'm at head high in length), it was just overuse.

Anyways, fast forward to this morning, chest/head high surf, 4/3, jumped back on my 8'2" 102 L JL Supertech, man it's a completely different balancing act compared to my 5'2" Kalama SUP Foil, but I eventually got my balance and had some fun waves. Definitely a re-learning curve especially the length and getting back to the stomp pad.

Depending on conditions, I'm going to start using it again, so stoked to hear you are jumping back into it.

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

Yes I am I just don't get to go as much.  In 2020 we moved to Yosemite and I thought I was going to retire well god and the universe had other plans for me.  I got so busy at work that we ended up back in San Diego in Fallbrook I had to go up in size to an avanti but started to relearn the sport. And  am still in that stage again approaching 72. I lost over 55 lbs. and just bought a new board an infinity wide speed and am still getting back into it. Must say though I watched a bunch of liters on foils in Kauai and was intrigued. But the thrill of seeing that small set creep up on the horizon gauging it and catching a wave still. Gets me every time. 
Over thanksgiving my son and I paddled down the coas just cruising and talking a pod of dolphins came by going the other way about 15 feet away. That's magic.  So yes I am still stoked on sup. Just not ver good anymore

[Badger]

Anyways, fast forward to this morning, chest/head high surf, 4/3, jumped back on my 8'2" 102 L JL Supertech, man it's a completely different balancing act compared to my 5'2" Kalama SUP Foil, but I eventually got my balance and had some fun waves. Definitely a re-learning curve especially the length and getting back to the stomp pad.

Depending on conditions, I'm going to start using it again, so stoked to hear you are jumping back into it.

I had the same experience. I started wing foiling a few years ago and rarely SUP surf anymore. Going from the 23" wide foil board to a 31" SUP is like starting all over again. It takes me 6 or 8 waves to adjust to it. I keep saying I'm going to SUP more but foiling is too adictive.

[ilmsup]

I had been feeling a bit disenchanted with my SUP setup until I bought a new board. I really didn't like the Pocket Rocket I purchased two years ago—it was too sluggish for my liking. Recently, I came across a Fanatic ProWave 8'10" model with 119 liters of volume for sale. I wasn't sure how challenging it would be to paddle, but at €550, I couldn't pass it up.

It definitely kicks my butt when the conditions aren't ideal, but on clean, mellow days, it's absolutely fantastic. It's also completely reignited my stoke factor. So much so that I started watching a ton of SUP videos and stumbled across one about foot positioning by Tiago, the instructor from a SUP camp I attended three years ago.

As I browsed his channel, I saw a video titled Mellow Summer Waves. Since mellow waves perfectly described the conditions we'd been enjoying that week—the very ones that had me so stoked on my new board- I decided to click on it. As I watched, I thought, wait a minute, this looks familiar and then there I saw myself.    I am the white haired guy and my best lines are backside(left) ones.  Could have gotten more out of that first right I caught but when I went right I had to navigate through a surf school. 

I remembered choosing a Sunova Creek 9'1" model with 136 liters of volume at that camp to see how a higher-volume board would perform.  I am considering it for my higher volume board but not sure how much I need when the refractor waves and wind pick up.  Even though it has more volume than the pocket rocket at 130litres it glides beautifully and is not sluggish at all.

https://youtu.be/yEwRzgDmv6I?si=KfYPv3Caq48lEFnI

[Dusk Patrol]

Ilm, cool to discover yourself in a 'Mellow Summer Waves' video!  That's awesome. And I have had Tiago's Mauka Lodge in the back of my mind for a few years. Do you recommend?