Looking for advice/recs on a DW board. I’m 90kg and currently riding a 55L midlength and have been doing 10 mile downwind runs on FD here in Florida. I love these DW runs. Lifelong surfer, no wind experience. Eventually really want LONG ocean DW runs. I kind of think of it like a long trail, run or ultramarathon on the water. Lots of similarities.
Im interested in transitioning to DW paddle and PW going forward.
Can I use at 105L (Kalama gator) for both paddle and PW?
Can I use the same board (whatever the brand and model) to learn both disciplines?
What other boards and sizes do you recommend checking out?
I’d say you want to optimize the board selection for paddling as it is for most quite difficult to learn.
Parawing DW boards is annoying but not too much a hurdle. Lines can get stuck on the nose, they are less stable, locked in when in the water and harder to turn and pump when on foil but all manageable.
Oh, just noticed no wind experience. Parawinging may also be a bit of a hurdle. You may have some long learning curves ahead. Maybe you can pickup a used wing board and possibly even a used wing to ease into the wind aspect. PW is significantly harder than winging.
If you’ve started your foiling career on FD I can’t see you having the patience to learn to paddle up when you are so used to pulling a trigger so I’d suggest give the months of endless frustration & pain a miss as well as the cost of a long DW board & appropriate foils & go straight to PW. You would need a midlength & as you already have a FD you can probably get away with a much smaller PW.
approx 30-40% above your body weight in (90*1.35=121.5L)…over 8ft to help reduce diving the nose when paddling and no more than 19inches wide with a flatter bottom or catamaran (not a full-displacement hull) for balance
Also, can be used to LEARN parawinging, before investing in a shorter and wider mid-length when you become a professional/expert
FWIW: In light wind I prefer to paddle downwind, but when I don’t have a ride, I’d much rather use a dw board and smaller pwing than my sinker board and a big parawing.
Downwind boards do have some complications with parawing, but they let you get up in much lighter wind which is great for learning (before you know how to hold down a hella lit parawing).
Though when i use a parawing on my DW board I can get up with even too small a parawing that at least for me isn’t powered enough for good upwind Angle/VMG. Maybe a skill issue on my part though.
I use the original 7’10 x 102L kalama barracuda for downwind sup and parawing in light winds. It is a great board and does it all.
I wouldn’t recommended learning to downwind sup on such a small board though. I’m 85kg and this board is only just big enough and I’m a competent downwind paddler of 7+ years. Previously downwind sup paddled 14’ race boards before that. I guess it depends on how fit and agile You feel on a board. A big high aspect foil these days is pretty easy to paddle up. Nothing like trying to paddle up what I learnt on.
I moved onto a 8’8 105L gator as my 2nd dw sup board and it is light years ahead of the previous board I was riding, which was also from a reputable brand. Stable and much easier to paddle up and feels great on foil.
I’ve also used it to learn how to wing and now using it learning to parawing.
I’m 80kg. The Kalama big cuda would be a good option if you can find one. Very stable with the Kalama magic.
I’d encourage you to push ahead with the paddle. Lots of reward at the end of a very hard road.
Any opinions on whether the Barracuda or the Gator is a better board for crossover paddle and pw. I’ve got a Barracuda VP that I’ve been learning to paddle on. I’ll be transitioning to something more efficient, but I’m probably going to try picking up PW at some point soon. Barracuda’s have been showing up on the used market cheap by me.
I know several people who have spent the early initial stages of parawing on the Barracuda and been happy with it. I’ve been happy enough on the Gator. I think the Gator far outperforms the Cuda when it comes to paddling.
Learning the parawing I’d guess both boards would be on par, with all the usual limitations that you have to deal with when using a longer board (tracking, line tangles around nose etc).
DW boards are a good starting point if they are all you have access to, won’t be long before you are looking for something along the lines of a mid length though.
I’ve paddled my buddy’s Barracuda and Gator. I much preferred the Gator. Both were a little small for me to paddle them up on flatwater. Seems I need at least 110L to do that (those were 95 I think). But regardless, the Gator felt better and got me the closest.
Definitely learn to paddle. So worth the struggle. I’m sure there are days that conditions don’t line up to DW but there is bumps to practice paddling up in tiny surf somewhere. Use those days and flat water practice(don’t need to be able to flat water start) to lock in the first skills and steps to paddle. Once you get the timing and are popping up in that tiny stuff, then send it. Specially if you’re already DWing. Doing it this way you won’t have the FOMO of burning a solid condition day and what would have been a fun run. It’ll get you on the water days you wouldn’t have normally gone out, you will still get your DW runs and practice reading bumps. Get out there in tiny surf lock it down and then the transition will be not too bad. There will still be a little struggle and you will for sure be dropping some four letter words but it won’t be terrible with already know what to do once your up!!!
