Agree with this, the 8’11x17 is really miserable in the surf. Amazing for ocean bumps which is why I keep it, but I much prefer the 7’6x18 for catching waves, for the exact reasons you describe
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Long and Narrow: 100% Advantage over Short & Wide
2 Summers ago I was SUP foiling Short Yellow vs. Long Narrow 50% of the time.
1 Summer ago I was SUP Foiling long narrow 100% of the time.
Advantages:
- Take off in almost ANY conditions. Small waves, flat water, wind chop, high wind, big waves . . .
- Take off outside of ANY Surfers. 200 yards outside of the longest long-boarders. This means you don’t have to deal with crowds EVER AGAIN.
- Ride the tiniest Waves. Last summer I was surfing the most crowded part of the United States in New England and was alone 15-20% of the time because people thought it was too small to surf.
- Surf the biggest waves. This past week I was riding the 8’ 8" Orange board in 8 - 10 foot waves in and around Mavericks on an Axis 1350 fireball. Take off early and chose your destiny.
The biggest problem with the Short and Wide boards is that you have to takeoff in or around crowds. Yes its fun to surf but you end up relegated deeper inside ‘old school’ surf breaks. When you learn how to take off, fly and pump downwind boards the entire ocean becomes your playground.
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If you need more motivation watch this video of Kane riding a long-narrow board in the surf.
Once your up and flying, as long as the board is light enough, you can surf it.
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Hah yeah already watched that video a few times, that’s what SUP foil is all about for me just smooth carves.
I haven’t really considered short/wide again my interest is more in a less extreme DW shape kind of in between the two options 6’6-7’ish - 20ish
I’m actually really interested to hear the dims of the board that @KDW is riding in this clip or his general thoughts in SUP surf boards vs full blow DW boards.
Not 100% agree with you
In my local spots you cannot catch the wave far away when is still a swell .
You must catch the wave almost in the same lineup of the surfers/noraml SUP . The the long length becomes disadvantage.
Also , in choosy and windy conditions the narrow board makes it hard to just stand and wait for the waves.
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6.8 x 27.5 x 110lt is what i am riding
I tried 6.8 x 23 but i just was falling too much when positioning and waiting unless it was really calm.
And it is always pretty lumpy here.
Maybe i will get better…
I would really love to try a superlight narrow and +7footer like the Orange Crush ,just to see if the lenght will add stability enough for my abilities and conditions.
Another problem is that in my car i can fit max 7, maybe 7.2 lenght inside.
Longer would be roofrack with all the hassle that entails.Fuel,theft,board overheat in sun…
I ride the longer board when conditions are as you describe, but the board handling in the surf is much worse, This is just physics of a long board in the water.
And riding experience is worse, not terrible, but a huge compromise. After riding a longer board, it makes a 7’ feel like a prone board.
On both I can paddle up on bumps, only the long board is necessary for faster swells, in which case I’m probably downwinding and happy for compromise.
Kane can ride more aggressively on a smaller board for sure, that video doesn’t prove your point, only carves and cruising
You have to take into account that Beasho’s Orange Crush boatd weighs only 4.9kg, less than most Midlenghts by top brands.
And that the teardrop shape allows a very forward Center of Buoyancy and therefore a very forward foil position.
Which further reduces swing inertia and lenght of board in front of the foil
Very interesting board that probably outsurfs most DW shapes.
the primary issue and topic raised is about handling in the water. I’m not a physicist but I don’t think 1-2kg makes a difference in the water
In the air the weight makes a big difference sure, but everything is a tradeoff.
Point is that someone buying a 8-9ft board should be aware that it’s a hassle in the surf lineup
I make my own boards and i cannot agree on the importance of weight.
Half a kilo is a big deal for me,it takes away so much liveliness even in a short 5.2 wingfoil board.
On longer lenghts it matters even more due to the longer swing arm.
EDIT: i did not read your post fully ,sorry 
If you mean difference when floating around then i agree, no t a big factor.
But for getting up and turning then yes.
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Not sure if this is additive towards any idea of consensus on SUP design other than Kane is able to rip incredibly hard on that thing. Incredible!!
Noticed these boards don’t have the roundness of most of Kanes earlier shapes … pretty flat on the bottom…
Not much discussion of rocker here yet…and the Frank/Axis Mako is touting that as one of its defining characteristics (“banana board”)…I haven’t seen that much from others moving very far in that direction so far…thoughts? updates?
I think the banana shape you mention makes a lot of sense for wind chop and maybe for going lower volume. The former since I’ve noticed when in a deep trough when you want to be putting the power down, you are suddenly balancing on the ends of the board, and thus suddenly unstable. The latter since the center of flotation is closer to your feet, so maybe more stable? And also for dw, the wind pushes you faster if narrow, and that creates stability, so loss of stability is more mitigated in dw than for surf I’d guess. I have a Kalama 7.5’x22” that has been great in the surf.
I finally was able to ride my “frank” board that I built so its not 100% the same but I did have a scan of the frank board at my disposal. The banana shape is pretty unstable and wants to spin when you are paddling. It doesn’t want to track straight like my Kalama 7’10. It really really likes to turn. The rocker is extremely nice once up on a wave however.
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This tracks (lol) with my experience with more rockered boards.
I can actually add a little bit extra info now as in the past week I picked up a smaller SUP to finally find out if I could feel a difference in surf performance at all.
I went from a 7’10 x 19.5 @110L board to a 6’10 x 20 @95L board (about 800g lighter) so it’s not apples to apples with the volume but I can report back even at these early stages of getting used to a new board, it surfs and pumps much better!
I have definitely lost a bit of paddle speed so not sure how it would go in really small conditions but in the waves we had over the weekend I was getting 35 decent waves a session so it’s still a wave catching machine.
I don’t think I could go all the way down to 5’ though but can say I definitely noticed the difference of 1ft shorter and 15L less.
Goodbye 110L you served me very well
Hello to possibly the ugliest board in history but damn it surfs well 
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