Supping a 7’2" already sucks. Tracks like shit, long paddles out to the reef takes a bit of time and i cant imagine SUPing 6’ SUP foil would be much fun. Defeats the purpose in my opinion when the point of a sup foil is to reach far distant reef breaks with ease. I SUP my 8’ and it tracks great and i can pump it and still get 1/5 waves. I feel i could go down to a 7’5 but thats all i would go down to and not sacrifice tracking, stability and not have the board do circles.
Hahahahah , looks like everyone doing full circle
Two years ago I seen people saying the opposite , “ once you get longer you cannot go back”
I think big part of it is just trends and what cool , also people like to change all the time and don’t want to says they riding same boards for years .
But some of it is just evolution of the foils together with board shapes
There will be never the “perfect” size or design
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It’s all preference and if you put enough Time in at something challenging you’ll get good at it. Definitely not easy to paddle up small boards But a few years ago the concern was getting on foil when the longer boards came in. Location is a factor, can’t say I’d want small boards in Hawaii conditions, in general it’s not for everyone. That being said feels on foil don’t compare, so far every time I’ve dropped size personally it’s been a learning curve but worthwhile. We’re already starting to see more guys on boards in that range and I think we’ll see even more. The technique is so it’s not limiting on foil size or anything. In general very interesting to see what direction it goes, I don’t think longer boards are going anywhere but just like surfing you have longboarders, short boarders and guys who ride everything
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I have tried 5.8 x 28 , 6.8 x 27 ,7.2 x 25 and recently an inflatable Gong NOTW 8.3 x 19 .
After seing Jarrod Snow YT vids and sessioning the NOTW on a bumpy very small day myself i have become more convinced that long narrow and lightweight might be the best compromise for me.
The stability of the Gong was different but very useable, way better than i expected.And even inflatable it paddles like a dream compared to my carbon 7.2 .
The shape compromises of inflatable are FINE. It just needs a bit more pressure. If someone could get these things to 30 or 40 it would be a game changer
I’m thinking those boards are gonna be a lot harder to paddle up from the width, I’m liking the 18-19” wide range, they balance fine in the bumps and after a while get fairly easy to paddle up in short period conditions. This may or may not have a factor in preferring long and narrow in your case Anything wider than 19” for me starts feeling really big even if it’s not. But that’s just my preference, the >6’ and narrow range might not change your opinion at all but it’s intriguing. I enjoy hearing from other guys exploring the limits of “new style” small SUPs. I really think we’re going to see more advanced level guys pushing those limits in the near future, it’s very achievable
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Ok, just to clarify i do not DW paddle.I use the parawing for that and my midlenght 6ft 84l works very well.
I use the paddle for SUPfoil in a break, i expected the DW shape (8.3 x 19) would be too tippy for my sketchy SUP abilities but it totally cancels nose or tail sink and the roll is dampened by the foil,plus narrow hulls are less prone to chop induced rolling…still need to test it more but i liked it.
It’s been a long time in the making but hoping this is the SUP surf foil board I’ve been looking for (will also hopefully be decent as my light wind parawing/wing board as well)
It’s the Carbon/Kevlar Construction board 6’6 x 21 @85L
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I’ve tried everything, made myself just about every size of SUP surf foil board over the past 9 years. Probably 10 or 12 boards from 4’10x24” to 7’6 x18”. As with most board sports you end up somewhere in the middle. I dont mind a DW SUP if it’s a super long paddle and it’s big swell that is feathering rather than breaking…. but if you want to get the best feels and get as close to prone performance foil feel as you can then you’ve got to be in the mid range. 7ft plus wont cut it. I’m not a big guy and have settled at 5’8”x20.5” (90 litres). I had a couple around 5ft x 24” back in the early days of foiling but the swing weight gain is not worth the paddle drag. Also had 2 almost identical 5’6 x 20” (85 litres) but lost nothing going to 5’8. I made a 5’11 x 19.5” and started to feel the length more so 5’8 is where ive settled. I’m only 70kg so that would be scaled up for a bigger guy to 6 to 6’2” ish board. Shape wise it’s just a mini DW style with scoop out the tail. rolled V in the nose.
Someone mentioned Jarrod Snow above and yeah him on a 7-8ft board blows my theory out the water because he rips that thing and clearly you can use a DW board…. but has anyone ever actually seen him on a mid length SUP? He’s probably better again.
All things being equal, I can definitely turn and pump a 5’8x20.5” harder than a 7’2x19” and it’s much more fun in the surf. If you can have a DW and a surf style SUP then that’s the way to go. I recognise that learning to balance on it and tracking is hard for some but you can overcome this with practice and technique. Not so long ago people chose to SUP surf on 7’2x24” 75 litre boards with no massive keel on the bottom and they made it work. That was a different planet in terms of difficulty
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Yeah! Going back and forth on different boards I agree with your comments about 5’8” x 20” being a sweet spot of compactness for performance surf foil while flying - yeah, takes a bit more effort to take off but if the swell is juicy the payback once in the wave is considerable vs my 7’6”x17.75” 90L.
Yesterday just got the AFS Whitebird 5’8”x20”x85L and tested right away today on a good swell and clean lines, took me like 20 minutes to get adjusted to it’s shortness (I’ve been only paddling on my 7’6" for like a year) and man! It was so worthy - carves and pumps felt very very good!
Very long waves, would have been nice a longer board or a jetsky to go back to the point 
next week seems windy enough to test it on a Downwinder, hope I can pop it off - curious to try the 6’6”x18”x88L KT DragonFly 2 - seems like a good blend of lenght and surfiness - so bad they didn’t kept that size in the DF current gen.
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Wow! Sweet wave.
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Hi All. New to foiling. Have been kiting for 30 years and SUP surfing for 16. Read through this thread as I am trying to wrap my brain around foiling and all its nuances. I would appreciate opinions on my thoughts. Looking for a board to SUP foil and also use as a learning board for winging and possibly parakiting - the objective is to surf the swell out from the line up of longboard, shortboard crowd, from glass to windy. Reading all the above, I am wondering about the best compromise. Thinking of not going above 6ft, as where I surf (LA & SD County) is on average 3-4ft point or beach breaks. My favorite paddleboard is 9 x 29 (unfortunately, no volume info). I would guess it’s somewhere between 110-130 litres. Reasoning is I tried a 95l SUP, and it was sinking an inch underwater. I weigh between 170+180lbs. What are your thoughts on something like the Kalama EC3’s? How do you calculate the volume required based on your weight? What width would be reasonable? Thank you!
The fact that you have a SUP surfing background will help.
Foil SUP boards are a drastically different design to old school SUP’s skinnier for increased speed (stability is also provided by the foil)
I’m currently riding +17L over bodyweight 6’4 x 20.5 87L Appletree Midlength but if in the early stages I’d be more inclined to aim for +30L (don’t go too big as it will get corky and heavy)
I personally wouldn’t go any wider than 21” (you don’t gain much more stability beyond that and it really slows down the paddling) Length will be your friend initially not going above 6ft would be pretty brutal (as you’d have to gain volume in width and thickness) something around the mid 7’ mark would be a good start and then as you advance you’ll be able to move to “smaller” boards which mainly help with turning and pumping but make everything else harder.
Current board as sadly the Amos I posted earlier in the thread didn’t work out.
Thank you for the tips drc13. OK, so scrap the idea of the EC3’s. Have a dedicated SUP foiling board over 7’ and max width 21’. Reduce the learning gradient and have fun instead of fighting physics for a beginner…can still use it with a wing and probably better for parakiting too. So that means a tray board for kiting, your recommended SUP for SUP foil surfing (when windy with wing or Parakite) and probably don’t bother with a specific winging board as focus is on surfing not winging. Appreciate the help!
Foil size - keep it between 800 & 1200 cm2 for SUP foiling? (smaller foil would be for kiting and the 1200 would be for learning?)
I have to disagree with DRC’s advice. And no disrespect to him. He is a great foiler from the pics he has posted. This is my opinion on what I personally witnessed and read about.
I will give you a long boring explanation about taking a different path with the theory and experience to back it up. You can then choose which path you want to take.
I sup surfed for 8 years before I started sup foiling. My weight is 195lbs (87/88kg) and my smallest boards were 110L and around 8ft long x 27 wide. I raced on 25” wide boards that were much longer. Most of my sup surf boards were in the 8’ to 9’ range and 120-130 liters.
The sup surfing crowd started out on much bigger boards and then everyone wanted to rip turns like they were still riding a 6’ short board. So the trend went to much smaller sup surfing boards just over or under bodyweight. Now all the benefits of catching waves way out passed the longboarders went away and I watched and listened as everyone complained about not catching as many waves and being back in with the shortboarders. Then the trend came back to a middle range of boards that could still turn but you were farther outside of the line up. I never went below that mid range. Had a blast and ripped turns. At least I think I did.
I have seen the sup foil and prone foil group also take this same path. Prone foilers my size riding 4 foot boards and just sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting and missing and missing. But, to their credit, when they got a wave AND IF they had the ability they could pump around for 2,3,4,5 waves. Now guys are going to mid lengths to make it easier to catch waves. Sup foiling has gone the same with downwind boards being mainly the preferred choice for sup foiling. And for good reason. They paddle fast and catch a lot of waves. What size ? What width? What volume? “ Just don’t get anything over 21” wide” . I will follow up to this later. Not a dig at drc either. I have seen this same advice except mostly using 20” and not 21” quite a few other places when people were given advice.
To me there is a difference between riding waves downwind and sup surfing. Riding dw you are going with the wind and the waves continuously while waiting to catch a wave. Much easier when everything is going the same direction. Wind, waves, current. With sup foiling in waves when surfing a break, all of those may be in the same or opposite directions. You are standing/kneeling/sitting around waiting for the waves. It may be a sweet glassy day where the weather gods have lined up everything perfectly with a 5 foot glassy swell and light offshore winds breaking on an outside sandbar. Or there could be an onshore wind with some opposing current giving enough chop to make standing on a narrow board while fighting the current just a fugging workout.
So the next thing that is never addressed when “ don’t get anything over 21” is the conditions you will be riding in. This is something you will have to think hard about yourself. About all the factors I mentioned above. The youtube videos always have the primo locations and conditions in there videos showing people riding. Hawaii, the gorge, Australia, fiji. I watch foilmonsta guys absolutely killing on small boards and small waves in Hawaii. They probably ride every day. And even though those waves are small, they still have a lot of power. My waves barely look like a lot of those videos. And if I waited until they did, I would barely get to ride. Provided I was not working or had other things going on. You say you are in LA /SD area and have more beach breaks and point breaks.
How often will you be able to get out to sup foil surf. Everyday, only on weekends, twice a month. How often you go with your conditions will make it easier or harder to learn too. Something else to consider. Age and athleticism also plays a role in your decision. Another thing you have to honestly self address. Again, a lot of the videos are 20 somethings. Me, just over 50 but athletic.
Here is the path I recommend. Get sup foil board in the 7’-8’ range and around 30” wide. Yep, a big barge. This board will allow you to get out in most conditions. Buy a used one. You will sell it in 6 months to a year. For very little loss. I have seen them on various for sale sites. Everyone thinks they can just go out and stand on 20-21” boards if they sup surfed. I learned to sup foil on the 8’ x 31” hypernut. It rocked. I had a blast. It was stable and it caught waves. I was not fighting with trying to balance on the board while trying to apply power to the paddle. It gave me a great base once I started sizing down in boards. The older starboard hypernuts and hyper surfs. Jimmy lewis had a line of bigger wider sup boards as well as few other brands. Get one. You will learn A LOT quicker. Before my first dw board, I had a square wing/sup board. 6’4” x 31. I caught a ton of waves on that thing. I did not realize how slow it was until I paddled a dw board. It was stable and I could apply a lot of power through my paddle to catch waves though. My first DW board made me sell that thing. My first dw board was 21.5” wide. I could paddle it in flatwater no problem. I could surf it in waist high glassy swell, np problem. Then a 10mph wind kicked up and I could barely paddle around on it. Tried it on several other occasions and hated it. IT WAS NOT FUN!!
Quickly bought a 25” dw board. The first naish 7’4 by 25. I could stand on it and paddle hard and catch wave pretty much after the first 30 minutes of getting used to it. I still have that board and use it for beach break conditions. For the sandbars that I ride that are a couple hundred yards off the beach, I have longer boards in the 8’-8’6” range 22” wide and 135L.
I have known several people that took very similar advice to the “ just don’t get anything over 21” wide” and had to sell their boards for significant losses money-wise. Half were sup surfers. The sup surfers could barely handle the much narrower boards. The others could not even stand on them. Several of them could have asked me for advice but none did. I have read about quite a few others all having this problem too.
Several instances which I have witnessed over the passed few weeks while surf foiling several spots. I ride bigger boards in terms of size and volume at the locations I ride. I stand while waiting around most of the time. I will sit if just chillin. But if I see bumps in the distance I stand up. I surfed a location I had not surfed in years. Another outside break several hours away. First time on my sup foil. To my surprise there were 7 other sup foilers. Cool. Except these guys were all on smaller and narrower boards. Head high plus waves with a 10-15 mph crosswind. I was having to paddle to stay in the place I had lined up for on the sandbar. It was a pain. Of these 7, I only saw 2 consistently getting waves. 2 get a wave or 2 and the other 3 , I never saw them catch a wave. I heard a lot of cussing from the ladder 2 groups as they missed good wave after good wave. They were all paddling on their knees and would try to stand up a few seconds before the waves jacked up to catch the wave. The chop made it difficult, to pop up and paddle quickly with the wave approaching. I had never seen this. These guys looked like they were between 35-50. Some had bellies on them. So were athletic looking.
Another time, I was at my local break far off the beach. These waves move a little faster. Paddling hard and fast can get you into some good unbroken waves for some great rides. But waves break across an area about ½ mile wide. So you made need to chase the peaks a little. Sometimes it is just finicky and the waves jack up but do not break, but a good hard paddle stroke can again get you into them. This was a finicky type day. Two other sup foilers came out on their smaller narrower boards. They went to the inside after about 30 minutes because they could not get the board speed to get into the waves. Once I saw them riding inside, it realized they just wanted to be able to pump to get 2 or 3 in row. I am not there yet with my pumping on my boards but I get the longest rides over 2, 3, 4 or 500 yards.
One my time at the second location. Smaller and mushier waves. Not breaking as far off the beach. I was working my ass off to paddle in to waves. But they were fun once on them. This time probably 4 other sup foilers come out. Smaller and narrower boards. I saw 2 of them catch waves. But they would just take off, kick out to try and pump around to find another wave. They ended up having to catch waves further in towards the short boarders. I try and stay completely away from the regular surf crowd. I did talk to one guy that had to have been 40 lbs lighter than me. He told me what size foil he was on. It was about 300 cm squared bigger than what I was on. So it would not turn as well but would pump really good.
Brings us to the next topic of foil size. Get a big foil. Medium to low aspect. You will work down in size like everyone else that learned how. There are plenty of used set ups out there where you can save money. I will say, to do your due diligence in terms of brand. It gets real expensive bouncing from brand to brand. I ride Armstrong and learned mostly on the HS 1850 before dropping down in size. I mostly ride 800-900 size now. But that transition took several years. That may be shorter or longer depending on how often you get to play with them. People always think they can skip steps with foiling. Yes you can. And it will take you longer to learn it and become proficient. Get the slow easy stuff that has good lift in the beginning and work through it. You will learn faster and have more fun.
In terms of dw boards, for your area with the beach breaks. This would be once you know how to ride. The naish crossover dw board they have now at 7’2” and 24” at 125L would be a great board for that area. Some length to get some paddle speed to catch waves. But not too long to be a pain in the beach breaks. Narrow enough for some speed but not wide enough to be slow. Wide enough to have some stability while waiting for waves. That is why I still keep my 7’4 naish around. Beach breaks vs my other longer boards.
If you have never ridden a foil, see if you can get a lesson or 2 behind a boat or jetski. That right there will really help learning the muscle memory and technique. The boat/ski can just keep coming back for you and you can focus on just the foil. Rather than dealing with waves and everything else. When you get out into the waves, just try and get the whitewater on a waste high day. That will give you enough speed to learn to lift off in the waves. Then try in smaller breaking waves. In learning years ago, the first 2 days in breaking waves after doing the whitewater stuff. It was just getting used to the speed. And learning how to handle it. You go so much faster on a foil compared to just a regular board.
Again, not digging at anyone. I just think there is a lot more information that is always left out for these outrageously expensive decisions.
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Hah no disrespect felt mate, obviously we’re on different sides on the board fence but it’s a good discussion for future SUP foilers to have.
Just to fill in a few more blanks, I do most of the foiling disciplines (wing, sup surf, parawing, prone) and I personally found SUP the “easiest” of them to pick up (if we exclude e-foils) a lot of that could have come from my previous SUP experience plus the fact I had to learn all about the pesky wind for the other disciplines.
We have a few other bigger/older blokes than me here just checked one of their boards and it’s an amos sultan 7’6x23.5 @130L another is on a SIC kanalu 7’11x20 @115L final one is on a older appletree DW board 7’3 x 21.5 @112L so while my board is a bit of an outlier on the smaller side of things they are all kind of in that ballpark.
I’ll SUP in anything from 1-6ft beach breaks with the only thing I really change being the foil (615s for the big days, 810x for the medium and 985x for the small)
I DON’T downwind sup surprisingly (went the parawing route) so my boards are purely optimised for getting on the waves and surfing/linking them to my best ability. If I was a DW supper I’d definitely have another bigger board in the quiver.
Good discussion to have though and as always I’d recommend if you can demo or try a mates before you buy thats the way to go in foiling!
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I just started learning last year (37 years old, 68 kg) and one of the most helpful things by far was using a massive HA from wing (1300 AFS Enduro - 11 A.R.) to keep the thing balanced in flatwater when I first started using it.
I learned on a KT Dragonfly Crossing 8’2 x 19.5 (112L) but later switched to an AFS Blackbird V3 7’6 x 20 x 112L.
The first few days were miserable. I could barely stand for longer than 10 seconds. But I stook with it. And after ~10 days of practicing on flat water (30 min per session), the human body did it’s magic and muscle memory calibrated. Next thing I knew, I was starting to get rides and be able to enjoy it in the surf.
So lots of ways to go about this but I think starting on a (wider) DW board is totally do-able. Just pop on a huge wing to help it stabilize at the start.
Also, I will say I notice a huge difference in the AFS board with the double concave. I can paddle that thing around with my eyes closed now and stay balanced. Highly recommend checking it out if you can find one!
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