What length and width are you guys proning these days? Trying to figure out the happy medium with dimensions for pump ability and ease of catching waves. Seems like more people on longer boards this year
5’ and 40 liters seem to be the newest sweet spot. I’m just surprised they aren’t as centered the midlengths.
5’0x18 @47L Amundsen Malolo. Next board will probably be 4’10x18 @43L
How much do you guys weigh riding the 40L?
I’m 190lbs riding a 32L and love my board but have gotten tired of scratching into fatter waves I can’t catch.
175lbs
4’6x17"x34L amudson
Switching to something shorter and wider next. I miss too many waves due to the narrowness
75kg (165lb)
5’2 x 19 45L Unifoil Quiver Killer
My beginner board which has taken me a long way.
I’ve borrowed a few of boards since then, Amundson 4’4" 28L, Amos Spitfire 4’4" 26L, and FFB Rubix 4’4" 36L. Rubix had almost same wave catching ability, but not into unbroken stuff. QK crushes everything in paddle though.
If I had to have only one board right now, I’d probably trade my QK for a 4’10" 34L Amos Kruzer. All those liters aren’t as necessary as I thought in the beginning and a little shorter, thinner board would be nice. Still like my QK a lot though and we got long ass inverted paddles where I am.
Does the difference in length in the boards you tried make the pump a lot different? Why are you wanting to go shorter than the 5’2”?
I’m about to swap from a 4’2 32L to a 4’11 34L. After an amazing season on my DW board and wingboard, I realize I don’t really need the short length to be happy. Also I’m now starting with a tow boog and I want some extra length to get on plane faster.
Take my observations with a grain of salt. I haven’t got all the kook out of my system yet.
I ride my 5’2 with the mast almost slammed forward, so my feet would be toward the front of the deck pad in those KT images above. The board feels much smaller than it is, but when riding the 4’4"s they seemed less picky about foot positioning. On the 5’2 for some reason I always gotta shimmy around to find the balance point and I loose momentum from it. The pump felt a little better as well, but I think that was more due to the thinness.
After riding the 4’4" 36L FFB Rubix, I realized I don’t need nearly as many liters as I thought, and the gains from length were definitely there, but I got plenty waves in small conditions on it.
Never rode the 4’10" 34L Amos Kruzer, but that seems like it would have most of the benefits while not having me wish for a little smaller board when the conditions are good.
If I had a two board quiver right now though, I’d prone a small (for a SUP) Barracuda for junk days and something more high performance for good conditions. I’ve been out when it’s terrible and guys seemed to easily paddle into unbreaking waves on them and still were ripping turns an pumping all over the place.
5’4 x 18 at 33.5L
4’4 x 18 1/4 at 27.5L
Only prone, no wing. Happy with these two for prone. If you go for a “mid length” I would not go over 40L as it’ll end up bulky and heavy when pumping. Longer boards are much worse for pumping too, having 2 sizes to choose from is great. Its always nicer to go shorter when the waves are small and steep, and you wont have a hard time finding a place to chip in and pump out to the bigger stuff.
“Mid length” is much nicer when the waves aren’t as steep, are bigger, have a super long paddle, or theres a lot of current to deal with.
The only thing I dont like about my Spitfire (4’4) is the tail rocker and having to shim the board 2 degrees to get it less front foot heavy.
2 Likes
Does your 4’4 pump way easier than your 5’4?
Have you ever looked at the Amundson Firebolt? One of the dimensions is 4’10x18.5x 38 L. Made on North Shore of Oahu. Kinda similar to the dimensions you’re looking at but more liters than you want probably
Can pump the 4’4 much longer than 5’4
I would prefer to support Amundson, but the 4’4 28L I tried was a Firebolt. Really light and felt great when up on foil but totally miserable paddling into waves. The nose was all pointy with no volume. I spent half my time dunking my nose and the other half getting bucked off because I couldn’t put my weight forward enough.
In contrast, the Amos Spitfire 4’4" 26L was much easier to get in but not enough liters for me. I’m now eyeing that one in 4’6" 31.5L for my future good conditions board.
The current Spitfire is 27.5L just FYI - they update the stock dimensions over time as feedback comes in. Probably got a lot of feedback about 26 being too low. I’m 172 so we’re similar weight.
Thanks. Even though I could probably get by on 27.5L, I think a few more liters and a couple more inches would just take some stress out of my sessions at the expense of feeling a little less connected. Not like I’m doing 5x1’s right now either.
That Spitfire though…nice design. Paddles in like it has more liters and feels tiny when up on foil. Prices are even reasonable except for the damn shipping to HI.
Have you seen a lot of people using (or selling) Amos boards in Hawaii?
quite a few people on maui with amos these days