Hey guys, I’ve just got a 8’6 X 20 141L DW board, with the plan to learn DW on. The sup foil board I’ve been using in waves is 7’8 x 22 1/2 135L and it’s a lot easier to balance on than the new board. Is 20 too narrow for my weight, 100kg, or will it eventually pay off when I actually start going out in the bumps? Cheers
You’ll get used to it, it will take a few sessions to adjust, but it is the right width for you to progress.
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Also you got a slightly more volume then your previous board so it will feel a bit corky. But I still think you will adjust to it in a couple weeks. Spend some time paddling in flat water so you can figure out where to stand and how the board reacts.
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It will feel tippy at first, but that solves itself in a few sessions. Folks that can’t get up on foil in the bumps simply quit - narrow boards are just soooooo much easier to paddle up, and 20" isn’t that crazy.
My tips
1/. You can roll it further than you think, don’t bail, wait for the foil to pull you back upright.
2/. Brace with your paddle - mainly flip it and push off the water when falling on the toes. Sometimes if you fall backwards you can flip the blade again and claw your way back upright, but thats harder to save.
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One thing that helped me when I was learning was to always be moving. You cannot stand on these boards and wait for waves like you can with the larger wider boards. You either have to be moving or sitting on it. A lot of guys are unable to just chill on these for hours waiting for waves like we used to.
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yes, stability comes from a moving DW board. this is particularly important with crossed up swells hitting the foil
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Thanks guys, are any of you sup foiling your dw boards in waves or do you have different boards for this? I’ve haven’t sold my 221/2 wide board yet because I thought I’d maybe keep it just to sup foil on. However, I feel as though going back and forth between the two widths could hold me back. Our DW season doesn’t start until October so I’ll just be sup foiling in waves and flat water until then. The boards, by the way are the 7’8 Duotone SLS and the 8’6 is a Smik stoker DW board, incase any of you have had any experience with either? Unifoil progression 200 and 170. Shiv tail 0 shim. Mast all the way forward in the box’s. Thanks 
I have a DW Sup that I ONLY use in waves. Don’t have time for DW logistics. Pretty fun in waves it turns out.
Wave only for me. I found on bigger days, it’s harder to catch whitewater on the DW board compare to my short sup board. The whitewater sometime will push the DW board in an angle where you can’t recover. I recently got back on the 6’x23" , it felt super slow and corky compare to the 8x15".
I currently have 3 boards but only use 2: 1 for dw (8-11 x 17?) and another for supfoil, parawing and occasional dw (7 x 19). I almost always prefer my longer board, because i love catching groundswell on the outside and then linking. With the current trend back towards more reigned in boards (8’ x 17, with more depth ala FRANK) i think most folks will be best off with a single board quiver for consistency
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Thanks again for the reply’s guys. I’m yet to use my new long board in super clean conditions and have only been going out in waves when it’s cross shore, which I think could be the reason why I’m struggling on it. I usually only sup foil in waves when it’s ultra clean conditions so probably just need to wait for that to happen again before testing.