Forums > Stand Up Paddle Foiling

Smallest Board size for knee starts

Reply
Created by Yuppy > 9 months ago, 29 Jul 2020
Yuppy
VIC, 663 posts
29 Jul 2020 5:44PM
Thumbs Up

I am 75kg
I have a 1010 axis on a short fuselage. I ride a 4 or5m wasp usually in 17-25Knots

i started on a 125 l naish hover.
after 6 sessions I went down I a 6"4' fanatic sky sup 95l. It's so much better than the big board
I can jybe and tack on foil and can ride small waves.

I want to get a smaller board

how small can you go and still be able to start on your knees? I should add, for normal humans at an intermediate level

can we talk body weight (BW) + or minus litres

hilly
TAS, 7195 posts
29 Jul 2020 8:28PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Yuppy said..
I am 75kg
I have a 1010 axis on a short fuselage. I ride a 4 or5m wasp usually in 17-25Knots

i started on a 125 l naish hover.
after 6 sessions I went down I a 6"4' fanatic sky sup 95l. It's so much better than the big board
I can jybe and tack on foil and can ride small waves.

I want to get a smaller board

how small can you go and still be able to start on your knees? I should add, for normal humans at an intermediate level

can we talk body weight (BW) + or minus litres


Do a search there a few threads on this. 10l over weight is safe. Short and wide got the gong but they are harder to pump onto foil. Very small is good too apparently.

emmafoils
307 posts
29 Jul 2020 7:34PM
Thumbs Up

Sounds like you are advancing faster than most. With mediocre abilities, I have had no problems with +7 in fresh water so you can probably go +5 easily. Some believe that for surface stability, width is what matters the most but I am not so sure. I think overall surface area, board volume, foil volume, foil/mast drag all matter a lot for knee starting. I also don't see any benefits for width less than about 24 inches for a wing board.

bigtone667
NSW, 1502 posts
29 Jul 2020 9:41PM
Thumbs Up

I am 105kg and can knee start on a 95L (although it is a pain in choppy conditions). On a 110L it is super easy. I think you will probably get away with a 75L.

DWF
565 posts
29 Jul 2020 7:53PM
Thumbs Up

Plus 0 is doable at my age of 66. Plus 8 is comfortable, and what I use. Minus 10 I've done, but too much work.

Young guys plus 0...everyone else plus 5 to 10

Relapse
VIC, 574 posts
29 Jul 2020 10:59PM
Thumbs Up

I hope Josh gets his 75L Fanatic soon Yuppie, then we can give a small board a go. At 70kg my 92L is starting to feel very big.

Andy_Mac
WA, 13 posts
29 Jul 2020 9:39PM
Thumbs Up

Ive just cut dowm a windsurfer and made a wing board. Aprox. 60 litres, I'm 78 litres, goes unreal on the foil, a bit tricky to get started though!




baldy123
WA, 389 posts
29 Jul 2020 10:25PM
Thumbs Up

I'm 85kg and going to -10L. 5'x25.5"x75L. Just need to wait for the next Sunova delivery to WA.
Mainly use a 5.3m wing and axis 101/1000.
Demo'd a similar size and loved it (see images below), this one weighs in at 4.5kg (Vapor Tr3tec)
I found the small Wing board as easy to get up an foiling as my 115L aviator, however you do need to knee start.
West Oz is generally consistently windy all summer so small board should be a lot of fun for downwinging.




hilly
TAS, 7195 posts
30 Jul 2020 5:44AM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
dboy63 said..
Ive just cut dowm a windsurfer and made a wing board. Aprox. 60 litres, I'm 78 litres, goes unreal on the foil, a bit tricky to get started though!





I watched your struggle to start with and thought what is the point. Now you have it sussed I can see the benefits, you look very comfortable riding swells and through transitions. Tempted to give a smaller board a go, not sure the knees will survive it though.

paul.j
QLD, 3300 posts
30 Jul 2020 9:01AM
Thumbs Up

We have been playing around a bit and made a few customs for some crew, this one is sitting in my shop at the moment at 5ft x 23 x 75L x 4.1kg

I was thinking i could just normal SUP foil it as i don't do huge amount of wind winging. If you are starting on your knees(something i can not do because of dodge knees) you should be able to do body weight to equal Volume.






juandesooka
615 posts
30 Jul 2020 7:09AM
Thumbs Up

Good timing! I just had my first attempt at knee starting a shorter board yesterday. Roughly 5.8x24, 80L. I normally ride 6.8 sup, probably 120ish.

Pretty dodgy start, I couldn't balance on it, kept pitching forward when I tried to lift the wing. Required being a little further back, so nose stuck up, and keeping balance point lower. I only got up once, did 3 reaches and concentrated really hard on not falling off in turns, and then my time was up. Being lit up makes it way easier -- and super windy helps too, haha. Once up on my feet, it felt like normal getting up on foil and it was SO nice to ride with less swing weight.

Yuppy
VIC, 663 posts
30 Jul 2020 11:42AM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
Relapse said..
I hope Josh gets his 75L Fanatic soon Yuppie, then we can give a small board a go. At 70kg my 92L is starting to feel very big.


Problem is, josh doesn't want to give up his 75l and I have ordered the 95l. I think it's too big.
Judging from this feedback, I believe a BW + 5l is the perfect minimum size for knee starts.

KAOS69
WA, 1012 posts
3 Aug 2020 7:37PM
Thumbs Up

Just learnt to wing a few weeks ago must admit I already windsurf foil and kite foil so winging was just natural evolution learnt on 170 ltr 7 ft 2 sup great to learn on as you don't get wet. on my seventh session decided to try something different I have an old course race kite board approximately 50 ltr had to learn how to do a knee start but no problem and even at 85 kgs I could probably still go smaller yes it is a little wobbly but only for a few seconds it is such a good board to ride. First attempt I could jibe both ways and even switch feet on the foil what a huge difference to ride a small board not so good to learn on but I would recommend going to a small board as soon as your skill level allows you

Dommo49
166 posts
3 Aug 2020 7:55PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
paul.j said..
We have been playing around a bit and made a few customs for some crew, this one is sitting in my shop at the moment at 5ft x 23 x 75L x 4.1kg

I was thinking i could just normal SUP foil it as i don't do huge amount of wind winging. If you are starting on your knees(something i can not do because of dodge knees) you should be able to do body weight to equal Volume.







paul.j - this board sounds awesome!!!!! I've been using the Fanatic 5.0 for winging, which is an inch wider than this but the same 75 ltrs. I'm 83 kg and quite tall (I've always had to use wider boards than most people for SUP surfing (I used my height as an excuse but TBH I think I've just got crap balance when still - when moving I'm fine). I kneel start the Fanatic no problem. It's a nice board but my only grip about it is that it's heavy at 6.5 kg. No, that's not a typo, 6.5kg !!!!!!!!!!!! Any chance you can export from AUS to Muscat, Oman?

Andy_Mac
WA, 13 posts
13 Aug 2020 6:58AM
Thumbs Up

Just got hold of an old sup board.
Cut the back off it, length 4 foot 10 inches. Dropped some reinforced boxs in it , did some fairly rough rail shaping, glassed it. It ended up super chunky at the rear end. And very wide in the middle.
Was unsure how it was going to go, but to my suprise wad great, easy to get up, forgiving in transitions and small enough to feel good on waves, volume aprox. 75 litres
All this for under $300.00. Bonus!









DavidJohn
VIC, 17408 posts
13 Aug 2020 9:32AM
Thumbs Up

Well done.. Looks good.

Slyde
77 posts
13 Aug 2020 3:25PM
Thumbs Up

73kg here. Just moved to 80l after 6 months at 100l. Absolutely no problem to knee start and managed to drift home on my knees after the wind dropped. So for me +7 seems OK to get back on your knees at a pinch.

IanInca
274 posts
13 Aug 2020 4:18PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
dboy63 said..
Just got hold of an old sup board.
Cut the back off it, length 4 foot 10 inches. Dropped some reinforced boxs in it , did some fairly rough rail shaping, glassed it. It ended up super chunky at the rear end. And very wide in the middle.
Was unsure how it was going to go, but to my suprise wad great, easy to get up, forgiving in transitions and small enough to feel good on waves, volume aprox. 75 litres
All this for under $300.00. Bonus!










That's really cool, fair play dboy.. I havnt got the skills to do this myself but if I sourced an old board what do you think a shaper would charge me to do this? What was the donor sup? Great job...!

omg
276 posts
13 Aug 2020 4:32PM
Thumbs Up

Good to hear Slyde.

I am waiting for the delivery of Lemon 4'10 85liters and Unit 5m. I'm 78kg and this will be my first go on winging. Can't wait :)

Andy_Mac
WA, 13 posts
13 Aug 2020 9:31PM
Thumbs Up

Select to expand quote
IanInca said..

dboy63 said..
Just got hold of an old sup board.
Cut the back off it, length 4 foot 10 inches. Dropped some reinforced boxs in it , did some fairly rough rail shaping, glassed it. It ended up super chunky at the rear end. And very wide in the middle.
Was unsure how it was going to go, but to my suprise wad great, easy to get up, forgiving in transitions and small enough to feel good on waves, volume aprox. 75 litres
All this for under $300.00. Bonus!








Hi lanInca, sup board was a proto Smic board.
I dont know for sure what a shaper would charge, but at a guess probably $300 to $500 dollars. You can reuse grip off the sup.

That's really cool, fair play dboy.. I havnt got the skills to do this myself but if I sourced an old board what do you think a shaper would charge me to do this? What was the donor sup? Great job...!



Subscribe
Reply

Forums > Stand Up Paddle Foiling


"Smallest Board size for knee starts" started by Yuppy