Yeah, I think that for this reason, and as Luc highlights, Naish have it right going for 14x24, 14x26 and 14x28 (Maliko only, I think) rather than 14x23, 14x25 (or 24.5) and 14x27 like Starboard or Jimmy Lewis. But I guess it's good that the brands are slightly different because 2" is quite a big difference, and you can easily end up with a "between sizes" need. I'm with Luc, 26" wide feels very natural to me, my feet don't often hang off the rails and I virtually never hit the rails. Whereas at 25" or below I'm finding myself often with my toes kinda on the edge of the rail (or jammed up against the sidewall in my Ace), and at 23" wide I'm having to be very conscious about where my feet are, and changing the position of my feet as I paddle (eg. going from parallel to staggered stance) is tricky. But then I'm quite a broad build. People with narrower shoulders seem to stand with their feet closer together, so can go narrower without feeling restricted.

An extra inch or so in width isn't going to make much difference to the hydrodynamics of the board, in real-world race conditions. But it can make all the difference to how comfortable you feel on the board, especially on longer paddles. So I think that you have to fit the dimensions of your board to not only to your weight, but also to your height and how broad you are (and perhaps even how big your feet are). Your board needs to fit you perfectly like a glove, and in the same way that a glove that is an inch too big in any dimension will be next to useless, so is a board that doesn't fit you.

IMO you will be fast when your board "fits you". So it's hopeless saying that "X board is faster than Y board". It's like saying that a smaller glove is warmer than a bigger one. Warmer for who? Faster for who?

One day in the future there will be charts for dimension of boards that are like the size charts you have for wetsuits now, which take into account weight, height, and chest size. (See also bicycles.) We aren't at that level of understanding yet with SUPs, but eventually it will come. The Sunova "made to order" type approach is appealing in that respect. No doubt this is part of the reason why I now find going custom such an appealing idea. Once you find out what "fits" you (and it's taken me 30+ distance SUPs to do that), it's hard to accept a board that doesn't.

from
   https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=27309.15

Quote from: Pierre on June 10, 2015, 01:10:17 PM

depends on paddler's  size and weight, skill leveland conditions...
for average conditions, using boat stability theory, I computer this couple years ago.. depth of board in water is optional
more or less , the taller you are or the heaviest, wider you need.
if you are a beginner, take wider,
if backwash or cross bumps(current, etc) are likely to be encountered, take wider.
this table is just for reference,shaper rails, wide noses may improve stability, recessed decks too ,... this is for a 12,6 pin nosed average transom,for a 14', reduce 1/2 inch, for a 17,another 1/2 inch...

I know its based on standard principles but that chart seems to overestimate the current situation for pro's widths let alone us.

Pierre said it best himself, that chart is just a generalization.  There are so many variables, outline, rocker, bottom contour, etc.

Hi all, happy to see that chart getting out now,,, yes obviously there are several other parameters:shape, height of feet above water, etc,,, definition of "skill level being how you can dynamically lower your gravity center,

I drawn this chart for beginner-average level paddlers around 5 years ago...that's a reference only.

Since that time y used boards mathematically more stable, but with rounded bottom, a,dsurfski-like looking shapes, if one can stand on it and control rolling effect performance is awesome, oncluding in DWding conditions, but keeping balance is a huge challenge,

Yeah, I think that for this reason, and as Luc highlights, Naish have it right going for 14x24, 14x26 and 14x28 (Maliko only, I think) rather than 14x23, 14x25 (or 24.5) and 14x27 like Starboard or Jimmy Lewis.

With the 14ft increasingly likely as the defacto stock length generally, I for one am interested to see where Starboard goes for 2018. A few other big brands do seem to be hanging around the 24 and 26 points (Naish, Fanatic) but Starboard change their boards every year and their widths are very unusual (24.5 in '17 or 26.5 in 2014 for example). Starboard 2017 ended up with a gap in their Allstar range between the 24.5 and the 27. The 24.5 seems to be less stable than the 2016 25 and the 27 is really only for downwinding. That's just too big a gap in my view and needs plugging.

Yeah, I think that for this reason, and as Luc highlights, Naish have it right going for 14x24, 14x26 and 14x28 (Maliko only, I think) rather than 14x23, 14x25 (or 24.5) and 14x27 like Starboard or Jimmy Lewis. But I guess it's good that the brands are slightly different because 2" is quite a big difference, and you can easily end up with a "between sizes" need. I'm with Luc, 26" wide feels very natural to me, my feet don't often hang off the rails and I virtually never hit the rails. Whereas at 25" or below I'm finding myself often with my toes kinda on the edge of the rail (or jammed up against the sidewall in my Ace), and at 23" wide I'm having to be very conscious about where my feet are, and changing the position of my feet as I paddle (eg. going from parallel to staggered stance) is tricky. But then I'm quite a broad build. People with narrower shoulders seem to stand with their feet closer together, so can go narrower without feeling restricted.

An extra inch or so in width isn't going to make much difference to the hydrodynamics of the board, in real-world race conditions. But it can make all the difference to how comfortable you feel on the board, especially on longer paddles. So I think that you have to fit the dimensions of your board to not only to your weight, but also to your height and how broad you are (and perhaps even how big your feet are). Your board needs to fit you perfectly like a glove, and in the same way that a glove that is an inch too big in any dimension will be next to useless, so is a board that doesn't fit you.

IMO you will be fast when your board "fits you". So it's hopeless saying that "X board is faster than Y board". It's like saying that a smaller glove is warmer than a bigger one. Warmer for who? Faster for who?

One day in the future there will be charts for dimension of boards that are like the size charts you have for wetsuits now, which take into account weight, height, and chest size. (See also bicycles.) We aren't at that level of understanding yet with SUPs, but eventually it will come. The Sunova "made to order" type approach is appealing in that respect. No doubt this is part of the reason why I now find going custom such an appealing idea. Once you find out what "fits" you (and it's taken me 30+ distance SUPs to do that), it's hard to accept a board that doesn't.

 26" sidewinder would be nice. I'd like to try the 27. The 25 for me is riding a fairly fine line between flat and rough water. There are better flat water boards and better rough water ones. It does work a charm in mild chop though.  I don't think I'd ever choose a 23" all water. That'll be constrained to flat water and at that point I may as well be on a displacement board.

Quote from: Area 10 on April 25, 2017, 06:36:59 AM

I don't think the All Star 14x27 is for downwinding, really. There are far better 14x27 specialised boards for downwinding. It is instead the all-round distance board in their range for the occasional racer or big guy racer.

Neither Naish nor Starboard have a dedicated downwinding board in their range, unfortunately. But they are not alone, and it keeps sales for JL, SIC, Bark etc up.

Well, a 2.5 inch gap is pretty big don't you think ? 24.5 is still exclusive (and at the limits of many racers) but a 27 is going to be a dog in anything other severe chop.

Is it REALLY 24.5"? Those of us here who have been keenly watching Starboard over the last 10 years have seen that there is sometimes only a passing resemblance between the actual width of the board and the advertised one. The 2016 25 might always have been a 24.5, rounded up, perhaps? Starboard may have changed the advertised width as a marketing tool to emphasis the difference year-on-year. They still seem to be pretty much sticking roughly with the 23, 25, 27 that they have for a while - although there was a 14x28 AS I think that was quite a different design and was indeed really aimed at DWing. PT Woody had one, I think, maybe? Bulbous nose, more rocker, very stable.

Although with technology these days as it is, there really isn't any need for a board not to be an advertised width (within pretty tight tolerances), I'd still use the advertised dimensions as only a guide, and boards may differ from each other as well because of manufacturing error variance. Some are way off what they say: The SIC Bullet 14ft v1 is actually only 13ft 10" long. I has a custom board bag made for it and was puzzled when I couldn't get my SIC Bullet V2 in it...so measured it and hey presto, the 14ft v1 isn't actually 14ft long at all! A few years back when the Ace GT came out, it was advertised at a different width than it actually turned out to be - and quite different from the marked dimensions actually on the board itself.

So in this context I wouldn't start making anything much of half an inch. Get yourself a pair of calipers and go have some fun measuring your boards to see what dimensions they *really* are

A few years back when the Ace GT came out, it was advertised at a different width than it actually turned out to be - and quite different from the marked dimensions actually on the board itself.

I can attest that I have an Ace-GT marked 28" on the board and that actually measure about 27" at the widest point. I think that the very same board has showed both in literature and as marked on the board as 28", 27.5" and 27". I cannot check this of course but I would doubt that they changed the design on this "niche" board by 0.5" just for the sake of it.