I seem to be doing more and more stand up paddle these days ,as the shop is getting buisier and i have less free time to drive to the soup bowl and surf. However this has allowed me to try out a few more boards and have some new ideas about what i prefer also what seems to work better for new comers to the sport. For instance the high performance surf ,SUP boards when shortened to 10/6 and below start to lose stability and paddle power or glide . This may sound like i'm stating the obvious but it is incredable how much difference 6" can make on a paddle board also how much fun can be suddenly taken away from you as you start to follow trends or the crowd. My first board was an 11 ft infinity it did everything and was great fun for everyone. i then got a bit excited and got a 10 ft bonga perkins which was nervious and stoped me from going out so often. I then went on to a 10/6 pro surf hawaii and this seemed to be what i was looking for it paddeled reasonably well and when i caught a wave it was more responsive.Nerevtheless when going upwind with a slight chop on the water it was tiring and lost some of its appeal.Where am i going with this you ask ?Here we go my latest board is the paddle surf Hawaii 10/6 wide it surfs like a dream but when i first started to paddle it i had to stop and turn the board over to see if i was draging something . i wasn't and immeadeatly realised this is the price you pay when you start to specialise in one area of the sport. If you want to surf your sup and ride it short like below 10 ft then be prepared to work hard ,if you want to have some fun and paddle around catch a few waves then get something 10/6 to 11ft . i have ridden two 11 ft paddle boards both leaning more towards surfing the rusty 11ft which was stable paddeled well and surfed good very forgiving a great entry SUP for the surfers nice all rounder . Then there was the Pearson Arrow 11 ft killer board paddled well surfed really good it was a bit thinner so in the waves more responsive and because of the lenth lost very little paddle glide .all in all you have to find what works for you and what you are mainly going to on the water. How short am i going to go ? i dont know maybe by the end of the year i'll try a 10 /0 again but on the other hand do ireally want to work that hard when the PSH 10/6 wide works so well. Here is some of the boards i have coming in next week. Pearson Arrow 11ft,Gerry Lopez 11,ft Takayama 11ft,and the new Al Merric 10/i caddi . These are all good stable paddle boards that will glide well when the water is flat ,but if you wish to surf them and get a bit extream they will more than take you to the next level , after all look at the shapers the best of the best that have crossed over from the surfing world. Stay tuned ,Russell