VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Okay so I finally began to enjoy SUP surfing in Maui this last trip.
I think it was because I finally was on the right size board for where my ability is at.

8'5" 30 inches wide, 125 L Jimmy Lewis World Wide Carbon Edition. Carbon was nice! So light!
I should have bought it, but alas no mast base mount.

Does anyone know of something comparable with a mast base option? Anyone tried a quatro in the 120L range? I don't like the look of the starboard pocket rocket, but maybe I shouldn't discount it - anyone tried it?

How hard would it be to put a mast base mount in a SUP?

Janet,

The old 8'6" Quatro was in the 120L range and 30 wide. Sailed well, surfed pretty well, had a mast foot bung. Only downside was it was fragile. New ones are better I believe. My personal feeling is that you are better off on a bigger, dedicated windsurfing wave board with enough float for waves and light wind and a dedicated SUP for just surfing. You end up with too much compromise on either end. A smaller starboard Widepoint or pocket rocket might be of interest to you if you are certain you want to surf and sail the board. The PR is very stable but surfs pretty well and is faster/turnier than its looks might suggest. I haven't sailed one but am sure it would be fine. It has a wider tail, so you need to be pretty active with your backfoot and weight distribution to get the best from it. Keen has one and seems to be happy with it. A retro fitted mast foot -bung-equipped board will be extra prone to mast hit damage as it will have zero extra reinforcement.

sounds almost exactly like my board a 2013 starboard 8'5 x 29 pro 123l in tough AST construction, it windsurfs great.

I installed a mast track in my sup, not that hard to do.

janetfish wrote:Okay so I finally began to enjoy SUP surfing in Maui this last trip.
I think it was because I finally was on the right size board for where my ability is at.

8'5" 30 inches wide, 125 L Jimmy Lewis World Wide Carbon Edition. Carbon was nice! So light!
I should have bought it, but alas no mast base mount.

Does anyone know of something comparable with a mast base option? Anyone tried a quatro in the 120L range? I don't like the look of the starboard pocket rocket, but maybe I shouldn't discount it - anyone tried it?

How hard would it be to put a mast base mount in a SUP?

jelly has the quatro carbon 120 carve with mast bung, maybe she'll let u test it.

winddoctor wrote:Janet,
surfs pretty well and is faster/turnier than its looks might suggest.... you need to be pretty active with your backfoot and weight distribution to get the best from it.

Wow Chris you definitely could work for a magazine that is so diplomatic!

All the windsurf companies put mast tracks on many of their boards. Make sure the model you want actually has one as I bought one that they said had one and it didn't have the bung.

At 170 lb the 120 litre size is good as it is wider and more volume than most wave boards or free style waves, and has reasonable stability to SUP. At gusty Long Beach this can get me out in comfort in a couple less knots than my 106 JP single thruster, a wave board. Depends when you want to switch from regular SUP to windsurf too. The JP performs way better though so I find I use it more than I used to.

I have put mast tracks in 2 SUPs. Costs about $150. Needs to be done right with divinycel. (Sp?). Jimmy Lewis boards are tough so I don't think you would have a problem.

i was looking at a jimmy lewis worldwide the other day, it looked like it would be a great board to sail as the rails seem to be more sharp and further forward than my own board. plus there is a deckpad right up to the nose. shame they don't install a little mast insert in there.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Super-helpful. Will wait for finances to recover from Maui and then I will go shopping!

I think you'll find any AST construction SUP does not last very long from mast whacks. A carbon board (which mimics windsurf construction) will be magnitudes better but $$$ and then you might as well just buy a big windsurf board.

I was thinking the same thing after Windoc's post. Have decided to keep the two separate.

janetfish wrote:Have decided to keep the two separate.

yes, it is a good idea to keep the masts and the rails well separate