I knew I was planning to go 2 or 3 miles offshore sometimes and on some routes that were near shore, shore would be an undeveloped island. Even though I haven't had any problems with my iSUP, I decided the new SUP would be a hard board. I just don't want the concern of an accidental puncture, leak or problem with a valve occurring out in the ocean.
It was pretty obvious to me that I wanted a touring SUP, but I did investigate another option - fishing SUPs. They are basically purpose built touring SUPs with plenty of deck space and options for attachments, often including the ability to add specific attachments from the vendor. Coolers/seats with rod holders, gear boxes, mounts for electronics and even trolling motors (which I don't want). One downside is that most really aren't very seaworthy.; they tend to be designed primarily for inland and inshore fishing.
The Dragonfly 13' 6" is a nice stable fishing SUP with a modified V hull that seems to be pretty seaworthy. But it was well outside my budget and had a couple of drawbacks - weight and width. The width isn't terrible at 32", but is a little more than I wanted and it carries that width for almost the full length, so while it has a V hull and pointed bow, the angle of the point still makes it relatively blunt; it was not likely to paddle very fast. But the weight was a real show stopper - 45 pounds. It can still be car topped, but would require a couple of people to load/unload and wouldn't be good for general purpose paddling - meeting people at the lake to tool around or whatever. But if you are reading this blog for ideas for fishing in the open ocean, it is worth looking at; your needs and budget may be different than mine.
So I decided I wanted a more traditional touring SUP. I considered length, but it was really revisiting a decision I had made much earlier. I wanted a 14' board. A little more speed, stability and cargo space. This is a decision that I question to some degree; there are plenty of 12' 6" boards out there that I would probably be happy with. But I feel like it is more likely that I will second guess myself for buying a 12' 6" board than for buying a 14'.
About stability - my balance is good, but not great. To count on much, if any, improvement at this point isn't really a good idea. I need a relatively stable boat, not a race board with bungees. I decided I needed to look at boards in the 28" to 30" range.
I considered a Laird that was 28" on a closeout for $1089 delivered, which I could stretch my budget to. The reviews on it were fairly good but it was really designed more as a flat water cruiser than an open ocean board and some comments led me to think it might not be quite as stable as I was hoping for.
There were several vendors selling the 2016 Naish Glide 14' x 30" GTW SUP in my price range. I actually paddled this board at demo day back in June when my paddling skills weren't that great, but still paddled it at over 6 mph. I know it isn't a really fast board, but I won't have any trouble staying up with groups I normally paddle with. I also know that the reason so many are available is that Naish made a model that was only about 1/2" narrower that has less volume and slightly better performance. That board was and is more popular. Either would probably work for me, but the 30" is slightly more stable and could carry more, though either would carry more than enough.
The 30" was available to me in my price range and in the GTW construction - a lighter, better looking wood finish. The weight in that finish is about 34 pounds; a bit on the hefty side but manageable under one arm for at least a reasonable distance. Here is Naish's description of the board:
It describes nearly everything I want in a board. I pulled the trigger and bought one for $1049 delivered.
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