kona one for beginners

[fanaticultrahawk]

looking to buy a kona one for myself, but is this a good board to teach beginners on or is it to narrow?

[mccoyms]

I seriously considered purchasing that board as well, but decided against it because it seemed a little too narrow to teach beginners. I decided to get the Mistral Standup Paddleboard, which is great for teaching people to uphaul and waterstart. The lack of a daggerboard is one flaw. I love the board because of its versatility. I can use it on really light days for windsurfing, as a SUP on calm days, as a beginner board on medium days. Also, it's a good board to take along on family non-windsurfing vacations because of its versatility.

[Aranel]

I have taught beginners on my Kona One. It's not the best board for this, perhaps, but it works okay. I was at a beginners' meet a few weeks ago where it was the board every beginner wanted to sail out of a smattering of wideboards and old longboards. It's also a more versatile board than the standard wideboard. The wideboards aren't much fun to sail in low winds after you get a few basic skills, but the Kona is a nice low-wind cruiser.

You can SUP a Kona too, but it isn't quite as easy to paddle as a dedicated SUP board. I've got a good writeup here:

http://www.lbwindsurfing.com/cruising/a-year-of-longboarding/

-Ian