Boards For LiveAboards🏄🏻

Jason

Feb 16, 2025 — 5 min read

If you're living full-time on a sailboat your gonna want some water toys. We could dive into leisure stuff like a giant 6 person inflatable flamingo, but that stuff is easy to figure out. Boards (SUP, Foil) on the other hand are a little more complicated. Especially if you want them to be multi-purpose for everyone from kids to adults and from wing foiling to tender towing, there is a lot to consider.

The products below are what we own. We don't get commission from the companies we recommend, but some of the links are for Amazon and we do get a small commission if you click through and purchase.

SUPs

We prefer SUPs over kayaks because it gets us up higher, so we can see down and into the water to spot fish life. It makes for a comfortable swim platform floating behind the boat when we're chillin on anchor or for towing along when we're snorkeling. We use our SUPs to paddle to shore when there's a rocky beach, or a shore break where we're uncomfortable landing the tender. And, I feel like it's more of a full body workout vs a kayak.

We debated back and forth about rigid vs. inflatable SUPs. There is no doubt that a similar rigid board will perform better, it will last longer, and the custom boards can be a functional piece of art. The downside is they cost more, they can bash into the boat and cause damage, they can get scratched up during a beach landing, and storing them out of the sun can be a challenge on a small boat. For us, and our boat, rigid didn't make sense.

We've had wide SUPs designed for comfort cruising in the past, and they were great for beginners, but this time we wanted a little more performance. We wanted 12' or longer with a narrow design made for higher speeds with good glide performance. Feb 2024 we purchased a nice X500 Touring Board and beautiful all carbon paddle from Decathlon. It was a sweet setup but the glue failed after 2 rides. We were able to get a refund but we were afraid to purchase another. Which had us searching and researching again.

We ended up with the YellowV 13' Tugela. It checked all the boxes, and since they are owned by Vetus it was easy to get it shipped in via a local distributor in Cebu (Vetus is a huge boat parts distributor so there's a good chance there's a dealer near you.)

We've owned it since June 2024 and so far no issues with using it in the humid, tropical heat of the Philippines. We've been very happy with this model. The price sits firmly in the middle of the pack in comparison to other similar iSUPs. It comes with a bunch of accessories including a paddle that converts into a kayak paddle. If you have lots of visitors, or kids, it might be a good option to add the kayak seat. We're thinking about ordering one so we have it for newbies and guests who prefer kayaking.

I spent days researching, reading reviews, scouring the manufacturer websites, and these boards were my 2 runner ups:

Comfortable for Any Level Rider: BOTE Wulf Aero 11' 4" https://amzn.to/40ZDKuP
Performance Almost as Good as a Rigid: Bluefin Carbon 12' https://amzn.to/431HH4D

Foil Boards

I'm not gonna lie, this one had my head spinning. When we decided to look into foil boards the options are endlessly overwhelming. Then when we chose to go with Foil Drive to convert our boards into eFoils, it got even more technical. If you're new to foiling I'm going to recommend you check out Foil Drive's website and YouTube channel. They have a Blog Page that includes a section called "GUIDES" that help you select board and wing sizes. There is also a "MASTERCLASS SERIES" that goes through the process of e-foiling. Both were VERY helpful for us.

How we chose our boards

We've been into board sports forever, from snowboarding to wakeboarding. We've ridden on eFoils in the past and had a blast. And we've been surfing and kiteboarding a handful of times, but we wouldn't call ourselves regulars at those sports yet. So we aren't total newbies, we don't have a ton of experience either.

We wanted boards, foils and wings that would challenge us and be able to transition from learning to wing foiling and eventually to surfing. I put together a list using AXIS and the Foil Drive websites, and before ordering I confirmed with each of them I was getting what I truly needed. Both were responsive and helpful. These setups are good for all-around use that will keep up as our skills increase. However if we get 100% hooked on winging or surfing, then we may need to add another mast or select a different motor placement. Here's what we ended up with.

Feeling Sporty

Perfect for Cruising

Extras

Spare MAX Power Battery
Inline Battery Checker
AXIS Power Carbon High Modulus 820 Mast We ordered an additional mast so we can foil behind the tender. This will help us get comfortable getting pulled so when we pick up a wing it won't feel as foreign. Also towing behind a tender is easier for first time foilers, that way they can learn foiling and not have to worry about controlling the throttle at the same time.

Things to Consider

Our Australian buddy Victor turned us onto The Foil Drive brand and they are killing it! They started with a simple retro-fit kit called Assist Plus that easily converts any board and mast into an eFoil (it's perfect if you already own a setup for kiting). When we ordered they had just launched the Assist MAX battery, Gen2 Drive and the integrated mast and board collab with AXIS. Since we ordered our setup in June '24 they've launched some new products we'd highly consider.

Titanium hardware will help eliminate rust.
New travel size batteries which can be taken on an airplane.
An even more powerful battery called HIGH POWER MAX.

When we placed our order, one thing we didn't fully understand about Foil Drive, that I feel is worth a knowing. These are not designed to be like other eFoil brands with a massive battery that you just ride like a Jet Ski. The Foil Drive systems are designed to be "FOIL ASSIST" which makes them incredibly versatile. Meaning you can wing foil, surf foil, wake foil and even foil on flat water. We understood the versatility and that's what drew us to the system, but don't expect to be foiling full throttle for 2 hours…our play time last about an hour. If we want to play longer, that's where we need to learn how to pump, wing or surf…and that's the fun part!

A HUGE Shout-Out to our friend Victor for introducing us to this idea. He's the one that first showed us the Foil Drive and his "pumping to get ripped workout plan". Thank you Victor, and I hope we can come foiling with you one of these days.