Converting feet and inches: What the lengths on SUPs and wing boards mean

Every US traveller has noticed that Americans don't like the metric system very much. In the SUP sector, however, board length, width and often also thickness are commonly specified in feet and inches worldwide - just as they are for surf and wing boards. This is often a little confusing for beginners, but we shed some light on the subject.

How long are feet and inches in centimetres?

• A Foot (ft) corresponds to 30.48 cm, it is divided into 12 inches
• A Inch (in) corresponds to 2.54 cm, twelve inches form one foot, one inch corresponds to 0.0833 feet. Inches are sometimes also referred to as "inches", but the length is identical

The lengths in feet and inches are marked with one or two apostrophes (prime and double prime). For example, nine feet and six inches are written 9'6".

Attention: This is not "nine point six" feet, but 9 feet plus 6 inches - here you have to rethink a little from the usual decimal system!

For smaller sizes, such as the width of a board, often only the inches are given.

Also interesting:

• Buying advice: Your first wave SUP board
• Which construction method should I choose for the SUP?
• Buying advice for beginners - The first SUP

Table: Convert board lengths from feet and inches to centimetres

When the length of SUP boards and wingfoil boards is given in feet and inches, for many Europeans the big mental arithmetic begins. We have already converted the information in the usual sizes here (rounded to one decimal place):

4 feet

5 feet

6 feet

7 feet

8 feet

9 feet

10 feet

11 feet

12 feet

13 feet

The origin of feet and inches as a measure of length

The terms "foot" and "inch" have their roots in antiquity. The foot was originally defined as a measurement based on the human foot, which led to regional variations. In medieval England, the foot was eventually standardised to create uniform measurements for trade and construction. In 1959, the English-speaking countries using this length system standardised their measurements worldwide.

The inch also has its origins in physical attributes; originally it corresponded roughly to the width of a human thumb, and in some cases the width of three grains of barley was also the basis for the inch. The term is related to the word "ounce", meaning roughly "one twelfth".

In the USA, feet and inches are used in many areas of life. For example, heights are often given in feet and inches. For example, someone who is 5 feet 10 inches tall has a height of 1.78 metres. In the construction industry, plans and specifications are also often noted in these units.