i havent ridden it myself
but have witnessed team riders fighting over who gets to ride the board
word is it rips
Yeah I've had a quick paddle on one and enjoyed it.
First of all I'm into wider boards myself but I found it alot more stable than I thought it would be. Floats my 92 kegs easy.
Haven't had it in waves yet. This weekend I hope.
My son is 85 kg and loves it. He is stoked the way it surfs.
I'm catching up with him this weekend for a boys trip away. Will let you know more next week.
I am only 75kg and I surfed the board this morning in a 2ft beachy on the goldy. I will also be trying it out tomorrow morning set up as a quad. Am happy to post my thoughts later in the day if you are interested.
My first impressions are that I am way too light for the board and it is very very stable for such a short board.
from my experience anything with a thick round nose dose not respond that quickly regardless if your light or heavy, Thin narrow noses turn on a time light a short board. The 8 5 pro is thick and round. Depends what ya into I guess
Personally I dont think the nose has got anything to do with how well a sup is going to turn - or any other board for that matter. If you are pulling a very big turn - especially on a sup then the nose is 9 times outta ten gunna be so far outta the water that its just not gunna matter. Rail design/rocker/plan shape and rider ability are the only things that make a board turn well or not - not nose width and thickness.
This board is unreal, I've just stepped down from the 9'8 Element to the 8'5 Pro (in silver AST). What a performance difference. Initially had it setup as a thruster, now use it as quad & it goes awesome.
The nose rocker is great, late take off's no worries, I was waiting for the nose dive that would have happened on the element but stuck it & accelerated thru the bottom turn. Pretty light & very manouverable with great speed & acceleration.
Still pretty stable for an 8'5, overall stoked with the board, take one for a Demo if you can.
I was chatting to a lad* who sells Naish and Starboard - he must have been around 85Kgs. He had the 8'5 and I had the Hokua 9'. It was quite interesting what he said - if perfect waves then he'd always take out his Hokua 9'. If choppy, crumbly waves then he'd go the Starboard as he found it more stable.
Not the best review but it made me realise I'd bought the right board.
Cheers
*not from WSnS!
Hi I am , 85kg and own a 8´5 pro and 9´1 pro.
The board has plenty of stability for our weight, and is a fun ride. I like the 9´1 better because it builds up more speed so I feel I can hit the waves harder.
Regards.
