Hi marco
Any word on the vol for the biggest nut in the range

Kia ora, given the context please take this review with a grain of salt, in fact I was a bit hesitant about writing any sort of critique given my novice status but thought it might be useful as these boards are very fresh and new, and somebody of my weight and relative inexperience who is considering it might get something from this .

Context
I’m an intermediate, 78 kegs, wrong side of 50, surf supping 2 years, never surfed in my life, but have pole surfed in waves for 25 years. Currently on a 2014 8’2” x 32” widepoint (nice board), get out on average once a week on local beachies where head high is considered a fairly epic day.

Construction & Design
Yes this the carbon version of the 7’2” x 28, weighing in on our steam powered bathroom scales at about 7kg inc fins and the nice pad. So pretty much in line with the 8 x 28 pro of similar volume but sans pad. Must say a pleasure not to have to grip this board up. Nice design touches and quality finishing abounds. The rails look fat from the pics but I think that’s an optical illusion produced by pad stopping well short of the top of the rail. I’m not really sold on the brushed pin stripe and the fluoro (no need to carry flares in an offshore, if you are blown out to sea the coast guard will have no issues spotting you) detail, but its growing on me. I’m told this combo may or may not be the long run production colour graphic. The wood version looks quite tasty to my eye BTW. The recessed handle is the now standard internally shaped for finger grip version most boards have, without going to the cavernous JL style of handle. The handle is well placed being centred around the balance point making the board an easy carry. I also found my feet best placed around the handle when paddling in a straight line.

As regards design, previous posts about the proto cover it really, plus I’m out of depth on this one. The concave through front and middle and negative V detail in the channels appear to be all as per the proto. I did note the “nut” rail kink is quite subtle and you don’t really notice it except when you turn it over. Fins are nice hexel glass M7s and M5s. Maybe it would be nice to have the thruster option but trust the boys have it right going quad and sans the nubster as well. It really is a compact board and the Top Gear tip of the week is when you’re putting on the RSPro Extreme rail tape, start it right from the corner of the nose because when you reach with the paddle you’ll be going well past that point, and the rail is so short you’ll end of taping past the tail if you don’t start at the nose.

Stability
Well yeah this was a major for me coming off 32” so with some trepidation I dipped its toes in some flat water on Sat and Sun (thankfully no surf in the w/e to make a knob of myself in). No worries! Floated me well, but to be expected I guess with 105L vs 78kgs, water slightly lapping over the rear third of the board, stability was awesome for such a small board, was paddling for 45 mins each session, stayed dry, poked my nose into some slightly rougher wind blown water in the middle of the bay and whilst had to keep paddling and doing a fair bit of hula, toilet stance and bracing it was all fairly controlled. In the smooth it was very comfy, I could stay stationary and relax the legs a bit. Secondary stability was excellent, as you can imagine was dipping the rails a lot but they just popped straight back up with nary a correction. Out in the line up its going to be completely different of course but I have an overall sense this will eventually be an allrounder for moi provided the perseverance is maintained.

Performance
Well because of no surf this will have to wait for another day. But I can say glide was average to OK, the nose seem to push water visually(although I wonder if you are just seeing stuff that a normal nose would hide?) but never got drowned (we’ll see how that goes paddling out in the surf) and I could paddle 500m without cracking a sweat. Tracking was better than the WP, could do 6-8 strokes aside no probs, guess the narrowness and parallel outline all doing good things here. I think this trait is going to mucho welcome when catching waves. Spin turns were easy, very forgiving board as regards manouevring it around. I did in fact get down to local break on the Sunday and catch half a doz 3” monsters rolling through. Absolute cake to catch them and started to feel that nice little lift on the bump of the, I hesitate to say, wave and also a wee burst of acceleration once caught that gave a tantalizing hint of what might come in decent surf.

Overall I’m stoked with the board and the experience so far and can’t wait to get into some waves soon.

Chur

Anyone got photos of the AST Electric construction?

Yes but not for publication yet

Wicksy said..
Anyone got photos of the AST Electric construction?

Yes but not for publication yet.

BrisKites said..
Yes but not for publication yet

Wicksy said..
Anyone got photos of the AST Electric construction?

Yes but not for publication yet.

PM?

Zane Schweitzer used his Hypernut during the repechage final during the ISA SUP titles two or three days ago.
You could see the speed diference but it was also possible to see the board surfs a lot different from a traditional shape!

HGFish said..

gregc said..
I am thinking the 7'8 for me. I really do want to demo one before I order though. I am still a bit unsure of how this will compare to the Airborne I am on right now (8'8). I would think an extra foot cut off the length would be a huge transition but I may be wrong.

I've had a go on the 7'2" x 28 and also surfed the Airborne you have - of course not as stable as the 8'8" (which is wider too) but surprising how stable it is, after about 15 min was reasonably comfortable and I expect, as with other boards when you first get on, it will become less challenging over a few sessions. I'm 85kg for weight reference. Demo is of course the best option.

No problem, I reckon will be OK and lot of fun after some more sessions. You will be used to it

Check it out.
The heat i saw starts @2:41:00 and to me it is quite clear that these shapes have both advantages and disadvantages comparing to a more traditional one.
Also remember that one thing is the board feeling great because they carry more speed, another thing is the board surfing great, meaning that some of these shapes (not all of them) tend to make you surf flatter.



Also, have in mind that Zane is riding a 6'9 x 23" x 3" which is FAR from the boards we are riding.

Johnny

JohnnyMaya said..
Zane Schweitzer used his Hypernut during the repechage final during the ISA SUP titles two or three days ago.
You could see the speed diference but it was also possible to see the board surfs a lot different from a traditional shape!

Sure JohnnyThese competitors in those mushy waves would be better gear with small Hyper NUT , more speed, more glide , more off and down the wave and much larger dish pan
I mean small when there is less board-liters than SUPer-kilos.

saw the 7"8 in wood construction in the flesh this morning, looked very nice.

Jeroensurf said..
Do you know the volume of it?

Volume of the 7'8 is 115L

Pictures of this Wood board and other specs are on page 3 of this thread.

Cheers,
Marco

IMO, asking to put tail pad later on up to you is the same custom order as asking it about fins plug positions . Tail pad is the connection between back feet pressure and fins/planning area reaction. so you cant move it out of the board balance given by its shaper .

I have just had one of the most exhilarating and exciting SUP session ever!
I have just borrowed the 8’0” Hyper Nut from Scot at Starboard UK.

See my blog about my session here
www.kitesurfingtorquay.co.uk/blog/24-new-starboard-hyper-nut

Amazing board!

Hi Andre,

Read your blog, good review & sounds like a great board Coincidently I live in Torquay in Victoria, Australia.

I'm about the same weight as you, but a bit taller. Just wondering did you find the 8'0" corky/too big for your size? I'm considering the 7'8" x 30", but would go the 8'0" for the extra stability/glide. I'd be happy to trade a bit of performance for more stability/comfort.

Many thanks,

LT.

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