When talking about water sports and board sports, there’s a name that resonnate like no others: Robie Naish. The Windsurfing legend, Kiteboarding pioneer, Mr Naish has been exploring and pushing the limits of water sports in Hawaii for more than 30 years now. Naish has taken his experience building windsurfer and kiteboards to the fast growing sport of Stand Up Paddle. Thanks to great designs, great shapes and solid constructions, the Naish’s boards are some of the best SUP boards you can get today. And it is no surprise that SUP Champions Chuck Paterson and SUP surfing prodigy Kenni Lanai ride and paddle Naish boards.
The really cool thing about the Naish line is that they offer four different styles of Stand Up Paddleboards, in various length and tops:
• The Glide Series, for flatwater touring and racing.
• The Nalu Series, all-around long board versatility.
• The Hokua Series, performance short board style SUPS.
• The Mana Series, short wide and stable for easy surfing.
Hokua 9.6"
Mana 10.0" AST
Race board Naish
Nalu 11.4" AST
Supthebay.com now offers the entire Naish line of Stand Up Paddleboards. Boards can be tested and seen at our demo center in Sausalito at Sea Trek. You can then purchase the model of your choice directly from us. In addition in the upcoming weeks we will be reviewing various boards from the Naish line and go more in depth in their riding charachterisics.
Our favorites are the:
• Naish Catalina 12.6″ Carbon race board, $1829. Ideal for racing in flat water or the open ocean. A great board for the money.
• Naish 17’0, $2699. Perfect for taking advantage of the summer winds in the Bay Area or along side the Pacific coast. Hawaii tested!
• The Nalu 11.4″ or 11.6″, $1249. These SUP boards are just amazing flat water paddling, beginners and small wave surfing. We have been riding this board at Sea Trek for almost two years and they rock!
• The Mana 10.0″, $999 (soft top version). If you are going to Bolinas or Santa Cruz and want to start practicing Stand Up surfing, that is the board you need. I would take it too Mexico too!
• The Hokua 9.6″, $1599 (bag included). For the more serious and experienced surfer, carve down the wave without having to get a ride every 15′. Go Stand Up!
All these boards are available for demo and purchase directly from us, you can email, or visit our online shop for more info.
The Almost 4th of July Decker Loop SUP Race, that You Don’t Want To Miss. Join us on Sherman Island near Rio Vista for a fun Decker Island loop race. 6 miles for the pros or a 2 mile short course for the families and novice. Nice crowd, friendly atmosphere and BBQ.
SUPtheBAY is very exited to offer MARTIEWELLS 12’6 Ocean Racer for sale and demo. These boards are hand crafted by top designer Martie Wells. His uniques “Hyglide Bottom” has 8% less drag than tradition shaped boards and with the wave piercing nose this board is incredibly fast in all conditions. Martie’s Hyglide Bottom is designed to perform at optimal levels in all conditions. The drop down section underneath mimics a narrow board that would be to narrow to balance and ride. However, the upper wings, that are the full width of the board provide a unparallelled stable ride. The sharp edges in the tail with rocker assists forward drive in down wind and allows the rider to even catch and ride waves as a tradition surf board would. The Vertical Entry nose will slice through waves rather than bobbing up and down which will cause loss of forward momentum. Add all of this together and you have an incredibly fast and stable board. Each board has an original design in either wood veneer or colored resign. The clear XM clear grip deck traction makes so you don’t loose the beautiful design of the board.
Boards are available with hatchet fins, paddles and board bags.
Please see our SUP SHOP for pricing and watch for our detailed review and videos coming soon!
I’m sure many of you have seen this bright yellow and orange Surftech Bark Competitor out on the water. We had the opportunity to ride this board for over a month and we saw plenty of them being ridden by extreme racers to novice paddlers. This board fits into many different categories, some better than others but, truly a multipurpose board.
The board was rated on Stability, Speed, maneuverability and features.We tested this board in open ocean, gail force winds and everything in between. We even put beginners on it.
STABILITY
The board performed great in heavy swell and large chop. It had no problem pushing through swell and surfed great down wind. The Competitor was able to handle heavy cross wind and chop decently well, with not to much work keeping balance. For novice paddlers they may need some time to get use to the tipsiness but, found that they had an easier time on this board than many others out there.
This board rated a 3 out of 5 on stability.
SPEED
For a production Tuflite board we found this board to be surprisingly fast. Given its no carbon fiber rocket but, fast none the less. Great on acceleration and glide, performed admirably cruising. Was able to penetrate with ease through the wind and swell and didn’t loose to much speed.
This board rated a 4 out of 5 on speed.
MANEUVERABILITY
We know that maneuverability has a lot to do with the fin that is on the board but, we are basing this on the stock fin that came with the board from Surftech. The board turned decently well during regular paddling. It tracked well too. When it comes tom buoy turns we really had to get back on the tail to wip it around. It was fairly easy to turn once we figured it out.
This board rated a 3 out of 5 on maneuverability
FEATURES
We’re not going to necessarily rate this category but, simply give you a couple features that we thought were cool.
1. The handle is great on this board. It is so nice to not have the traditional inset handhold but, a nice neoprene covered approx. two foot strap center on the board. It makes it easy to carry the paddle and board in one hand. This was our favorite feature.
2. Diamond deck pad, this pad was great and prevented slip on more than one occasion. Its black so it doesn’t show dirt and grim, especially in the bay with all our mud.
3. Nose design, this nose performed fantastic in the nasty conditions in Northern California. It sliced through waves and stayed high on down wind runs. One of our favorite things about the design.
This board definitely performs best as a race board but, is very well suited for touring, training or just a short paddle on a nice day.
