Ready for a more progressive surf style sup - Naish Hokua, Infinity, PSH

[Acrane7]

So I am fairly new to standup but have found out quickly why it is becoming more popular. I AM COMPLETELY ADDICTED! Since this new addiction has started my 9' Firewire Flexflight collects dust and my fish sees the water every now and then. In February I decided to make my first SUP purchase after ridind a few different boards and seeing if I really wanted to invest. I had mostly riden a  10'6" C4 Classic that was my roommates before making my decision. So after research, which was all done based on internet viewing, I decided to buy the 9'6" Naish Nalu with a Kialoa Methane paddle (stoked on both!!). Mostly the decision was made as it is shaped a lot like my Firewire Flexflight longboard. This was the greatest choice ever! It has a very high performance longboard shape, which I am used to. Its rail to rail is very fast, down the line speed is great, it nose rides very well, and you can drive it for speed like a shorter board. At first I struggled on this board because of the narrow outline and lower volume than the boards I had ridden. But I got used to it, and learned my board very quick (I am a persistent person). So with this little bit of background, I am turning to you more knowledgeable paddlers for some advice on buying a shorter more progressive board.

For reference I am 5'10" at 150-155lbs (70Kgs) and an intermediate surfer and paddler.

The boards I have narrowed it down to are a Naish 8'0" or 8'5" Hokua, PSH 8'6" Ripper or 8' Ripper Wide, or the Infinity 8'5" Team Label. I am leaning towards the Naish as the first board I bought has brought an insane amount of smiles and happiness to me. But the big issue is their new price they decided to jack the boards up to. The Nalu was bought because my local shop got a 2011 at a great discount and passed it on to me.

As far as the Hokua goes, the 8' might be to much for me to handle especially in the smaller Florida waves. But I have the chance to get one for under 1k. My budget is around that area and thats why I started to look at the PSH and the Infinity. Both of these companies offer a board with similar shapes as the Hokua. Does anyone have any experience on any of these boards, that can lend me a hand? Or any other board with a dimension of 8'0" to 8'6" at 28" wide and 3-3/4" to 4" thick? No shop around Jacksonville Beach, FL has any of these to demo, all bigger longboard shapes.

Thanks for any help,

Andrew Crane

[surfsupHI]

Hey Howzit goin!! You should check out Flight Hawaii Sup. Its built for performance surfing and they do have something you would like. Im stoked on mines!! It comes in two construction PVC and Full Carbon. If you would like more info i can can give you contact info? Aloha!

[Acrane7]

Thanks for the info. I saw yours in another post, looks super sick! The reasons I chose the brands I mentioned is my LSS sells these brands and I would like to try an support them. They always help me out and I like to send them as much business as possible.

Although, price always comes in to play. Can you give me a rough guess what your board ran you? And where they are located?

Thanks for the input!

[SoCalSupper]

between the Infinity and the PSH you really cant go wrong-nothing wrong with the Hokua either-all great boards
See if you can find a shop to let you demo-the 8-5 sounds like a better fit in the mellower FL waves-the new Infinity Boardworks TL is tough, light and is a proven shape.
Good luck and welcome to the addiction!

[banzai]

I have a 8 6 PSH Ripper and its a great board to surf when conditions are nice. However in larger surf and choppy/windy conditions its harder to get into the wave. It doesn't have great paddle characteristics and being shorter in length it is a bit rock and roll but that's what makes it great once on the wave. How about the 8 9 hull ripper?

[Strand Leper]

Andrew,

I would give extreme pause before buying a PSH Ripper or wide Ripper for the surf that you are thinking of.  IMHO, that board is very slow compared to the others that you are thinking of... especially the Infinity.  

I had an 8'6" Ripper and rode it as a quad and as a 2+1.  In big surf, it is a great board as big surf doesn't overpower it... but I found it to be exceedingly plodding in small surf or wind swell.  I sold it after a few months.

Good luck!

Tim

[colas]

Florida? Summer?
Believe me, you want shapes made for gutless waves, not boards designed to work best in Hawaian waves. In the PSH or Naish brands, I would advise you go with the Naish 7'3" (or 7'8" if you want to play it safe). These wide and short designs will be both much stabler for your height and incredibly much more fun in slow waves.
I do not know the infinity range of boards.

Note that as you seem to be a longboarder, your best bet for total absolute summer fun would be a 7'-and-something "mini longboard" shape (with fast flat rocker and wide tail), or a kind of "mini simmons"

[Dwight (DW)]

Are you aware of my open source 7'8 design? The CAD drawings were posted on my blog.

There are 2 sizes. 7'8 x 28.5 x 4 (Jacky Model) and 7'8 x 29.5 x 4.5 (Dwight Model)

It's faster, more stable, lighter, and more loose. It smokes the production 7'8's and 8'0s from the big guys.

There are 12 of them world wide out there. 8 locally.

The factory making reproductions for everyone locally is http://greenroomboardco.com/  They charge around $1030 for them. That prices is about what any local shaper would charge to reproduce one for you.

http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2012/05/78-jacky-model-in-holland.html
http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2012/01/greenroom-replicas-are-here.html
http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2012/05/another-78-ready-to-surf.html
http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2012/04/62-ft-7-sec-awesome-day.html  everyone in these photos is surfing a 7'8.