8'5 Naish Hokua feedback

[maui wave warrior]

I have been playing around on the new 8'5 Naish Hokua lately. Since our N shore season is pretty much done I have been frequenting the S shore whenever there are waves. It's a bit early in the season but there have been plenty of days in the waist to shoulder high range to fool around in to try a new board. So here is my feedback for this board in this size of surf. In calm to slightly choppy conditions the board is pretty stable even at a stand still. Has enough glide to easily catch waves with just a couple of strokes if you position yourself correctly. Performance on the wave using the truster set up with stock fins is excellent. The board loves to perform hard carving bottom turns and near vertical bottom to top cutbacks. Down the line speed appears to be good enough to make moderately fast sections but larger waves are needed to really test this. On the smaller softer waves in the knee to waist high range the board needed more power and was a bit sluggish. It really starts to come alive in shoulder high conditions that have a little juice. Its a bit like driving a high performance sports car in stop and go traffic. It just craves for the open roard. Durability is typical of a Naish which is excellent IMO and the new style handle is a nice feature. All and all I feel this board is definately a keeper and am looking forward to using it in conditions where I don't need much glide or want to get in early. I weigh 200lbs and have advanced skills.

[VB]

Thanks for the informative review.

[puntasurf]

Thanks for the feedback!
What do you think about the hokua 8´5 for someone about 148 lbs? I thought the 8´0 hokua was the one for me but everyone around here is telling me that even with advance surf skills is too small for my weight, and that I´ll have to work really hard in each session to get the best of the board (Think I have enough stress at work)
I tried twice the 9´0 hokua and though is too big for me, I love the way it surf, fast,  and vertical as a shortboard, so I thinking about something shorter but with the same lines.

Francisco.

[sharksupper]

Sorry to bring an old thread up, but I can't find anymore feedback on the new 8'5.  Anyone else ridden one?  How does it compare to other models?  I've got the old Holua 8'4 and a Jimmy Lewis Mano 9'.  I'm thinking about replacing both with an 8'5, but I'm not how well it will fit the bill?  I'd like to have just two boards, a Hokua 7'3 for good waves, and maybe the 8'5 for bigger, choppier, or crappy waves?
I'm especially curious how well the 8'5 turns as a quad.  I love the feel of the 7'3, but the 8'4 is pretty drivey, feels more like a gun shape, even with smaller fins.  I want to know if the 8'5 quad feels more loose than the 8'4?.. and also how they compare floatation wise?

Thanks!
ave-

[maui wave warrior]

I ended up trading in the 8'5 for the 9'0 as it was just too small for a guy my size in Maui conditions. Should be ideal for a person in your weight range. The 8'4 is a bit heavier than the 8'5 and perhaps slightly faster down the face. Only tried the 8'5 as a thruster and 2/1 so can't give you feeback as a quad. I am sure you will like the way it turns but with all boards for purchase you should demo before you buy just to be sure .

[sharksupper]

Thanks MWW.  Might be coming over there this winter sometime, I'll have to demo one there.

[peterp]

I've ridden 8'5 a lot and 8'4 only twice - the 8'5 pretty much outperforms the 8'4 in all departments, looser, faster, tighter turns, more hold and similar stability.
I'm 190pounds/85kg and the 8'5 is borderline when there is chop for my weight but anything lighter and you should be styling.
The 8'5 i a great board.

[sharksupper]

Ok, so I ordered one of these.  Does it come wtih a quad set?  If not, any suggestions?

It seems like FCS only makes two quad sets with 50/50 rears.  I'm assuming I'd want to use 50/50 rears since they're so close to the center of the board.

Thoughts?

[Dwight (DW)]

It seems like FCS only makes two quad sets with 50/50 rears.  I'm assuming I'd want to use 50/50 rears since they're so close to the center of the board.

Kelly Slater's quad set is a flat inside foil on the rear fins. His fin setup is close to Naish's setup.

Rusty's quad set is designed for McKee. His rear fins are foiled both sides, but not full 50/50.

I think the Rusty might be best. The Rusty set is more loose than the K2.1 set. Having the rear fins farther back, stiffens it compared to McKee stock, so the Rusty makes more sense.

[sharksupper]

On the FCS site it says to pick 50/50, 70/30, or 80/20 foils for the rear quads if the rears fins are closer to the center line of the board, and pick inside foils for rears closer to the rails. 

It looks like the 8-5 has rears fairly close to the center(?), does it make sense to pick a more equal foil for the rears?  I was thinking the S-25 looks good, possibly the GMB-5?

I guess I get to be the guinea pig for this board...  It's a tough job, but someone has to do it 

[Dwight (DW)]

The thing you have to watch out for, more than the inside foil, is the rear fin size. Because Naish spaced the rear fins so far back, the board gets stiffen up quicker with too big a fin.

Don't forget, the 7'8 Hokua fin spacing looks about the same, and that board came with 3 1/2 flat foiled "side bite" fins for the rear quad fin! Anything bigger made it stiff. FCS doesn't have 3 3/4 rear fins, which I think would have been ideal on the 7'8 Hokua.

I've bought just about every quad set FCS makes. I haven't tested them all in every board, but I can say my favorites for a loose ride, where the Rusty's. May favorites for drive and speed are the K2.1s This is on McKee quad placement, not edge rail placement.

[VonR]

I like to run PC-7 or PC-5 fins up front and the Q1 in the rear. The Q1 fin has a thinner base and makes a PC-7 or PC-5 quad set up feel a little looser.

[sharksupper]

Interesting on the 7-8, my 7-3 has 3.5" rears, but 50/50.  With the 8-5 being a bit longer I wonder if I need such a small rear to get it loose.  I can see this is going to be an adventure!  Thanks for the input guys.  I'll post what I come up with.

[DavidJohn]

[sharksupper]

Picked up the 8'5 today.  I got a 2011 since supposedly they're the same but cost a lot less than the 2012's!  Thanks go to Gary at paddleboardspecialists for finding the board and getting me a good deal on it!  I've been buying equipment from that guy for over 15yrs now!  It's always a good experience.   

It comes with an FCS M7 quad set and a Naish center fin.  The front M7's look to be exactly what's on the FCS site, the rears are identical in outline to the fronts, but are a 50/50 foil instead of the inside foil the fronts have.  At first I set it up as a quad, but went back to thruster before taking it out... the two rears look HUGE, I like a looser ride, so I went with the center instead.  I'm definitely going to replace the fins on this board, they look geared toward a stiff drivey ride.  I want to be able to get the tail loose.  The nose and tail are thinned out, and the center is thicker looking... partly because of the raised rail edges in the center.  I'll get some pics later...

I left for the beach 10min after getting the board 

I'm replacing a 9'0 JL Mano with this board, and my buddy was riding it beside me today, we traded so I got to feel both (he is 200lbs and didn't have too much difficulty riding the 8'5).  They are very similar in floatation and stability.  The Naish seems to maybe turn easier, but it didn't see as fast down the line.  I'm not sure the 8'5 is as fast as the 8'4 either, but time will tell, and with different fins.  Very little turning was done today, so I can't comment on that too much, and especially with the standard fins, I doubt it would shine as well as it could with a looser set.

It was a magic day for around here and everything went perfect, so I won't review the board totally today because it will definitely be biased! 

It was 6ft@20sec very low tide.  Unnamed location in Norcal with a 1/2mile+ long sand bar going left.  It was barreling very very nice!  Big water though, really getting a deep thump to it.  Not a single person in sight!  We both got several well overhead barrels to the inside where it closed out, amazing and magical day!  I had a strange nose plowing thing happen early on while dropping in, I'm not sure what that was about, but otherwise the board is light and seems to paddle pretty fast.  I'll get some pics with comparison to the 8'4 and 7'3 Hokuas soon, and a better idea of how it rides.

I'm stoked on the board though, very nice!  More to come...