Author Topic: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special  (Read 15784 times)

Area 10

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Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« on: May 24, 2019, 08:07:28 AM »
I love guns. They are so versatile. Here's my latest purchase. This one is a Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12-6 29" wide 170L gun, with thin rails, and deep concaves. It is a full wood sandwich construction with a wooden stringer that creates an I-beam type arrangement to make it strong and stiff. The wood is a tropical hardwood in a thick veneer, so that adds strength too.

I've only had it for a while, so I'll post an update when I can tell you what it is like in decent surf. But what I can tell you so far is:

1. It is a really superb small wave groveler - it catches EVERYTHING.

2. It is CRAZY stable. Its low volume, thin rails that are hard throughout, and marked concaves means it sits low in the water and is FAR more stable than you'd think for 29". It is a stable as a table. They are really onto something here.

3. It paddles surprisingly fast for a 12-6 low volume board. The rocker is quite modest for a gun shape, which helps. The concaves seem to help with tracking.

4. It is fast and maneuverable for a 12-6 on the wave. It feels much smaller than its size on a wave.

I'll have to wait to see how it is in bigger conditions. It's not really a beachbreak board, obviously, but I bought it for a rippy offshore  sandbank bombora that yields super-long rides on fat waves, and I suspect it will be perfect for that.

It came with bungees on the rear, so you could use it for day trips, as long as you weren't carrying much. But I have removed these since I will be surfing this.

You could easily put in a good few miles on a day trip on this - it's very comfortable and easy to paddle. It even works surprisingly well as a pocket downwinder, as long as you aren't heavy.

I think that boards like these are actually much better "all-around" boards than the typical spoon-nosed boards that are usually sold with that label. And it's a GUN! :) The very sight of it gets my adrenaline going in anticipation of some serious fun.

« Last Edit: May 24, 2019, 08:32:50 AM by Area 10 »

Bean

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2019, 08:19:44 AM »
Congrats A-10, that looks like it could be alot of fun!

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2019, 08:59:47 AM »
Beautiful board! Yep, guns have a look about them.

Interesting it's so stable.  Post a report if you get on that long, fat sandbar ride.
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ukgm

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2019, 09:41:50 AM »
I love guns. They are so versatile. Here's my latest purchase.

Now that is a fine looking board. Local company to me and they are producing some nice stuff that stands out from the masses.

Wetstuff

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2019, 10:07:14 AM »
Cool, 10...   It's not your father's sailboard popout brand for sure! Lotsa eye candy.  I don't know 'Shape from Shinola' (your father's reference) but there is some serious foam removal on the bottom. The authorities make me wear a tag around my neck about me not being permitted to attempt any <32", but I can, like you, find 29" workable on a 12.  Good luck with it.

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Luc Benac

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2019, 11:06:10 AM »
It looks beautiful - in a Pina Colada kind of way :-) Will look great against the drab grey UK sky...
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Area 10

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2019, 11:25:30 AM »
It looks beautiful - in a Pina Colada kind of way :-) Will look great against the drab grey UK sky...
It’s less red in real life than it looks in those pictures. The bright sun was reflecting off the board. The “real” colour is more like the shot of the rear leash plugs.

Area 10

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2019, 11:33:05 AM »
I love guns. They are so versatile. Here's my latest purchase.

Now that is a fine looking board. Local company to me and they are producing some nice stuff that stands out from the masses.
Well, the UK distributor is close to you, but the company is based in Hawaii (Big Island) and the boards are made in the Far East...

I got a rather tasty full carbon paddle with it (with oval shaft) plus the bag, and a leash, all for a little less than eg. an Infinity New Deal costs in the UK. So, this is certainly a premium brand, price-wise (and some of the boards made with very rare woods and special materials are very expensive) but you can really see the value in the board, in terms of materials and workmanship, unlike with some other expensive brands. As far as I can tell at the moment, it is very well-made.

The only criticism that would be made about it routinely would no doubt be that it’s not the lightest board in the world. But if you use a thick hardwood veneer than that is inevitable, and it’s not too bad.

Night Wing

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2019, 11:39:14 AM »
Very nice sharp looking board. Best looking sup board I've ever seen. I like it's overall  gun shape. From looking at  the photos, it looks like it has Futures fin boxes too. I'm partial to Futures boxes.

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gone_foiling

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2019, 04:43:30 PM »
Very nice sharp looking board. Best looking sup board I've ever seen. I like it's overall  gun shape. From looking at  the photos, it looks like it has Futures fin boxes too. I'm partial to Futures boxes.

No, those are FCS  ;)
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burchas

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2019, 05:03:42 PM »
Congrats 8) Beautiful shape!
Definitely my definition of an all-arounder.
Maybe it's so special you'll put out a video of you surfing it ;)
in progress...

Area 10

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2019, 09:09:59 PM »
Congrats 8) Beautiful shape!
Definitely my definition of an all-arounder.
Maybe it's so special you'll put out a video of you surfing it ;)
Yes, I will. It has a leash plug fitting on the nose for a GoPro. Although the sight of me surfing anything is hardly likely to show what this board is capable of; more likely to induce biliousness. Just need a decent clean swell now... but it’s almost summer here so it’s tiny surf for weeks on end.

And yes, the sidebites are FCS, unfortunately- I prefer Futures too. But the boxes seem to be well installed: the various fins I have, both side bites and centre fins, seem to fit the boxes just fine (including FCSII longboard fins). The fins that come with the board are rather nice: Carbon and honeycomb, they seem light and strong, and having surfed them, I’m not feeling a particular urge to change them, which is unusual for a fin-fanatic like me.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2019, 09:12:48 PM by Area 10 »

surfinJ

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2019, 11:22:00 PM »
Very sweet stick.  Just to get an idea, what are your dimensions?

FRP

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2019, 01:29:19 AM »
Beautiful board! A work of art. Love the nose and tail blocks. I look forward to the surf reports.

Cheers

Bob
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Area 10

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Re: Hypr Nalu Hawaii 12'6" gun - something a little special
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2019, 01:55:39 AM »
Very sweet stick.  Just to get an idea, what are your dimensions?
Thanks. I’m about 5ft 9” and 170lbs. If you were 200lbs this would feel like a (long) shortboard to you :) it’s that manoeuvrable. And I still can’t get over how stable it is. It’s more stable than some 32” wide boards I’ve owned, yet it’s only 29” wide. I could have had 28” easily in this and it still be fine for me even in chop. In the clean little surf conditions I had at dawn today I was mucking about on it doing coffin rides etc - it’s just so stable that it invites you to muck about like that.

If you were a massive guy though you’d be paddling it with the deck half under water. These board designs are I think aimed at either experienced bigger guys, or small and medium beginner-to-intermediates.

But I love a stable board: My balance is distinctly average. And I love the feel of thin rails and low volume in surf, and the drive and glide of a longer board. So it suits me just fine, even though no doubt I could have got the 11-6 or 10-6 versions of this board... which I just might :)

It’s SO rare to find a brand that is selling boards that are fairly wide but also thin. Most brands seem to balloon the volume as they make the board wider. But this just makes them corky and hard to surf well, unless you are the size of a mountain. I’ve been looking for a brand for some time that makes boards that aren’t stupid short for my local conditions, and have width for some stability, but aren’t also high volume thick-railed barges aimed at 300lb beginners. At last I’ve found one. In large part I think they can do this because they use superior strength construction (eg. using a thick wood stringer, good quality foam, thick hardwood veneers and they vacuum-bag multiple times). So they can go thinner without the board flexing too much: So many brands use foam thickness, I suspect, as a way of avoiding more skilled and expensive ways of making a board rigid and strong. So if you want a stable and long board from them you end up with something floaty and bloaty. Well this gun sure isn’t bloaty. It’s lean and it’s mean and it’s ready to deliver fun no matter what you want to do :)

« Last Edit: May 25, 2019, 02:03:13 AM by Area 10 »

 


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