Author Topic: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum  (Read 22665 times)

daswusup

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Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« on: December 04, 2021, 07:22:50 AM »
I had a convertible naish kite in 2000ish and then a Hokua SUP. They were a major force in kiting, suping and I'm guessing pole-boarding. They were always there, innovating, leading. Now the only time I ever hear about them is in Chuck Patterson insta and that Aussie downwinder guy, JB. When Kai was riding for them, I saw a lot more Naish posts. I think there's one guy at my beach who has an ancient beginner naish set up. I never really hear anyone frothing about the newest Naish gear. What happened?

Can anyone speak to what happened to this global powerhouse brand that is represented by a legendary waterman? My thoughts are that Kai leaving was a huge setback. Robby aging isn't helping appeal to the younger audience. Have they lost they're mojo? Or is this just my micro world view?

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2021, 08:28:53 AM »
Listening to Robby on podcasts and youtube, I get a general impression he personally, is not obsessed with chasing performance or technology. He seems to like keeping life simple. Does that affect the brand? Maybe.

PonoBill

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2021, 08:46:29 AM »
I see Robby every so often. I'll ask him about it. He's used to pain-in-the ass questions from me. Anything I say without spending the time to dig into the question would be just a guess, but I'd say they're a step or two behind. Why? Not sure. 
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Hdip

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2021, 08:47:39 AM »
As far as prone foiling goes. You either started three years ago on Naish or gofoil. I started on Naish. It was an aluminum mast and fuse. The industry moved beyond them quickly. We all moved to different brands. Going back to aluminum now seems a step backwards. If you want to ride aluminum you ride axis. Otherwise you ride one of the all carbon brands.

I foil with a Naish rep. He makes the new ha gear look real good.

spindrift

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2021, 09:23:03 AM »
Seems that surfing in all forms favor the small, nimble, and innovative. When a business gets to a certain scale it becomes more about production, distribution, and profit. Naish products are generally pretty good, just not noteworthy. I got a good deal on a Naish board that suits my skill level and isn't extremely different from other 95L boards at 5'7"x 27 1/2. However I didn't go with Naish foils or wings because I thought other available brands were significantly better at roughly the same price.

My 2 cents.

It may be very hard (not impossible) for a big brand to be the cool kid that get's talked about.
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surfcowboy

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2021, 09:44:33 AM »
Marketing and sponsorship. We're still surfing so we are affected. That's my guess.

If you don't pay, you don't have hype. But Naish doesn't need hype, so why bother with the money? Kai doesn't have foil deals because he's too expensive. Red Bull and Hurley can pay 6-7 figures. That's the yearly budget for some small brands I'll wager.

If you can sell gear without spending several million (Naish can) then leverage your past performance and keep the company smaller and more profitable. Otherwise you're chasing growth that might not be there.

Rod Stewart has a new album. It's not going to be the Faces and he's not going to new markets on tour. He'll do classic stuff and play Vegas and stack chips. Robbie is in Vegas, God Bless him. He earned it. He seems to enjoy every day on the water.

Some money is too expensive.

PonoBill

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2021, 10:24:51 AM »
Nice analysis Cowboy. People could ask the same about Jimmy Lewis. Lots of people have his boards, lots of people understand that they are fundamentally bulletproof. But Jimmy does what he wants to do. I suspect Robbie does too. Of course, he and Michi Schweiger are amazing wingfoilers. 
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

JohnnyTsunami

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2021, 11:49:22 AM »
I don't know. When I was researching what company to go with they were in the top few. Since I've been paying attention for about a year, they have been near the leaders in regards to high aspect foils, with an 7.9AR 1040 that has been out for some time, or a 914cm 8.4AR foil. Not to mention the fact that you can put the kite foils on the same fuse (I think). It's enough to make me confident if I went with them I wouldn't get left in the dust.

I'm surprised people aren't talking about them more. Maybe people who ride naish are on the water too much to use computers...

DavidJohn

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2021, 02:28:34 PM »
I agree.. There doesn’t seem to be much interest or discussion about Naish here and I don’t know why.. If there was maybe I would post more.

I think Naish started as a very much entry level foiling brand and took a few year to evolve into a brand leader (or one of) but I think their early reputation has stuck with some people.. I sometimes hear comments like I used to use Naish but my new gear is so much better but you are comparing apples with oranges.

I love the brand and I have seen their foil gear continuously improving.. Robby is a huge winging and foiling fan and their latest offerings are a result of his enthusiasm to the sport.. He wants the Naish products to be up their with the best without being too hi tech or expensive with fun being more important than race winning after seeing how windsurfing became too technical and expensive for most people.

I’ve heard there’s some great new foiling gear coming from Naish and I can’t wait to see it..  There’s lots of happy Naish wing-foiling people down here in Oz.

« Last Edit: December 04, 2021, 02:43:22 PM by DavidJohn »

Wingfoil2001

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2021, 02:40:38 PM »
All my foils are Naish now, as I wingfoil and kitefoil all the parts are interchangeable. It's great to turn up to the beach with just one foil and two boards to do either.
Probably the most cost effective high performance foils currently available. A foil bag, wing covers, tool and all hardware including mast mounting plates are included in the kit.
I'm using the HA wings for winging and 810 for kitefoil all mounted on the 95 or 85cm composite masts.

red_tx

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2021, 03:56:29 PM »
I never really hear anyone frothing about the newest Naish gear. What happened?

Brother, I am sending the dog sh!t out of my Naish S26 Hover Wing Carbon Ultra Foilboard. Its super light, smacks the water and releases with no effort. I use it for WingDing and also for SUP foiling. Great all around er.

I have many Naish stand ups and have plenty of gripes about those (Sh!tty Brittle Construction), but they are light and high performance. I paid like $1500-$2000 a piece and cant even sell them for $200 now. !

I am pretty sure I could prone foil the S26 also.

The new Naish Wings look sick.

Never hear anything about the foils but I see folks sending it big on instagrunt.

Not a Naish fan boi but ended up cutting my teeth with them.

so there is my Naish post. :)
-red



Dontsink

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2021, 10:44:33 PM »
I have an S25 Ultra 85l and it is by far the best constructed board i have had or tried, in terms of weight/toughness ratio.Superb.

The wing and foil market is still a bit of a maelstrom.
Wings are going to be new material (aluula,xply etc..) or second rate next year.
How many foils does Axis have?.Remember Armie Armstrong saying HA was a no go?.GoFoil info in bits, rumours and rubber mallets, Takuma's threads are full of lore on shimming,epoxy potting and first aid for small cuts...i have not tried the Naish foils but from vids etc they seem to be doing fine in all this turbulence.

Big companies that want to provide a finished,tested,available product are going to look "slow" compared to smaller biz.I think Naish is doing fine, better than Starboard for example.I see Naish wingfoil gear quite often in the water,and it is not cheap.

Badger

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2021, 04:40:38 AM »
Same here. I love my Naish S26 GS board for its lightness, construction, looks, and how well it works. Robby's video of the board is what sold it, but I wasn't really turned on by the Naish foils and wings.

Many might not admit it or care but a small part of why some people go with certain brands could be aesthetics. Coming into the sport knowing nothing, I didn't have much to go on other than what the stuff looked like on the internet. Even though the Go Foils had a great reputation, the blue foil wings looked like cheap plastic. The black and yellow colors of the Naish foils didn't turn me on either. Nor did I like the colors of the Naish wings.

The Axis stuff looks awesome and the website is really well done. The foil shapes made sense to me and I like the detailed info on everything. The Zone reviews had nothing but good things to say about the brand, so that's what I went with. No regrets so far.

The wing was my first purchase. I knew nothing at that point. Duotones were very popular so I went with the Duotone Unit. It was a great first wing. It's hard to judge a wing until you have it in your hands. My second wing was an Ozone Wasp V1. Also very popular online. I liked that even better so I bought another. The Ozone build quality is excellent. The Wasps look and feel very rugged compared to the Duotones. They are nice and light as well but it's impossible to tell just seeing them online.

The sport of wing foiling is only just beginning to take off here in NH so my only source of information is the internet.

.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2021, 04:59:58 AM by Badger »
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PonoBill

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2021, 09:27:16 AM »
That weird and heavy quick change base plate design probably didn't do the brand any favors. I've repaired three of them for folks, and in one case had to just weld the damned thing to the adapter. I wonder how many of those are laying on the bottom with a complete foil system. The first wings from Naish were horrible. I tried them and even bought a second-generation small one (2.5??) when it was the only tiny wing available and I was getting blown off the Columbia on a 3.5 swing. It was incredibly unstable and I sold it for half price after a day of owning it.

I know they've moved past all that, but early adopters remember that kind of stuff, and this forum is probably at least 50% early adopters. My perception, as I mentioned above, is that they are a step or two behind. People like me have no way to change that perception since they are not about to replace gear just to try something they don't have a lot of faith in.

When DW was frothing about the new S25 Naish wings I overcame that perception enough to buy the little wing mentioned above. I hated it, and then DW replaced his entire quiver. So yeah, despite watching Robbie and Mitchi ripping it up, there's not much reason to jump in.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2021, 09:35:08 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Wetstuff

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Re: Why is Naish so un-mentioned on this forum
« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2021, 10:00:00 AM »
Like daswusup, I go back to early kite days, then switched to SUP around ' 13.  I understand 'hero worship' marketing, but I find people labeling other's work for self promotion exploitative. There have been more than a few yellow SUPs that were fine shapes, but it was hard to find the name of the mystery shaper. These products are not tableware or work pants. Robbie, from 5,000mi distant seems a nice person but you sense he tests other's designs and then negociates whether they are worthy of his name...  (big Euro-brands seem to have also done similar for many years - the difference is their lack of personalization)

On the other side, as Badger mentioned, is Go Foil.  If there was a solid origin story to be found - they have it.  But I strongly agree with Badger, if something is made of an exotic material like CF why present it as if it was made along side plastic picnic plates? 

Down/not out...

Jim

Atlantis Mistress .. Blue Planet MultiTasker ..   Atlantis Venom

 


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