Naish Mana 9'5" vs 10' vs Nalu 11'4"

[judoChop!]

first off - me: ~240lbs, 6'5" and in decent shape.
Taking only about waves here...

I used to have a Naish 11'4" and was pretty stoked with it.
then decided to step down a bit and replaced it with a Mana 9'5"

I'm just coming back from months out due to injury, and spent the last week in 2-4ft beachbreak waves (mostly just closeouts unfortunately...).
I found I just wasn't catching the waves I was used to on the 9'5" and was sitting lower in the water,  despite actually having more volume than the 11'4". So I spent most of the time on my father's 10' Mana instead. Actually, surprisingly I found I didn't get all that much gain in performance from the 9'5" vs 10', but had to work more to get in to waves and keep stable.
Anyone have thoughts there?

So... am I crazy here, or does the 11'4" catch more waves (that one makes sense to me due to length) than the 9'5", but also is better at making steep drops, trims better, DTL speed and drive out of turns better, AND turns better than the Manas? Seems kinda odd for a board 2' longer with a big ol' clunky center fin.

I get the feeling that the 9'5" is more heavily rockered and sorta plows and drags a bit, while the 11'4" is easy to generate drive. Also got the feeling the wider tail was limiting my ability to trim a line because the beach-side rail wanted to drop down the face, also putting me on an awkward angled to turn from.

so, I guess my question is is the 11'4" ACTUALLY a better wave board choice than the 9'5"? or am I just crazy and out of it having been off a board for 5 months from injury.
Your thoughts?

[diesel]

That is probably a tough question to answer.  I guess it depends on the type of wave you are riding.  I think smaller boards take a little more technical skill to get the performance out of them.  It would probably take a few weeks of trying the smaller board before you could make a proper assesment.  Sometimes with the smaller and more rockered boards, you need to pump for speed a little more and they are also more sensitive to where you are standing and weighting the board.  The bigger and longer boards have crazy glide.  Sometime the board doesn't want to get off the wave.  That is the nice thing about the bigger boards.  Maybe give the smaller board about ten sessions and try to get into some peeling head high waves for a few of the sessions to give a good evaluation.  My two cents.

[judoChop!]

yeah, probably good advice. thanks.
I'm used to smaller boards from surfing and kiting though... never really surfed a longboard before, so it would be odd that I would lean towards that 'style' of sup board.
I think my thing with the Mana is that I found the tail too wide to pump & drive (more similar to a shortboard), whereas I felt I could do that with the 11'4" .
Maybe I am just crazy though. I'll need to get back in the water some more to figure it out.

[SUP Sports ®]

Hi Kyle,
We have 4 of our shop guys that own the 9'5" Mana...as well as other SUP's...
None of them as big as you...

I can tell you that the published volume numbers of the Mana are whacked...whomever did them needs to get their calculator calibrated...and, I've told them so...;-)

The *real* volume is more like 160 liters...you have to be sinking the tail on that board...no wonder you can't pump it to generate speed and drive...

I would think that you would have liked the 10' Mana...we run the center fin all the way up for looseness...but, you do lose some drive...where is your dad's set?

It may just take some more TOW (time on the water) to get it dialed like Diesel stated...but, the Mana line is very plug & play...although, not a closeout beach break board...

If you can't get it sorted out and are ever in the Santa Barbara area, you might want to demo the 10' x 34" Starboard Whopper...or, the new 9' x 33" Hero coming out soon...the new Blair 10'1" x 32.5"...or, one of our custom SUP's...

[tautologies]

yeah, probably good advice. thanks.
I'm used to smaller boards from surfing and kiting though... never really surfed a longboard before, so it would be odd that I would lean towards that 'style' of sup board.
I think my thing with the Mana is that I found the tail too wide to pump & drive (more similar to a shortboard), whereas I felt I could do that with the 11'4" .
Maybe I am just crazy though. I'll need to get back in the water some more to figure it out.

Hey so I have not ridden the 9.5, but I have the 11.4. and I have ridden different smaller boards. Here is my take.. In general I can ride down to about knee high on my 9'6'', BUT it requires a more pitchy wave, better timing on hitting the critical section (if you can argue that ankle snapper and knee high has a critical section...you get my point).

The biggest thing I've found is that on bigger board you'll move forward to come over the top, and you never really do that on smaller boards.

All in all it'll be easier to catch smaller waves with a bigger board because you get more direction, and once your speed is up it take little effort form the wave to have you plane. Smaller boards have less directional stability, and although I think they are easier to accelerate to higher speeds they also need better timing...so a little more practice to dial in your timing. 

I'm no expert though, but it is my take on trying some different boards...

[Pureadrenalin]

Today I was out with another guy and he was on a 9'5 mana. He was catching everything from about knee high and below with ease. It was like wave after wave and with no effort. He looked so relaxed on that thing I thought he was on a bigger board like an 11 footer. It also looked rockered out on both ends because it looked like a banana in the water. I think I found my next fun board.

[tautologies]

Today I was out with another guy and he was on a 9'5 mana. He was catching everything from about knee high and below with ease. It was like wave after wave and with no effort. He looked so relaxed on that thing I thought he was on a bigger board like an 11 footer. It also looked rockered out on both ends because it looked like a banana in the water. I think I found my next fun board.

see now you're confusing me. I had my eyes on the smaller one, but now I don't know. Arrrggghhh

[Pureadrenalin]

Today I was out with another guy and he was on a 9'5 mana. He was catching everything from about knee high and below with ease. It was like wave after wave and with no effort. He looked so relaxed on that thing I thought he was on a bigger board like an 11 footer. It also looked rockered out on both ends because it looked like a banana in the water. I think I found my next fun board.

see now you're confusing me. I had my eyes on the smaller one, but now I don't know. Arrrggghhh

Sorry man did'nt mean to but ever since I went smaller every perspective just changed. Easier to handle in the water, faster to packup,better at carrying, storage is minimal and its more challenging mentally and physically. Now I find there is no need to go bigger than 9'6.

[D.Kirche]

Hi,

The bottom line is a person that weighs 240lbs will start maxing out the 9'5. The 9'5 also has more rocker which means it will not paddle in a straight line as well as the longer boards. Therefore it will be harder to generate steady straight line speed. Even though the boards may be similar in volume the shape can play a huge part on how a board will perform for the individual person.

D.Kirche

[judoChop!]

Hi,

The bottom line is a person that weighs 240lbs will start maxing out the 9'5. The 9'5 also has more rocker which means it will not paddle in a straight line as well as the longer boards. Therefore it will be harder to generate steady straight line speed. Even though the boards may be similar in volume the shape can play a huge part on how a board will perform for the individual person.

D.Kirche

I think this might be my line of thinking too. I think the 11'4" + shorboards will be my quiver for a while until I get it tightly sorted.
thanks.

[tautologies]

Hi,

The bottom line is a person that weighs 240lbs will start maxing out the 9'5. The 9'5 also has more rocker which means it will not paddle in a straight line as well as the longer boards. Therefore it will be harder to generate steady straight line speed. Even though the boards may be similar in volume the shape can play a huge part on how a board will perform for the individual person.

D.Kirche

I bet. I was talking with of the guys (he is really good), and he was explaining that when the boards are small enough, he starts paddling almost straight out towards the wave, because by the time the wave hits the board has already turned around. I just found that really interesting, and I guess to some extent almost advantageous since you then never really turn your back on the waves.

Ah well, perspectives.

Btw. I am having problems deciding. Anyone know if the 7'9'' would work for a 200lb guy?

[D.Kirche]

Hi,
The 7'9 can hold a person that is 200lbs if they have some experienced and have good balance.


D.Kirche

[Pureadrenalin]

I talked to the local Naish guys in Kailua,Hi. about the 7'9 and this little board is the same price as all the different size Naish Manas. Is that over priced or even a fair trade off considering your getting way less board?

[Dwight (DW)]

I talked to the local Naish guys in Kailua,Hi. about the 7'9 and this little board is the same price as all the different size Naish Manas. Is that over priced or even a fair trade off considering your getting way less board?

Hell yes!

I love it when companies charge the same price for all sizes.

It sucks that big C4s cost an arm and a leg.

It's the way windsurfing has always priced boards. Naish was a windsurf brand first.