Greetings All, these boards have been out for a while now, so I'm just wondering how people that have been riding them for a while are now finding them. Interested in the medium & the large & general performance, glide, stability & ease of use. I'm low 80kgs, nearing 60 yrs, not great balance. Coming off an 8'3", 120 litres Fanatic Allwave that was no problems at all. Any feed back greatly appreciated. Cheers, LT.

G'day lohit,
A mate of mine has the 7ft 116 litre version of the Raptor and loves it. He is about 80kg and 65years+. He was previously on an 8ft Starboard Pro (Wood) which he now finds really unstable after the Raptor in untidy conditions. The Raptor is a slug to paddle with absolutely no glide but seems to make up for it with wave riding performance. He takes the Raptor out in the untidiest of conditions with masses of water movement and has no problems at all.

Hi Lohit
I had a 8.5 Starboard pro and changed to a 7.2 Deep Minion. It took me a few sessions to get used to the smaller board and to get used to placing my right foot far back enough. I now use the Minion in almost all conditions from double overhead to waist high waves.
When it is really choppy, I find balancing on the Minion more trouble than its worth so go out on my Starboard. The Minion can take the steep drops and is incredibly fast...especially when you get you back foot on the kick pad.
Im really enjoying the Minion.
Im 58 and about 70kg

Thanks guys, that's great & some 'food for thought'. LT

93kg and 47yrs on the v116 and love it. I haven't surfed my performance sup in ages. Haven't seen a decent swell in ages either

Try a starboard hypernut,super stable ,very fast and easy too ride .

I have been riding the Small (95 Ltr) version for a few months now...mixing it up with my Laird Surfer 9'6 when conditions suit.
Great complement to my Long board SUP. I replaced a Naish 8'3 Hokua LE with the Raptor..
It took a couple of hours to get used to the stability, but find it no problems now even in mild/ med chop...I go for the Laird if its any worse...
I have to say I was expecting the glide to be better after reading the forums on it before purchase. You need to be near the peak of the wave to catch it easily, but as I now know that it isn't a problem. Once on the wave however it seems to glide through the fat sections pretty well with a bit of a paddle stroke every now and then..Definitely more glide than the 8'3 Hokua...but that was a shocker so no surprises there !!!!!
Turning and carving is fantastic...better than I thought it would be. I put some Piros quad fins on, which are bigger than the originals and that suited my surfing far better. I think it is underfinned being so wide in the tail, so a larger set made it much easier to bury the rail during turns as opposed to "sliding" everywhere, which is what I found with the Naish ones supplied...bearing in mind this is the first "tomo" style of board I have ridden...so that might be a common trait with these boards.
Build quality...Very light...and very fragile...I have put a few significant dings in mine from what I thought were not too bad wipeouts. Thankfully out local shaper is great with repairs.
I ride it in knee to overhead beachies...I'm 51 and quite light at 75 Kg..have surfed for more years than I care to remember...but still pretty darn average.. The more I surf it the more it becomes my "go to" board, so I guess that sums it up pretty well..

Im on the 8 ft Hypernut and it is unreal, super stable sssssoooo fast and it reminds me of surfing something from back in the day when we were all on 6'2 fat little fish in the 80s. I dont think though that they are a 1 board quiver. In the perfect world I would have the 9 ft Nut as well so you had something for those bigger days when a bit of glide to get into a wave is required.

I'm 72kg and 1,76cm and have the Raptor 116l.

It's suuuuuper easy, super stable waiting on the lineup. Required a but of adjustment to get into poor waves, but once on the wave ... it flies.

Only 3 sessions on it, but loving it.

www.instagram.com/p/9tB7dnrUdJ/?taken-by=rspro_water

www.supboardermag.com/2016/01/25/sup-review-2016-naish-raptor-v128-surf-sup/

Review for you.

I'm on the 8' hyper nut and loving it. Easy and fast and when the mood is right I can crack it right up. Perfect for my local break and I have it used it heaps.
I great compliment to my 8'8" JP WB

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brusier said..
I'm on the 8' hyper nut and loving it. Easy and fast and when the mood is right I can crack it right up. Perfect for my local break and I have it used it heaps.
I great compliment to my 8'8" JP WB

How does it ride compared to the JP? I have a JP same as yours...love that board.

Hey Slab,
Well the JP is slower and easier to get on wave. Need a steeper wave face on Hypernut but once on its great fun. First few times I fell of the back as its just that much faster. I think a good way to summarise is JP WB when you want a relaxed day, Hypernut if you feeling you need a bit more. Having said that I have used my JP WB heaps over last 2 years and only just got my Hypernut.

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brusier said..
Hey Slab,
Well the JP is slower and easier to get on wave. Need a steeper wave face on Hypernut but once on its great fun. First few times I fell of the back as its just that much faster. I think a good way to summarise is JP WB when you want a relaxed day, Hypernut if you feeling you need a bit more. Having said that I have used my JP WB heaps over last 2 years and only just got my Hypernut.

Thanks