Going NUT's - Starboard 9'5 X 29 NUT REVIEW

Going Nut's

Rider and writter : Shachar Peleg, Israel.
Board: 2016 Starboard 9'5 X 29" NUT , Brushed Carbon
Photographer: Niv Eshel - Photos of the Sea


For a while now I have been following two interesting trends in the SUP/surf world: SUP surfers riding smaller boards with shortboard characteristics; and longboarders returning to retro nose-riders style. The outcome of these two trends is a dying-out of the aggressive-longboard style. The “Nut” is a hybrid board modelled on the short-SUP, with a longboard nose. Personally speaking, when I first get to know with surfing boards of this style I was rather sceptic as I thought that it is not possible to have both short-board and long-board advantages in a single board design. Fact is, the surfing world has also greeted the “Nut”-shape boards with a chill-welcome to say the least. When the “Nut” concept meets up with the SUP-surfing world - story changes.

In recent years, I found myself ceaselessly reducing the size of my SUP board: from a 10’ in 2009 to a 7.7' in 2015. The smaller board-size enables much better performance, compared to the larger sizes, however not without a cost: the glide is lost, it is almost impossible to stand on the board between the sets, and taking the wave early have all vanished from the sport’s landscape—something of the joy in the sport has been lost.
Two weeks ago, after a long and well-deserved wait, I received the “Nut” 9’5/29 which is based on the pro 8’5/29 outline. In this board the rails narrows down around the handle area, “trapped” between wider nose and tail (hence the “Nut” name). The unique shape gives the "Nut" longboard-advantages while paddling and short-board performance when riding a wave. As a bonus, this year Starboard let go of the flashy colours of last year's graphics and moved to softer red and blue colours (thank you Starboard!).

Getting into the water, the longer water-line of the “swollen” nose is immediately felt as paddling is extremely pleasant and smooth. I positioned myself slightly higher than the surfers (for safety reasons, I really recommend to keep your distance from surfers). The relatively weak but long wind-swells were perfect for long-board style SUPing. At first the feeling is a bit awkward: it feels as if the board is changing personality when the rider is switching position forward and backwards. The shift between the two areas of the board requires a completely different approach than traditional boards: for short-board style aggressive-maneuvers it takes longer to widen the distance between the feet and correctly position your-self. In addition, the behavior is slightly different from short-SUP due to the more dominant presence of the nose which makes nose-riding extremely easy. Back to the tail, the board now responds super-naturally, enabling maneuvering capabilities and responds unlike any other board of similar size.

A week has passed and on first opportunity I used the “Nut” at heavier swell. On the first day we had relatively high overhead swell with wind reaching up to 18 knots and I felt like the luckiest SUPer around. The “Nut” magically turned challenging conditions into ideal surfing experience: it gets into the waves higher and smoother like a proper long-SUP effortlessly sustaining high-speed. Single plus two sides works perfectly and keeps the board balanced at high-end speed (I would like to end my regards to all the "good souls" who blessed me in the water for taking too many waves). On the next day the swell dropped a bit providing stronger and faster waves. I was stocked as a chipmunk to find out that even in more aggressive breaks, my “Nut” provided quick down the line riding and radical turns for closure. At one point during the morning, I switched back to my longboard only to realize once again just how outstanding is the performance of the “Nut” relative to its size.

To sum-up my experience with the "Nut"—and for all of you who have managed to stay with me up to this point of my review—in my opinion we are looking at a SUP board which is nothing less than revolutionary: it infuses back the fun and thrill to the sport and it does so gracefully and with a cornucopia of charm.

Nice look at the big Nut.... I like the way you broke it down, very useful!
Pics and vids are great.... words alone can mean anything.

Hi Colas

I have surfed the 9' Nut and the 9'5 Nut at least 50 times over the last 12 months.
Nose riding the 9'5 Nut is like putting your foot on the accelerator, the opposite of what you have suggested.
As I am new to nose riding ( short board surfer for over 25 years ) running to the nose was a strange instinctual reaction for small fast sections when you have run out of options due to the width of a SUP.
Yes I was amazed at the feeling of acceleration from riding on the nose and yet confused at how surfing the nose can make the board accelerate.
I believe if you nose ride properly on occasion you will understand the explanation and know the strange feeling of this acceleration.
Perhaps the nose rocker pulls the rear end out of the water creating acceleration???
Will try and get some nose riding pics on the Nut as i am back on the 9'5 after buying a shorter board that is now for sale.
I sold the 9' Nut which I now regret, and will be keeping the 9'5 for life.
The swell available at your home beach has some influence on the nut as a go to board I believe.
My home breaks are deep water beach breaks that tend to be fat and having a longer board creates a huge advantage for getting on the waves early and staying closer to the pocket and power source.
Happy Boardriding whatever your surf craft.

9' Nut at my home beach break

I had a chance to try different SUPs at Merimbula Classic and the Hypernut 7'4" was one of them. What a pleasant surprise.I ride a Fanatic Prowave 8'3", I weight 76kg and I am a proficient SUPer. Merimbula was pretty small, in the 1 to 2 feet range, windy and choppy.I was expecting to struggle to stand on such a small board, but instead it felt just as stable as my 8'3". Pros:
- Stable
- Paddles into the waves easily
- SmallCons:
- Nose dives more easily than my Prowave. Probably just a matter of getting used to the board.
- It didn't turn as fast and aggressively as the Prowave. I wouldn't expect anything differnt, given the large square tail and wuad fins setup.Overall, I felt very inclined to consider it as my next board or as a spare board. Lots of fun in a small package.

Hello , out of the stability characteristic I would focus your attention on the fact that this"Nut" outline is not made only to enhance longitudinal stability but to input a round outline rails at the rear part of the board. I mean that rear round outline is made to pull far back the widest point of the board to make lose and carvy like sub 6' shorties are.
So Fsamir push your demo a bit further and I reckon this Nut would turn more than any conventional rounded outline.