Ended up in town the other day, so after surfing Ala Moana I decided to stop by Blue Planet to ooh and ahh at the pretty boards... I've been wanting a JP slate for a while now but nobody has them on O'ahu. Anyway, Got to check out the Kazuma boards in person and knew right away I was taking this one home.

This is the pro carbon "Tanto" 7'4"x 30"x 4" 105L. I got this board to sit in the middle between my 90L JP surf pro and my 9'9" big wave gun. I wanted something fun, fast, and different. I would normally never be on a board this wide, but I chose this one because the narrower boards had different tails and I really like the double diamond tail. I also wanted something that was really easy to paddle because it's something to ride when I need a break from balancing my little JP.

I've had it out the last 4 days, multiple sessions per day, in head high and under surf on the North Shore. (Hurricane Darby swell). I'll just list some of my feelings about the board.

1. The build is solid, it's nice and light, and all of the fit/finish details are flawless.

2. It's incredibly easy to paddle. It's not a fast paddler, but it's not bad. Stable as can be.

3. Planes up on the wave really easy, instant acceleration.

4. Crazy, crazy loose. You can and will slide. When you feel it out you can whip the tail out at will.

5. You can engage the rail and carve real turns but you do have to pre-plan your maneuvers a bit. I also had to move my back foot quite a bit more than with a regular board.

6. Shouldn't really need to be said, but it's crazy fast down the line. Also I had a lot of fun drifting way out in the flats and whipping back up into the pocket, the board carries so much speed that you can pull it off without bogging down. Fun.

7. This board absolutely rules at doing floaters. It rides the foam like a champ, you can come down totally sideways and still have speed. Made some pretty iffy sections today by just floating them.

8. Late drops are kind of sketchy so far. The board accelerates so fast on steep drops that it catches you off guard/balance. I'm sure this is just part of the learning curve. Seems pretty impossible to pearl however, tons of nose rocker.

9. I ran it as a thruster, twin + trailer, and quad, and for me quad had the best feel. I've got Occy Kinetics up front, Kazuma fins in the rear (flat foil). Was going to throw in the nubster fin but the board rides perfect as is.

Sorry if this little run down went a bit long, I'll try to get some videos very soon whenever the weather improves. All in all I am super stoked on my new toy and am frothing like a grom.

Here's a link to the Kazuma page:

www.kazumasurfboards.com/sup-tanto.html

Their pricing for carbon boards is super competitive. I just traded my JP 8'10 for an 8'0 Jay Richardson Hammerhead, but if that deal hadn't of popped up I was looking long and hard at the 7'10 tanto.

Exiled, did you still get the Sunova? You should try my Tanto next time I see you, I bet you could paddle it as it's super stable. I went way bigger than I can ride with this one, mainly to keep it all about fun. Did you surf yesterday eve? Some country spots were going off...

We've got a newborn at home so I'm staying out of the water till the brown water passes. Don't want to risk passing anything off to him. It did look good though.

Super stable for you is still pretty much underwater for me. I'm 103k, so even the most stable 105L board is gonna be some work. Happy to try though.

I did get the Sunova Speeed, At 8'8 123L its much closer to a stable, fun size for me. The Hammerhead will be for clean days and practicing my balance.

I know the jury is still out on these boards according to the internet, but I'm running into more and more guys in the real world who are swearing by them. The guy I got the hammerhead from said he owns four of them!

Yeah, you know I got mine just to be a fun toy and had no intention of putting it in firing surf. Well, yesterday was pretty legit in the evening and this board just ripped on better waves. The acceleration out of turns is mind blowing. I'll be on this board a lot, can't wait to see what size waves it will handle. Still surprised that I am loving a 30" wide board so much. New boards man, yeah!

Hi JK

Thanks for your extensive review. I liked how you covered so many points. I am looking at one of these for Kihei, Maui. But there are not demos available so it is a big leap of fault and bucks. There was one at High Tech but it has been sold.

For the size of yours how much do you weigh? I weight 135 but do not want to go too small.

If there is anyone with one of these, even if it is not my size and is willing to let me try it I would be very grateful.

Thanks,
John

I weigh 155 ilbs., I can paddle the 7'4"x 30" so easy it's a joke. It's actually too much board for me but I wanted something really easy to enjoy when I'm sick of balancing my little ripper board. I'm not sure where on the Island Kazuma is located, I think North Shore, but you should contact him and inquire about demos. I love this board, can't wait to put it into some real waves soon.

The FUGU board looks like a hard core machine.

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burleighlocal said...
The FUGU board looks like a hard core machine.

I like The Fugu 7'4'' 29.25'' 97 liters like I do the smallerTanto too. Sound very well to me but Still a bit oversized board . Surely OK for Hawaiin waves but dims of those board would be a bit shrink to fit my own local beach break conditions.

JKimbler

I managed to go to the Kazuma factory in Haiku on Maui. Great guys there. I was offered the use of a similar board but because I was on my last day there I could not take them up on it. I will be back in December and will hopefully try a 7' 4" Tanto.

Any more thoughts on your board with more waves?

Thanks again for your review.

John