>I reckon 15 knots is the wind limit for SUP surfing depending on the angle and if it is a beach break, reef or point break. The main thing is your skills and the stability of >your board. But high wind sucks for SUP surfing as either too mushy onshore, too choppy side shore or too hard to catch waves offshore.

Couldn't agree more, Stev0!

Cheers,
Marco

The smallest version of the Raptor is 7.0x28 95 liter and maximum rider weight according to the Naish website is 77kg.
Did anyone around 85 kg try this board?
The next one up is 31 wide and 116 liter to big for my 83 kg I think.

Hey Camarillo, I am 95-96kg. I can get away with the small (95ltr), but rather the medium (116ltr). They are more stable than a traditional 95 ltr board. Imagine if it had a nose and a tappered tail added to the board it would be about 100-105 ltrs (guessing), and this is what it feels like. Now that said, it isn't 100-105 ltrs and it's 7', so it is still somewhat tricky to balance on at a larger weight, but the mid section it actually very buoyant.

With out knowing your skill level, I would say give the small a go. I find the medium about similar to my X32 8'3" which is 130 ltrs.

Enjoy,

Ride safe,

JB

Thanks JB, I ride a 2014 Starboard Pro BC 8.0x28 which is 96 liter Starboard says.

I hope the small Raptor will be just a little bit easier to balance on than my SB and better suited to small and powerless waves.

I hope I can demo soon....

RAPTOR's came in today, and are on their way out to our Naish Dealers as we speak.

Ride safe,

JB

Hi guys,

My 10 years old son is riding the soft top Keiki 6'6 since 3 years and now I am looking for a more progressive board for him.

I am wondering which one of the new Hokua Keiki boards is more suitable for his weight - 34 kg currently. Can anybody post the sizes and volume for the new 6'6 and 6'10 boards?

The old Keiki 6'6 x 24 x 3 1/2, 80l is too heavy, too corky and too wide outline for his advanced riding. The new Hokua Keiki boards look made for him.

Cheers,
Dimitar

clap clap clap to your son, natural skills and for the picture "mucho huevo" going out in cold water!!! as a father, seeing other kids and father enjoing surf together, just make me happy.

"Santa" gave my 6 year old son a 6´0 soft surf board. First baby steps in surf, he managed to stand on it, we made a "duck dive" and on other wave he think he got barrelled (we both saw the barrell on a close out, heehe) Now in Winter time, we wach surf movies together (surf up, excellent movie)

the other day we were chillin in a lagoon and from no where he said to me "could i use your paddle" of course i said.

then he went to the wáter with his soft board and my paddle, stood up on the board, and started crusing arround with ease.

little tears of happiness down my cheek.

Hey Dimi Sup,

Your kid is ripping, super stoked for you. At only a mere 34kg, he could get away with 6'2" even. I can't remember all the stats off the top of my head, but from memory the volumes are as follows,

6'2" = 54ltrs.
6'6" = 55ltrs.
6'10" = 69ltrs.

The 6'2" is wider in the tail and nose as well as the middle, it's kind of a Vanguard style shape, so would probably actually ride larger than the 6'6".

I hope this helps,

regards,

JB

Thanks guys,

I am very proud of my son.
He is very talented and super stoked about surfing, the pictures are made in 8°C water temperature!!!

I have seen the the 3 new Hokua Keiki boards in Instagram and 6'2 is not for him. I need the full specification of 6'6 and 6'10 in order to decide which one to order.

Dimitar

Hello everybody,

thought you should know that we've just published the Raptor V95 S review. Check it out @

www.standuppaddling.it/content/view/3189

Cheers,
Marco

Thanks Marco!

Thanks for taking the time to complete such a thorough review, I learnt a lot from it. The board looks like a lot for fun.

Cheers

Hello Konamac,

thank you so much!

Cheers,
Marco

Gone all quiet on this thread, now the boards are out there any feed back or reviews especially on the 31" x 7 ft Raptor ?

bit of a review/discussion here on the 31" raptor:

www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,27276.0.html

Thanks Beached

For what it's worth - I've now had the raptor 31 (med) for a few weeks and surfed it in a variety of conditions and my two cents worth is as follows... It's a little long winded, but you're all probably avoiding folding the washing anyway...

I'm 94kgs ish, 6'2 and surf / sup multiple times each week. I've been riding naish boards for 5 or so years and have a 10'6 nalu, 8'10 LE and now the raptor M.

Game changer! In the ring conditions.

In 1-4' surf that isn't too chunky it is super fun. What it's designed for... Had best surf yet on it today in 1-3' clean point waves. So loose. Took a few surfs to really feel where the sweet spot is, it is not like anything else ive supped on in the naish range. I traded a 7'8 LE for the raptor and it was a great decision. It's a lot more like a mini Simmons (which I love)...

The board goes vertical much better than I expeted or was told it would. You can pump down the line - doesn't take much and you are flying. It paddles with a lot more glide and straighter than expected for a board of its size.

The tail is super wide, so you do need to sit back into turns more than a regular short board sup, it's more like riding a skateboard. JBs recommendation has to ride in more in your hips like mal style sups which is bang on. You can get a little caught on occasion when surfing off the front foot, but with the short quad it releases up the face easily and quickly off the back foot with little loss of speed.

By moving your back foot slightly across the width of the board you can get rail on your bottom turn then either carve off the top or slash and slide the hell out of the tail whigh is super easy to control withi the standard fins in the board.

In bigger surf with some chunk, well it's not designed for that, but I like to see what boards are capable of, in 4-6' beaches it didn't cope that well, there's too much chunk in the rails to sink them enough - I'd rather ride my 8'10 LE. It was incredibly fast but you didn't have the control to lay it over with any real confidence.

For smaller conditions that maybe don't look overly enticing, this board will enable you to have a lot of fun. The medium is super stable for me, wave count is good, manoeuvrability is great. You're not going to get into waves super early, but it is an easy board to surf. Surfs really well forehand or backhand - also a good plus for this new tomo style board design - some are terrible on your backhand...the generous rocker definitely helps.

Thanks to Sup Republic (Kite Republic) for the help with the board, Chris and the team there are awesome to deal with, definitely recommend using them.