Looking for some input on this board. stability with the pin tail?. How good of a downwind board it is?. I read it has added bottom roll, how does the board feel vs the 25" downwind board with regard to bottom roll. The fin box is further forward how does the board track due to his feature?. any other input is welcomed...

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NspCanuck said..
Looking for some input on this board. stability with the pin tail?. How good of a downwind board it is?. I read it has added bottom roll, how does the board feel vs the 25" downwind board with regard to bottom roll. The fin box is further forward how does the board track due to his feature?. any other input is welcomed...

''How good of a downwind board it is?.'' .. Good.

''I read it has added bottom roll'' .. Yes.

''how does the board feel vs the 25" downwind board with regard to bottom roll'' .. It's tippier.

''The fin box is further forward how does the board track due to his feature?'' .. I tracks well.

I have a couple of friends with this board..

It's a board that you really should demo befor buying..

I agree, testing the board would be the way to go. Unfortunately my local board shop doesn't have one and not expecting to get any demo boards. They have the 23" flat water board and 25" downwind board. Each having similar features to the ocean board. But not the full package to give a great comparison. That's why I inquire. Hard to justify buying a board that I know very little about.. Want an all water board which might be the fx as they are soon to arrive and can test. Thanks for the feedback.

2016 seems to be the year for "all-waters" boards. At one level it is great to see a move away from the recent trend for increasing specialisation, which can be off-putting for those new to the sport. But the trouble with these all-conditions boards is that they are rarely the best board for the job at any given time. They are noticeably slower than flat water boards in flat water, and do not plane as easily or handle as well as downwind boards when conditions get festive.

I know that at some level everyone knows they are a compromise. It's just that many people I speak with seem to think that an all-waters board means a "brilliant at everything" board. But of course it doesn't. It means a "fairly reasonable at most things" board. If you are hoping to be seriously in contention in a flat water race, or keep up with your downwind friends on their SICs in 20 knots+ then forget it, frankly, unless you are one of those rare handful of athletes who can make anything work.

So, as long as you can be happy with a board that is rarely the best one for the job, then good luck to you. After all, if you don't compete, or only rarely do so, and don't go out in extreme conditions, then it probably doesn't matter. But if you are one of those people who is looking for competitive performance in whatever conditions, then don't be surprised if you soon feel the urge for something more specialised.

Ok, rant over.

Sorry Area 10 but it's hard to let this one go through.
The NSP 14/24.5 2016 model is fairly different from the board DJ is talking about as I think he refers to the older model.
However all his comments are still relevant for the new model
I am not sure what you are calling an all water board.
The NSP has been made to fit the same racing program as the Starboard Ace for example.
These boards are ultimate modern downwind boards. They are both of them incredible at that. You won't only keep up with your friends on SIC in 20 knots+, you should be really in front of them or you have some personal training to do.
I think every paddler racing a bit seriously is realizing that now.
So if you are looking for a board that does a bit of everything don't get the NSP 14/24.5, definitely not the board for you.
But if you are serious about bumps, small or big, then you should have a look at it.
I totally agree, it is not a flat water board...
It has exactly the same bottom as the 25 but is tippier because of the pintail.
So if you can't master the 24.5 pintail in DW (my case) there are a lot of chances you would be able to paddle the 25 with a wider tail. The 25 is a very good DW board as well but a bit more versatile.

Thanks Al, that's a very clear explanation.

If the board is like an Ace in terms of it's intended abilities and use, well that is something I know a bit about. The Ace is indeed fast for downbreezing. For full-on downwinding (steep bumps from knee to waist or above) you'd need to have exceptional skills to make it work. Probably only a few in the world could do it for more than a few minutes without a fall. And I was surprised at how slow the Ace is in pure flat water, relative to a similarly narrow displacement/cutting nose board. So actually, the window of conditions where it would be the *perfect* choice is quite narrow. I guess that is all I was trying to say. I actually rather like these all-conditions type boards (I'm loving my new Vapor), but when people buy them I think they often expect to eg. keep up with their friends on displacement nose boards in a flat water race, or keep up with downwind-specific boards in big DW conditions. But that's just not realistic IMO.

But I do like the look of the NSP race boards. I wish you could get them in the UK.

There is a new distributor in the UK for NSP – Ultra Sport Europe
The 1st container just arrived...

Good to know, Al, thanks. It will be interesting to see what the distributors ordered.

Thanks for your input. I agree with what you say about it being a good downwind board. However Travis grant won the Carolina cup on this board so it leads me to believe it's good in the flats, as 1/2 that race is flat water. I was looking into the 26" board with the round tail ( not 25" as I think what you are referring to). The big turn off for me with the 26" is the weight 28.82 lbs. in my opinion too heavy. Brushed carbon construction. The 24.5 board weight is not yet out but being a pro model I would guess it's somewhere around 25 lbs.

One of these is Travis' board from the Carolina Cup ...

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NspCanuck said..
Thanks for your input. I agree with what you say about it being a good downwind board. However Travis grant won the Carolina cup on this board so it leads me to believe it's good in the flats, as 1/2 that race is flat water. I was looking into the 26" board with the round tail ( not 25" as I think what you are referring to). The big turn off for me with the 26" is the weight 28.82 lbs. in my opinion too heavy. Brushed carbon construction. The 24.5 board weight is not yet out but being a pro model I would guess it's somewhere around 25 lbs.

the 26 dugout is my everyday board , super easy super stable. Not sure of the exact weight but not too heavy for a dugout board. I can assure you there is a huge skill difference needed between the 24.5 and the 26.
Yes the 24.5 is not slow on the flat but last year you can notice travis made the difference just after they turned the 1st buoy, on the 1st DW section before the flat , and then after the flat when he pulled away on the 1st bumps

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Al Hunter said..
So if you are looking for a board that does a bit of everything don't get the NSP 14/24.5, definitely not the board for you.
But if you are serious about bumps, small or big, then you should have a look at it.
I totally agree, it is not a flat water board...
It has exactly the same bottom as the 25 but is tippier because of the pintail.
So if you can't master the 24.5 pintail in DW (my case) there are a lot of chances you would be able to paddle the 25 with a wider tail. The 25 is a very good DW board as well but a bit more versatile.

I have been chatting to the NSP distributor in NZ and got slightly different feedback about the 14'/25' versus the 14/24.5" pintail. The 14'/24.5" is supposed to be much faster in most conditions especially flatwater and upwind but 'challenging', while the 14'/25" is generally easier and good when the down winding conditions are cranking.

I have a custom DC 14'/26" dug-out which has had a bit of trauma so looking at a replacement. The DC 14/26" is fast and stable and a good all round board for the conditions I get in Auckland i.e. flat, choppy, small-wave-downwinders.

I hope to demo both the NSP Ocean Race 14'/25' and the 14'/24.5" pintail boards next week. I am being steered towards the 14'/24.5 which seems a bit full-on for me so will report back...

which one is which and how does one tell?

Is the Ocean the one with a flat deck and flatwater with the sunken deck?

I believe so Yugi. The Ocean also has more Rocker. I'm not sure if the one at the back is the regular Ocean Race or the Downwind Ocean race... if you check the website it looks like even the Ocean Race has a slightly sunken deck. But as these were Travis's boards there's a good chance they're preproduction, or even custom, so maybe they are not representative of the 2016 versions... (Pic is from the NSP dealer here in Ontario, he got the two boards last fall from the North American distributor. )

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SUPerD said..
I believe so Yugi. The Ocean also has more Rocker. I'm not sure if the one at the back is the regular Ocean Race or the Downwind Ocean race... if you check the website it looks like even the Ocean Race has a slightly sunken deck. But as these were Travis's boards there's a good chance they're preproduction, or even custom, so maybe they are not representative of the 2016 versions... (Pic is from the NSP dealer here in Ontario, he got the two boards last fall from the North American distributor. )

Hi SUPerD
I did not want to interfer the 1st time but these boards are not the boards from the Carolina cup.
The on in front is the 14/23 flat water race pro recessed deck that he used in Europe and Oregon
The one at the back is the 14/25 DW Ocean race pro flat deck that he used at PPG

The one he used at carolina was the older Ocean race pro 14/24.5 recessed deck from 2015.

However the one in front is the one he will use at Carolina next month.

Travis did not have customs 12'6 or 14' boards and they are exactly the same as the one selling in 2016
Him and Titouan will be at carolina on 14/23 that you can buy in a shop.

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Stev0 said..

Al Hunter said..
So if you are looking for a board that does a bit of everything don't get the NSP 14/24.5, definitely not the board for you.
But if you are serious about bumps, small or big, then you should have a look at it.
I totally agree, it is not a flat water board...
It has exactly the same bottom as the 25 but is tippier because of the pintail.
So if you can't master the 24.5 pintail in DW (my case) there are a lot of chances you would be able to paddle the 25 with a wider tail. The 25 is a very good DW board as well but a bit more versatile.

I have been chatting to the NSP distributor in NZ and got slightly different feedback about the 14'/25' versus the 14/24.5" pintail. The 14'/24.5" is supposed to be much faster in most conditions especially flatwater and upwind but 'challenging', while the 14'/25" is generally easier and good when the down winding conditions are cranking.

I have a custom DC 14'/26" dug-out which has had a bit of trauma so looking at a replacement. The DC 14/26" is fast and stable and a good all round board for the conditions I get in Auckland i.e. flat, choppy, small-wave-downwinders.

I hope to demo both the NSP Ocean Race 14'/25' and the 14'/24.5" pintail boards next week. I am being steered towards the 14'/24.5 which seems a bit full-on for me so will report back...

If you DC 14/26 is a recessed deck lots of chances it is the same as the Ocean Race Elite 14/26 NSP
If you DC 14/26 is a flat deck lots of chances it is the same as the Downwind Ocean Race Elite 14/26 NSP

Both boards will be faster but more challenging balance wise than the 2 DC above

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Al Hunter said..

SUPerD said..
I believe so Yugi. The Ocean also has more Rocker. I'm not sure if the one at the back is the regular Ocean Race or the Downwind Ocean race... if you check the website it looks like even the Ocean Race has a slightly sunken deck. But as these were Travis's boards there's a good chance they're preproduction, or even custom, so maybe they are not representative of the 2016 versions... (Pic is from the NSP dealer here in Ontario, he got the two boards last fall from the North American distributor. )

Hi SUPerD
I did not want to interfer the 1st time but these boards are not the boards from the Carolina cup.
The on in front is the 14/23 flat water race pro recessed deck that he used in Europe and Oregon
The one at the back is the 14/25 DW Ocean race pro flat deck that he used at PPG

The one he used at carolina was the older Ocean race pro 14/24.5 recessed deck from 2015.

However the one in front is the one he will use at Carolina next month.

Travis did not have customs 12'6 or 14' boards and they are exactly the same as the one selling in 2016
Him and Titouan will be at carolina on 14/23 that you can buy in a shop.

Thanks Al, I stand corrected... I was relying on the word of the local dealer where these boards are located.. Just goes to show, eh??? You should have given me a whack upside my thick noggin as soon as I posted the pic...

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NspCanuck said..
Thanks for your input. I agree with what you say about it being a good downwind board. However Travis grant won the Carolina cup on this board so it leads me to believe it's good in the flats, as 1/2 that race is flat water. I was looking into the 26" board with the round tail ( not 25" as I think what you are referring to). The big turn off for me with the 26" is the weight 28.82 lbs. in my opinion too heavy. Brushed carbon construction. The 24.5 board weight is not yet out but being a pro model I would guess it's somewhere around 25 lbs.

Paddled the 26 NSP the other day and was very impressed by it's stability and speed. I've paddled Ace 25's for the past 5 years or so making pretty used to the dug out style.
Whilst not a fast as the 25" Ace in the flats and bumps I'd say it'd be on par with the legendary Ace 27" for bump ability but feels faster in the flats than that board.
The weight as you mentioned may look heavy on paper but the board I had in store was the same construction and weighed 13.1KG inc fin and I've never had an Ace 25" lighter than that. What I'm getting at is that the weight for a board with that much surface area and foam is actually pretty good. A similar size production flat deck board in full carbon construction will be lighter for sure but that's kind of a different beast.
A bit big for me but a great competitive board for people who may struggle on a Ace 25" for instance. Starby should re-introduce the 27" by the way!!

Sam.

Thanks Al,

I’m curious to learn a bit more about the boards and how they work. They seem a bit more “round bottomed”. [Coming from windsurfing] I am more familiar with the stability of a flat bottomed planing board. I find round bottomed boards pretty tricky (roll’y) yet these boards have a reputation of being awesome in chop. How and why is that? Is the tricky/roll’y thing , once you got used to it, somehow less affected by chop coz it's Roll'y anyway whereas a nice stable planing hull goes suddenly from stable to unstable when affected by chop?

At Carolina which model will Travis and Titou use?

I think it’s so cool that they use production boards.

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yugi said..
Thanks Al,

I’m curious to learn a bit more about the boards and how they work. They seem a bit more “round bottomed”. [Coming from windsurfing] I am more familiar with the stability of a flat bottomed planing board. I find round bottomed boards pretty tricky (roll’y) yet these boards have a reputation of being awesome in chop. How and why is that? Is the tricky/roll’y thing , once you got used to it, somehow less affected by chop coz it's Roll'y anyway whereas a nice stable planing hull goes suddenly from stable to unstable when affected by chop?

At Carolina which model will Travis and Titou use?

I think it’s so cool that they use production boards.

Yes you are right round bottom can seem a bit tricky at the beginning. But you get used to it, and after that it is hard to go back.
A bit like the recessed deck. How many people did not like the feel of the Ace 1st time they tried it and gave up? But the one that did insist a bit a learned how to ride them don't want to go back because they realised the benefit they are getting.
Why do they go good in the chop? Just because they never catch and tend to slide into the run without you having to try to steer the board in that direction.

At Carolina Travis and Titouan will use the 14/23 because it is fast in the flat and very fast in small to medium DW if you have a good enough balance.

Regarding the dilemma between production or prototype boards just watch this at 6.10

Don't look at Travis or now Titouan using production boards, you have to look at it reverse.
The boards are made for Travis and at the same time NSP produce them. That is what all the pro model from the range are.
The choice has been made by NSP to manufacture in production all the different boards he is using.
This is the only way to be able to travel everywhere in the world and find a board at disposal for him to race on.
All the non pro model are the one they don't use to race themselves and are more stable for a wider public of paddlers. But they are perfectly able to perform well in races.
They just need less skill and if you don't have that kind of skill level, there is a lot of chances you will be faster with these more stable boards.

Interesting insights, Al. Thanks. I need to try an DC again. It’s been a while since I’ve been on one. A buddy of mine has fallen in love with his and now practically prefers it to his Bullet V2 even for downwinders.

Living on a lake I do live for the I-need-to-give-the-input turning sensation a planing hull, especially with sharper rails, gives you when DWing rather than the “slither into” feel. Hey! It’s about all we get surf-feeling-wise so we need to milk it (not true, we do get some surf but I’m out DWing when surfs up). I had a chat with Ti2 and I know he’s the same.

So I’ll be looking with interest to see if Ti2 will become a roll’y bottom kinda guy or he’ll be asking for a more planing hull. I know he was more of an AllStar kinda guy rather than Ace when with Starboard. I trust, however, that he’ll stick with “fast” as he progresses up the rankings. Looking forward to the "fast" and "fun" boards of the future that the riders, Alain and DC come up with.

How does the 23" compare to the 24.5" stability wise?. Considering the rounded tail of the 23" to pintail on the 24.5". Also by nsp's discription that the 24.5" board has more bottom roll added.

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NspCanuck said..
How does the 23" compare to the 24.5" stability wise?. Considering the rounded tail of the 23" to pintail on the 24.5". Also by nsp's discription that the 24.5" board has more bottom roll added.

Very good question
Both boards are pretty much the same stability wise. The rounded tail making for the narrower width
Both board have exact same bottom roll
The idea was for travis to jump from one board to the other but have the same feeling, knowing that one board will perform better in the flat and smaller DW, the other board performing better in bigger DW
Carolina 23
Gorge 24.5

I just got to paddle the 14' x 25" and 14 x 24.5" Ocean Race at Takapuna beach, Auckland, NZ. I had both boards on the beach and got to paddle one then immediately swap to try the other and had a Sunnto GPS watch to test the speeds.

14' x 25.5": This board has the dug-out cockpit and narrow pin tail. I thought it would be way too tippy for me coming off a DC 14 x 26" and not being a bandie legged racer. It turned out to be really stable for the pretty calm conditions. There was a small knee high swell on the reef so I sessioned that and caught a few swells. The 14/24.5 really picks up a bump very easily and the nose lifts effortlessly and the board planes where you stand and tracks well - making it almost feel like a surf SUP getting that initial a lift from a wave. The feel of the board is 'exciting' and it is nervous but stable at the same time. It feels fast! I clocked my fastest ever speed on a SUP at 14.8km/h on a small wave on the reef! My peak speeds on the flat were about 10 km/h which is good for me.

14' x 25": This is the flat deck ocean race board with a wider tail. It immediately felt like my 14' x 26" DC which is not unexpected except the DC has a dug out. The 14/25 seems to have more nose rocker but it is supposed to have the same rocker line as the 14/24.5. It felt fast but just didn't feel as exciting and have a sense of acceleration that the 14/24.5 has. It is designed as more serious down wind board and in high winds and rolling swells/chop it would be amazing.





I think I have fallen in love with the 14' x 24.5" as it seems so fast but more stable than I expected. I need to try it in very choppy harbour conditions and with a nasty side wind/chop to see how I can handle that so I may regret going so narrow sometimes - but I see a step change in the speeds on the GPS!

Interesting feed back. It looks like that is the 2015 model however I'm sure they handle pretty much the same. The tail is slightly different on the 2016. I wonder how the 24.5 stacks up against the 2016 allstar and the sic fx in all conditions. They seem to fit into the same category of type of board...

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NspCanuck said..
Interesting feed back. It looks like that is the 2015 model however I'm sure they handle pretty much the same. The tail is slightly different on the 2016. I wonder how the 24.5 stacks up against the 2016 allstar and the sic fx in all conditions. They seem to fit into the same category of type of board...

Yes this is the 2015 model.
The 2016 model is a totally different board really. Same kind of stability though.
The 2016 has more front rocker and is a lot easier when the bumps get bigger.

That's what I thought about the nose as well however couldn't quite tell from the pics above. Does the 2015 model perform better in flat water compared to the 2016?

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NspCanuck said..
That's what I thought about the nose as well however couldn't quite tell from the pics above. Does the 2015 model perform better in flat water compared to the 2016?

Yes the 2015 isa bit faster in flat water.
To recognise them just look at the tail
If full then 2016
If cut then 2015

This 14'/24.5" board is a well battered 2015 model that was owned by one of NZ's top racers. I think the 2016 model that I saw at the beach has a slightly different/wider tail and just a few tweaks rather than being considered a totally different board?

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Stev0 said..
This 14'/24.5" board is a well battered 2015 model that was owned by one of NZ's top racers. I think the 2016 model that I saw at the beach has a slightly different/wider tail and just a few tweaks rather than being considered a totally different board?

this one is a 2014 board. The 2015 was exactly the same with new stickers. The 2016 has the same stickers than the 2015 but is totally different board....and the tail is narrower not wider.
The key to see quickly the difference between the 2015 and 2016 model is the top of the tail. Cut 2015 or not cut 2016....

I wish manufacturers would print the model year on the board...