Yesterday I was lucky enough to pick up a brand new Nano 72 litre from the freight depot here in Adelaide. Given the forecast it was straight to Middleton to unwrap it, put the straps and fins on and get out there.

There is nothing like trying to get a brand new board out of the box and all the wrapping in 25-35knots but once I got it out, wow, did it look awesome. Severne have excelled this year with the graphics, it looks even better in real life than it already does on their website.

Got the board sorted out, set up as a thruster, rigged a 3.7 Blade and headed out. Conditions were 3 foot swell, starboard tack cross-cross off with wind strength as already described. Heading out through the waves due to the gusty challenging conditions I found that the board had amazing acceleration and in the lulls it would sufficiently float me at 68kgs if I kept central on the board. On the wave it was super fast if I wanted to blast down the line to hit sections further down but would then also pull up and do incredibly tight turns. It broke the fins loose on one top turn and got some slide happening but it was very easy to lock it back in and get it under control.

Today I got to try it out in onshore conditions at Seacliff. This time it was Port tack with also about 25-35knots and once again I used a 3.7 blade and ran the board as a thruster. Once again the board acceleration was amazing even through white water sections when heading out. It felt great in the air and controlled during loops and was easy to control at full speed through the chop amongst the waves. I had the opportunity to do some onshore bearaways in some shoulder to head high waves and this is where the board blew away all of my expectations. Turns were ridiculously tight, fast, effortless and controlled.

If you are thinking about giving one of these awesome boards a go don't hesitate. I can definitely say that after only two sails on it this is the best board I have ever had.

Sounds great! Did you have the previous model in the same volume? Waiting for my 77L to land, itching to get it on the water

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Relapse said..
Sounds great! Did you have the previous model in the same volume? Waiting for my 77L to land, itching to get it on the water

No, didn't have the previous model. I have three Nuevos 72, 80 and 86 which I love but this board has gone another level in my opinon. I had a go on a 78 Nano in the old model but didn't get to try it in very good conditions to get a good idea. Personally I wasn't a fan of the wider nose so I really like all the refinements this year. I will be interested to hear your opinion of the new one compared to the previous model.

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Bondage said..

Relapse said..
Sounds great! Did you have the previous model in the same volume? Waiting for my 77L to land, itching to get it on the water

No, didn't have the previous model. I have three Nuevos 72, 80 and 86 which I love but this board has gone another level in my opinon. I had a go on a 78 Nano in the old model but didn't get to try it in very good conditions to get a good idea. Personally I wasn't a fan of the wider nose so I really like all the refinements this year. I will be interested to hear your opinion of the new one compared to the previous model.

I have the 83L current Nano and tried the 78L, both awesome, downsizing to the 77L Nano this season. I really liked the cut off nose, harder to crack than the traditional pointy style that they have got with in 2020. Never had a problem with the stubby nose getting buried and catapults so not sure why they have added the point back. The have stuck with the stubby nose with the Dyno this year.

Hopefully it arrives this week so I can give it a squirt.

Does the board come as a thruster or a quad? i thought it came as a quad naturally.

I'm getting my 87L soon also ... will be my dedicated light wind, marginal conditions wave riding weapon; very excited about the new changes.

@ akesy .... 2020 version nano looks better to me as a marginal waverider - looks like it has alot more meat / chunk thru the board every volume break vs older nano from looks of side views website (and above beach pic) .... 1st version Nano looked really wafer thin depthwise the couple of models I saw - which personally puts me off for on/off power / true waveriding conditions

Can James Hooper / anyone Severne give any depth measurements for all 2020 models ?

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akesy said..
Does the board come as a thruster or a quad? i thought it came as a quad naturally.

I'm getting my 87L soon also ... will be my dedicated light wind, marginal conditions wave riding weapon; very excited about the new changes.

The board comes with a thruster set of fins as per the Severne website. I ordered the board with 5 fins so I could set it up as either thruster or quad. I set it up as a thruster first because it already had the blockouts in the quad boxes and I wanted to get on the water asap. I will be definitely having a play around with the quad set as well when I get the chance.

I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds. It shouldn't work for my weight in windy weather, but it does. Has our thinking about wave board size totally changed with these new designs?

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

Select to expand quote

Basher said..
I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us across through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds.

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

I'm 70kg and ride the Dyno 95 for float and ride and light days. Have been on the 83 Nano but am finding it a bit big in the waves now so have gone the 77L for the 20 knot plus days. 82L Nano would be a good step down from the Dyno for you I reckon @75kg

Hi Basher,

I was thinking the same as Relapse, that the 82 would be a good board for you. Whilst I was using the board the other day with a 3.7 I plan for it to be my main seabreeze board this summer where it will get used with a 4.7 up to about 25 knots and a 4.2 up to about 30 knots. I also have 3 Nuevo's, a 72, 80 and 86. To make a comparison the 72 (which is actually only 67litres) sinks on me, the 80 floats me very comparably to this new Nano 72 and the 86 is super floaty and I only use it now for extremely light float and ride wave sailing.

Im guessing that the 72 Nano having similar float to my 80 Nuevo is all in the parallel rails and the different way in which the volume is distributed.

Select to expand quote

Bondage said..
Hi Basher,

I was thinking the same as Relapse, that the 82 would be a good board for you. Whilst I was using the board the other day with a 3.7 I plan for it to be my main seabreeze board this summer where it will get used with a 4.7 up to about 25 knots and a 4.2 up to about 30 knots. I also have 3 Nuevo's, a 72, 80 and 86. To make a comparison the 72 (which is actually only 67litres) sinks on me, the 80 floats me very comparably to this new Nano 72 and the 86 is super floaty and I only use it now for extremely light float and ride wave sailing.

Im guessing that the 72 Nano having similar float to my 80 Nuevo is all in the parallel rails and the different way in which the volume is distributed.

Thanks, that's extremely useful. I had the Nuevos in those three sizes too, so that's a very helpful comparison. I'm using the Dyno 95 in the same lighter wind or rippy/white water conditions that last year I used the Nuevo 86 in.
I saw the new 82 Nano on our beach this weekend and I was impressed. But extra float is often your friend when our wave machine works, so I wondered if I should go for the 87 size instead.
The decision is also about which board to take to Cape Town in January - it gets very windy there by late afternoon, but the earlier wind is also holey or gusty and so a bigger board gets you out there earlier.

I also reckon go the smaller 82 size for your weight Basher, I have the 78l which has plenty of float in light wind

Select to expand quote

Basher said..
I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds. It shouldn't work for my weight in windy weather, but it does. Has our thinking about wave board size totally changed with these new designs?

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

Hi Guys,

Really interested in the Nano. I've been using the Dyno 95 for a few months and I have to say it's fantastic! Wondering what size Nano would be best as a step down board. I sail in similar conditions to Basher but I'm slightly heaver at 82kg. I'm thinking 82 but I'm really enjoying sailing bigger boards so maybe the 87 but I'm concerned it's to close to my Dyno?
Cheers

Select to expand quote

Paulmission said..

Basher said..
I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds. It shouldn't work for my weight in windy weather, but it does. Has our thinking about wave board size totally changed with these new designs?

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

Hi Guys,

Really interested in the Nano. I've been using the Dyno 95 for a few months and I have to say it's fantastic! Wondering what size Nano would be best as a step down board. I sail in similar conditions to Basher but I'm slightly heaver at 82kg. I'm thinking 82 but I'm really enjoying sailing bigger boards so maybe the 87 but I'm concerned it's to close to my Dyno?
Cheers

The nano will feel very differrent to your dyno, it'll feel smaller, more radical, a true waveboard... At 82, the 87 is not big for you... If i were you i'd go for the 87.

I am 75 ... and i have an 82 and 87 cover the range; so similar to you at 82 with an 87 and 95.

With the narrower nose do they feel smaller than last years ?
The mako to nano comparison on their website is messed up.

Select to expand quote

Bondage said..

akesy said..
Does the board come as a thruster or a quad? i thought it came as a quad naturally.

I'm getting my 87L soon also ... will be my dedicated light wind, marginal conditions wave riding weapon; very excited about the new changes.

The board comes with a thruster set of fins as per the Severne website. I ordered the board with 5 fins so I could set it up as either thruster or quad. I set it up as a thruster first because it already had the blockouts in the quad boxes and I wanted to get on the water asap. I will be definitely having a play around with the quad set as well when I get the chance.

Let us know what you think re quad vs thruster... i have my own preferences for quads but will be interested to see how different the board is with a thruster set.

Select to expand quote

Foghorn said..
With the narrower nose do they feel smaller than last years ?
The mako to nano comparison on their website is messed up.

My understanding is they're definitely a step up in waveriding abilities... carve better, more radical... Mako vs Nano is pure down the line Vs all round, imperfect conditions type board i reckon.

Select to expand quote

akesy said..

Bondage said..

akesy said..
Does the board come as a thruster or a quad? i thought it came as a quad naturally.

I'm getting my 87L soon also ... will be my dedicated light wind, marginal conditions wave riding weapon; very excited about the new changes.

The board comes with a thruster set of fins as per the Severne website. I ordered the board with 5 fins so I could set it up as either thruster or quad. I set it up as a thruster first because it already had the blockouts in the quad boxes and I wanted to get on the water asap. I will be definitely having a play around with the quad set as well when I get the chance.

Let us know what you think re quad vs thruster... i have my own preferences for quads but will be interested to see how different the board is with a thruster set.

Hi Akesy, will definitely let you know what I think in regards to quad vs thruster once I get the chance. This might be a 3-4 weeks away as im about to go away on a non windsurfing holiday for 2 weeks.

To those who have mentioned that the Nano nose shape has changed - you should also note the Nano V2 is a bit longer than the version 1.
So the change to the nose means it's simply less 'cut off' than before.

The earlier square nose made the rails look more parallel throughout the hull length but the pointy nose changes that visually. Whether the change has much effect on performance remains to be seen. I guess the sharper nose changes the rail line for a cranked top turn under the lip?

Some people were concerned about the square nose for those inevitable catapults - because the mast can smash the square nose of a board whereas a pointy nose tends to deflect a falling mast better.

The other change is at the tail where channels have been added to the rear of the fins. These give the board more grip in a straight line and in a turn. (And they have them on the Fanatic Stubby too of course).

People have mentioned you can set the board as quad or as a tri fin. The quad set up will probably plane a bit later, but will give more drive on the wave face, and that's often what you want for cross off conditions.
The tri fin set up should plane a bit earlier and go faster in a straight line, and is maybe better for cross-onshore conditions.
I see the tri fin comes with quite a long centre fin, and I suspect I'll reduce the length of mine by about 2cms.

If you want to plane even earlier then try fitting just two fins. A twin fin set up would also be very loose, for those that like that sort of feel.

When nit's windy and you're well powered you don't generally need to worry about early planing so the differences in fin set ups are often about preferred feel - and that's a personal thing.

But note that for the earliest planing in marginal conditions you could also try a single fin set up with say a 22cms fin, and wth the other four boxes blanked off.

Nano 82 in 40-50knot winds on Saturday.

Next frame would've been interesting.

Indeed, he didn't land it. No-one was landing anything in that wind.!

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Basher said..
Nano 82 in 40-50knot winds on Saturday.

Pretty big sails for 40-50 knots! Force 10 on 3.7-4.0, wow!

Yes, that's a 3.4 and he said he was well overpowered.
I didn't go out because my 3.7 was too big.

Select to expand quote

akesy said..

Paulmission said..

Basher said..
I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds. It shouldn't work for my weight in windy weather, but it does. Has our thinking about wave board size totally changed with these new designs?

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

Hi Guys,

Really interested in the Nano. I've been using the Dyno 95 for a few months and I have to say it's fantastic! Wondering what size Nano would be best as a step down board. I sail in similar conditions to Basher but I'm slightly heaver at 82kg. I'm thinking 82 but I'm really enjoying sailing bigger boards so maybe the 87 but I'm concerned it's to close to my Dyno?
Cheers

The nano will feel very differrent to your dyno, it'll feel smaller, more radical, a true waveboard... At 82, the 87 is not big for you... If i were you i'd go for the 87.

I am 75 ... and i have an 82 and 87 cover the range; so similar to you at 82 with an 87 and 95.

Ordered the 87 Nano today really hoping I love it as much as my Dyno!

Select to expand quote

Paulmission said..

akesy said..

Paulmission said..

Basher said..
I'm after one of the new Nanos, but have no idea which size to get.

The days of picking a wave board with a volume in litres to match your weight in kilos seem to be over - and many people seem to be using bigger boards now. We go bigger in volume to plane earlier and to get us through the white water and the wind lulls, and these multi fin boards don't easily tail walk like the old single fin wave boards did.

I usually sail in onshore conditions where we have whitewater and currents as well as rideable waves and my 'go to' board right now is a Dyno 95, which in theory has 20 more litres of volume than my 75kilos weight requires. I bought this Dyno as a float and ride board for 5.3 and 5.0m sails, but I find it's still fine with a 4.4m rig, and only gets bouncy in 4m weather or when the water state is choppy. I've fitted a much smaller centre fin to get my Dyno looser for wave riding and for less tail lift in stronger winds. It shouldn't work for my weight in windy weather, but it does. Has our thinking about wave board size totally changed with these new designs?

I'm after a new Nano as a step down from the Dyno 95 and I guess it would be used with 4.4 and 4.0 sails a lot, but could also carry the 4.8 easily and maybe a 5.0m if the water conditions were easy. But what size? How do you assess size with these parallel-sided boards that aren't wide overall but have a lot of volume under your feet?
My heart says to go for the new Nano 82, but my head says to go for the 87 litre version.
(It might be handy is Severne would list the one-foot-off tail widths for these boards. )

The thread-starter here talks about the smallest size, but he's sailing it with a 3.7 rig.


The new Nano range starts with the 72litres which is just 54cms wide and then the sizes increase by 5 litres in volume and mostly 1cm in width, so the 82 litre size is 56cms wide, and then the 87 size jumps to be 57.5cms wide.
Which size would be best for a 75kgs sailor as an all round board? And of course the answer to that depends on where you sail, and what the water conditions are like.
The Dyno 95 is 59.5cms wide, so the Nano 87 is two cms narrower. How do we judge board size nowadays without actually standing on the board in the water?

I guess I'm just thinking aloud here, but any comments are very welcome.

Hi Guys,

Really interested in the Nano. I've been using the Dyno 95 for a few months and I have to say it's fantastic! Wondering what size Nano would be best as a step down board. I sail in similar conditions to Basher but I'm slightly heaver at 82kg. I'm thinking 82 but I'm really enjoying sailing bigger boards so maybe the 87 but I'm concerned it's to close to my Dyno?
Cheers

The nano will feel very differrent to your dyno, it'll feel smaller, more radical, a true waveboard... At 82, the 87 is not big for you... If i were you i'd go for the 87.

I am 75 ... and i have an 82 and 87 cover the range; so similar to you at 82 with an 87 and 95.

Ordered the 87 Nano today really hoping I love it as much as my Dyno!

Just got mine ... I think you'll be pleasantly surprised ;)

Relapse and I going to try the new 77 and my 2019 78 back to back today. We'll post some review. Stay tuned...

Select to expand quote

Acker said..
Relapse and I going to try the new 77 and my 2019 78 back to back today. We'll post some review. Stay tuned...

Unfortunately wind didn't last long enough to swap around and do a decent test.
Too early to comment much other than the new 77 looked like it tracked beautifully, perhaps a little smoother than my 78 with the added wave performance. Very nice looking board on and off the water. Any other early thoughts Derek or too early?
We'll do a more solid review once we get some wave action.

Ok, we did a bit more comparison between my 2019 Nano 78 and Derek's 2020 Nano 77 today in 4.8 wind and choppy bump'n'jump.
Note we had a different fin setup (quad 14s and 10s on the 77; tri 17 and 10s on the 78). Yet to try it in decent waves; hopefully next weekend.

Here are some of the differences I noticed. Derek may follow up with his thoughts.

- Feels a bit wavier, bit smoother in chop, perhaps more planted
- Seems to bite in the turns more with a bit longer rail engagement; can drive into turns with bit more power and grip
- The new shaped nose seems to clear over and through the chop a little better
- Really couldn't notice any less early planing or top speed on the 77 compared to the 78
- A little easier tacking and grovelling on the 77 with volume redistribution around standing area

It's a tricky comparison as I already think the 78 is epic, so any differences noted are not negatives on the 78. It has a lively and versatile feel about it which is great, especially for mixing radical waveriding with bump'n'jump and some freestyle moves (like shakas, shoveits and spocks). We both dared suggest a more freewave feel on the 78 and more wave feel on the 77, but I'd say this unfair. I've used a lot of freewave boards over the last 20 years and find the 78 is far better in waves than any freewave board I've ever used (and even the freestyle moves are also better on the Nano than any freewave).

What I would dare suggest is the 77 seems to have gained more wave performance without losing much (if any) of this versatility which is a fantastic outcome! Whilst I could easily stick with the 78 as my favourite board (perhaps ever), I suspect the 2020 model's wave ability is going to be next level, so upgrading will be a matter of when not if.

Thanks for the info. and test.
Can I ask how heavy your two are?

I guess some of the differences you describe could be down to the different fin set up. I have boards that feel a lot more planted when set as a quad than when set up as a tri fin.

I still can't decide which Nano size to get. That 77 looks perfect for my trip to Cape Town.

Select to expand quote

Basher said..
Thanks for the info. and test.
Can I ask how heavy your two are?

I guess some of the differences you describe could be down to the different fin set up. I have boards that feel a lot more planted when set as a quad than when set up as a tri fin.

I still can't decide which Nano size to get. That 77 looks perfect for my trip to Cape Town.

Hi Basher,
I'm 70kg and Andy is 80, we were both on 4.8m S1 Pros. 77L had no problem carrying a 4.8m, didn't feel too big on it. Andy is a lot better a sailor than I am and seems to get away with 10L less volume for the same sail size. I have had the 83L Nano as a quad for 3 seasons now and have used the 78L as a quad quite a bit too, fin set up makes a difference for sure but the new one is definitely looser. Tacking felt easier to me too which is great for the waves, feels like they have moved some of the volume from the tail up front, you can put your foot in front of the mast base very comfortably now.

New board feels very different to the old one, I think a lot more than just a few tweaks went in to it. Was pleased that it still retained its speed and early planing, was worried with all that tail kick it would be a bit draggy. It's lost some of that lively/skatey new school feel and feels more planted too me too. Definitely feels more wavey compared to the old one, only managed a couple of gybes before the wind dropped but it likes to turn :-)

Should get some waves this weekend so will have a better idea then.