9'4" x 27.5" x 4.375" Custom Kazuma Board EPS / Epoxy
Me: Beginner to surfing and SUP. Based out of Paia, Maui
I hope it's not cognitive dissonance but I'll go out on a limb and say it: this board is the greatest. We like it so much that we are on our way to ordering a second one with a
few tweaks, but more on that later. I was not going to be a SUP, even after seeing Rand and the folks at Kanaha the first week of April 2007, maybe you've seen the videos? I
was going to try to focus on long boarding and get better. That has all changed. I'm now a SUP convert. And I have seen the magic when the first go around of the season
happened about two weeks ago at Kanaha. No wind, and head high+plus on from the North. Pure magic! This was really the first time I caught head high waves on my new baby. Unreal. There had been some head high softies a few times on the West, South facing side of Lahaina, and I may have caught a few but two weeks ago was the real deal. Turn into the wind -- to the right, power stroke on my best side (left), half way through the turn, drop in, takeoff and then all the way around 270 degrees and you are off on a right hand shoulder that is to die for. Yeah hah. Singing all the way.
The board forces you to be late, but this is a real plus. OK, not late by shortboard metrics, but later. I'm 155 and it's a challenge to stand on in chop or wind, or get anything done like go up wind or make quick turns when the weather isn't cooperating. The board is something for me to grow into. It gives up a bit paddling in, at least for me vs a 9 foot prone longboard, but it takes back on steeper takeoffs and getting around white water. Call me lazy but I've stopped trying to get it up to speed, I'm letting the wave do it. So it requires more timing than the longboard. This is the challenge. The flip side is that it's got giddy up once it's on the wave, it turns like a sports car and the lower volume and shorter length is less to deal with when you are trying to get back out or in a wipe out.
I've paddled it a handful of times from Hookipa to a takeout in Paia Bay, 2 blocks from where I live (I walk through town with it on my shoulder). The days I've been out
through Hookipa have been flat, and the waves I've caught on the outer reefs have been brief. Like I said, I've only had the board two months, I've counted about 25 days riding, in all sorts of stuff. The short 'downwinders' are a challenge on the tippy board, at least tippy for me, but doable. I can't say enough praise about the ability of this board to turn. Just think turn and it turns. Only today (after having the board for 2 months) am realizing how much rocker
it has nose and tail. The back of the board is low volume. I've been playing with white water takeoffs in waist high and it just pops out, even when you are late you are
surfing, not pearling. I'm playing with standing forward during takeoff and delaying weighting the tail. Yup, sure enough, you're about to sound the diving alarm -- aruggh-ahh, aruggh-ahh and bernt, the nose pops out, no pearling here.
I 'usually' surf the South Side with my wife. The waves have less power, they are in the best sense a long board wave, in the worst sense a mush burger. But when I get this
board on any type of steep, I think turn it, turns and I'm on the shoulder and surfing. I love this board. Back to what's wrong with it. I need to use it inside, because I
don't have the balance to be a power stroker yet. I've given up some of the SUP advantage of go anywhere, or go outside of where the surfers are not. If it has any faults it has what I would call 'broad shoulders'. Alot of the volume is 2 feet from the nose. I think Matt did this to get the stability when paddling without giving up any turniness in
the tail. Our next board is on order momentarily. It's for my wife (I'm sure you've heard that before), who like me is a newbie. She has been surfing an 11' X 25.75 NSP
longbard, it's a whale in the tail. I think we are going 10" for her board, she would like to keep the glide an have a South Side board. We are going to keep the rocker and go a
little thinner. She has better balance than me and is a bit lighter so we are going to 116 liters, which is going to give up nearly 20 lbs of buoyancy. The biggest improvement
I think will be a very very modest (can you say less than 2%) reduction in the the 'shoulders'. We are going to keep the rocker so hopefully it will have the same turniness. I don't think Matt will allow any boards out of his shop which don't turn. In some senses the only reason we are going longer is just for the sake of change, why have two boards in the quiver which are identical, why not mix it up?
Did I mention the workmanship? I think these boards are incredibly durable. I have accidentally bumped the board when stacking it and unstacking it for the daily run to
wherever. I like how there was epoxy build up on the edges in the tail. The thing does not scratch. We've rented a few boards here and there and they all had pressure dings.
The rails on the NSP my wife uses as a SUP were dinged on the first outing. The Kazuma has been holding up really well. I've been remarkably and happily surprised.
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