Going low vol

An nsp 82l 7'8 x 27 board came Up recently at a super cheap price- the lowest vol I've ever gone is the 8'0 sunova flash at 93l and sold it due to being a bit of work. My normal range is around 104l.
I honestly wasn't expecting to be able to be to surf it but was blown away that I could! She's pretty sunken and was a quick learning curve in howling off shore and shifty beach breaks today but caught a couple of slightly overhead hollow crackers! The rails literally feel as thin as surfboard rails!
Anyone else ridden these nsp shapes? Seems quite neutral and stable feeling for the size but certainly noticed the very small sweet-spot of standing and trying to keep the board from sinking when a wave came. Took a few waves to start getting the timing right but had one absolute cracker of a right and the board felt so alive and playful.

Cheers man! Just got back from Bali too, will post some pics from Uluwatu when it hit 5m! It seems like an awesome shape, nice vee in the tail and lifted rocker in the nose. Honestly surprised I could paddle It around in our west coast conditions.
I prob need a few more sessions and then back to back with my spitfire to see whether the volume drop is worth the extra hassle. Can't believe the spitfire is 25l more volume,

Thanks Frp, it's funny- I remember looking at some of the longer and wider lengths when they came out thinking they were pretty low volume and prob wouldn't work for me, but this one is surprising.
You might be right with the assumption as it is pretty sunken, rather than left or right stability the main focus is trying to stand just far enough back that the nose keeps out of the water but not too far back or whole the board then sinks and the nose wants to pop out. Same with an inch or too further forward.
It's 27" wide, most narrow board I've ever hard. But it's just soo thin in the rails, makes My 8'2 pin tail Smik spitfire feel thick!

Hey TGS how does it compare in shape and surfing to the spitfire?

Here's a couple of pics comparing them

Nice one! I reckon you'll love the hipster pin, I'd been messaging Scotty just before he launched it when I had both the regular hipster and spitfire pin about whether a merge of the two would work! Sounds like a super fun board!

My transition from 121 L, to 113 L to 107 L over the last 2yrs, at 105-95 kg, during this time.
If you don't keep trying to go smaller in volume, your surfing won't properly progress, that is if you want to SUP comparable to progressive short board surfing. All cool if you just enjoying sup and also stick to the same size, each to their own.
My progress from the 121 (infinity blur v2) to SMIK 113L was the biggest step. First couple of surfs, exhausted after 1.5/2 hrs, heaps of blowing waves and falling off.
After dialling in the 113L SMIK, I wanted to improve my barrel riding, not just pulling in but making them. I need thinner rails and less volume. So stepped down to 107L, same again first couple of surfs, falling off and missing waves, but over time my surfing improved.
For me the bigger board, is great for small fat waves, and the smaller one for juice, it helps moving between the 2 that they are almost the same so makes the transition easy between the 2.
Also when you shaving volume, don't discount how much weight a wet steamer adds to the equation. Cause my body weight now 97 kg is close to 107 volume, the 3 - 5 kgs, estimate weight of wet steamer makes a big difference. Same obviously with conditions, wind, bump in swell etc.
For me have two similar boards in wagon and choosing which one for the conditions work for me.
one I've dialled the 107L and loss some more kegs, I'll like to progress to a 100 L custom SMIK, and then default my 107L as my big board.
Great shapes, love the SMIK's.

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jb1979 said..
In another thread it was noted that Smik boards feel smaller than other makes of similar volume, and this is my observation also.

I've ridden quite a number of boards in the 120L range and settled on it as my magic number - 8'7 sunova flowV1 (119L?), 8'7 Sunova placid (125L), 8'9 flash (122L), custom 8'5 which was 115L, and the 8'3 hipster pin at 123L is the most difficult to ride board I've ever had in comparison.

I have an 8'6 hipster twin also and I feel like that compares closer to my sunova boards and its 132L.

Hey jb thats an interesting observation and was hoping you could elaborate on your experience with the 8'3" hipster pin feeling so difficult and the differences you've felt not only between it and the sunovas but also the 8'6" hipster.
I've got the 8'10" hipster @140L and it's so stable but want to get to a more surfing feel like Nerdburger, and am going to drop to an 8'3" hipster pin, which looks like its got the same DNA but refined. Cheers

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backbeach said..

jb1979 said..
In another thread it was noted that Smik boards feel smaller than other makes of similar volume, and this is my observation also.

I've ridden quite a number of boards in the 120L range and settled on it as my magic number - 8'7 sunova flowV1 (119L?), 8'7 Sunova placid (125L), 8'9 flash (122L), custom 8'5 which was 115L, and the 8'3 hipster pin at 123L is the most difficult to ride board I've ever had in comparison.

I have an 8'6 hipster twin also and I feel like that compares closer to my sunova boards and its 132L.

Hey jb thats an interesting observation and was hoping you could elaborate on your experience with the 8'3" hipster pin feeling so difficult and the differences you've felt not only between it and the sunovas but also the 8'6" hipster.
I've got the 8'10" hipster @140L and it's so stable but want to get to a more surfing feel like Nerdburger, and am going to drop to an 8'3" hipster pin, which looks like its got the same DNA but refined. Cheers

Hi Mate - for reference I'm 100Kg + my wettie, etc. and 6'4.

There is a big jump in size from the 8'6 to the 8'3. I find the 8'6 really easy to ride in terms of stability, and it is certainly fun on a wave, definitely need to use your feet a lot to keep it moving, and need to be right back to get it turning well. But I do feel the size of it if that makes sense?

The 8'3 has a really small sweet spot for standing - my back foot is in line but just in front of the handle and the front almost inline with the end of the deck pad - forget even trying to stand not in a surf stance. If I'm off position the back of the board sinks, same with the front if I'm not paying attention. Overall its just challenging in the lineup.

On a wave the 8.3 is smooth and easy to turn and ride - I would suspect that the weight difference plays a part in this as well as the size, and the tail design. I'd look at it as think, do, with the 8'6 is more think, set up, do?

Hope that helps, good luck with it. Interested to see how it goes for you.

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slsurf said..
Surely this won't be less work than the flash you sold? Anyway that's impressive you could make it work. Less surface area is better for offshore wind I think.

Yes its a lot more work than the flash ever was.

I would take the NSP's 82L volume with a pinch of salt - it is likely to be considerably more as it would be much more difficult to paddle than your 90L board. I've seen starboard pros with the incorrect volume printed on them by as much as 10 litres.

ok just re read the bit where you say you are 72kg - 10 litres above your weight should be fine anything higher volume in decent waves will feel a bit much for you imo.

So I use a 90L blurr v2 7'11 x 27 as my everyday board in any conditions and I'm 82kg and 6ft . I can use an 80 Litre board but it is super hard work with equal weight to volume ratio. For me personally the sweet spot is between plus 5 - 10 litres as you still have a bit of float that makes getting in to waves easier. But it did take about 10 years to get to that point of paddling smaller boards.

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thegreatsup said..
How did you find the flash btw?
that board ripped harder than anything else I've ever ridden- although it was my prior lowest volume at 92l too, which is similar to what yours would've been compared to your body weight I think?
Haven't really had enough time on the nsp to really hone it on for comparison but that flash was magical. Super fine rails, good rocker, loved the pin. Only a single concave too. That nicely tucked rail. the Nsp seems quite similar but with vee in the tail.
the 8'0 x 27.5 flash was just a lot of work in choppy west coast and big whitewash. The nsp was ok if not trying to fight decent whitewash oncoming sets to battle over

Yes mate I loved the flash also. Wish I hadn't sold it.

@justaddwater, you'd be surprised mate! Going off my original post I dropped from 107 to 82l back to back and still was ok! Surpsingly! So you might be ok giving it a crack?
@Jimbo, good effort on the 90l! I'm still debating whether that 82l nsp is worth the extra hassle, lack of glide etc. Def needed a good wave push to get it moving!

It's hard to generalize about vast majority of people. So many different factors board shape/surface area, age, physical ability, tolerance for not standing all the time, type of waves, how many days you get out. When you start getting close to your stability limit a slightly less stable board can be very frustrating. The lower volume production boards tend to get more narrow pulled in shapes so where many people could benefit from less volume it might not be available in a shape that can work for their ability, thus you end up with too high a volume board to get the surface area needed for stability.