NSP 14' Coco Mat Race

NSP SUP 12’6/14’ review. “Need for Speed” I first got into SUPs only 14 months ago and must admit it opened my eyes. I have always been a kayak and ski paddler and race boats at that, and could never see the point in SUPs. I considered them slow, unstable, and a whole lot of effort for very little result. How wrong I was. You see up until that point I had never paddled a race SUP. I first got involved when asked to help run a friend’s SUP school for a couple of months so very quickly went about learning how to do it. At first I was on a NSP 10’2” which was 32” wide. These were the standard board for the school and hire business due to their robust construction, stability, and cost and in particular their ability to sit in the sun all day without either exploding or imploding. While I did indeed find these boards stable along with all the other attributes I still had the “Need for Speed”, and very soon found myself on a permanently borrowed NSP 12’6”. Finally I found the missing link between kayaks and your standard surf SUP. This board was light, narrow (28.5”) and fast. I loved it. Its kayak styled bow cut through the water with ease, the flat bottom provided stability and the ability to surf if you found a wave and was very light and stiff. The only problem I had with this board was in fact me. With the board rated at up to 75kgs and me a solid 86kgs the mathematics just did not add up especially during a recent 10km race against an entire field of 14’ boards. Having tried a number of different boards available I settled on a NSP 14’ coco mat board. Not only was this my favorite board to paddle, it was also the cheapest. Almost identical to its little sister board, but just that little bit bigger or should I say a whopping 18 inches bigger. You just cannot get away from increased waterline length being directly proportional in increased speed. Now holding my weight with ease and therefore also providing great stability, this board is a rocket. The coco mat fibre in the board makes this lighter and stiffer than its full glass brother, and better looking too. I am now overtaking kayaks on this SUP. With its long V-shaped bow it does track beautifully, and so I can now change sides to work the muscle groups better and stay with a better rhythm, rather continually swapping sides to keep correcting my course. With a deck pad going all the way to the tail there is also no problem with the step back and turn, to get around the turning buoys in a race. With its clean hard edge rail it also releases water with ease once you get you a little speed (but not until then ) and so surfs almost any ripple you can find. The only concerns with this board at all are that the sides will scuff almost to easily so some rail tape before you even get it wet for the first time would be recommended and the black deck pad can get extremely hot in the sun and even bubble if left unattended, so keep wet or roll over. Pros Speed, Stability and Looks. People just come up to my board and want to touch it. Cons The white painted sides are very easy marked or damaged. Usage Done a couple of races and it held it's own but didn't win however, probably more the fault of the skipper.