The Naish Hokua x32

7’10” Naish Hokua X32 LE

This board is so much fun. So much like it’s little brother the 7’6″ Hokua LE, this board is explosive in the pocket, turns on a dime but now the added stability to make it a pleasure to paddle. Much like the 7’6″ the 7’10” does hold back a little on the take offs, but this is to be expected on a board that short (i.e. later take offs). The biggest thing that amazed me was the 32″ factor!! Where was it?

This goes for all the boards, but especially in the 7’10”, I expected the length to width ratio to really be noticable, which it wasn’t. And at the risk of bagging one of my favourite boards, you can feel the width on the Mana 8’5″ more than you can on the 7’10” (and the 8’3″ for that matter) which is crazy.

Directional paddling stability was excellent, and yawing was minimal which was my next concern. I really look forward to ripping this puppy out in more of a low tide condition where it’s super looseness and tight arcs can be properly explored. Definitely ride as a Quad IMO.

8’3″ Naish Hokua X32 LE

WOW! This board is amazing. The characteristics of this boards ride are so similar to the Hokua LE 8’3″ it’s incredible. After riding the 7’10” for about 20 minutes, I thought I had found the ultimate board until I got onto the 8’3″. The added paddling power for the crappy conditions was very welcome, in fact, paddling power far above expectation of a 9+” board.

Connecting sections with ease was a delight. But the real fun was in the turns, this thing is loose as a goose and ready to please. Again, i can’t beleive how well the 32″ works on this puppy. Particularly on my back hand, transitioning from reo’s to cutbacks without changing my stance was easy! Paddling out was a breeze with easy wall climbing, and heaps of stability. Board didn’t feel like 130 ltrs, but then again it did. Similar to the Hokua LE’s volume distribution is spot on.

Highly recommend riding this board if your 80-100kg (pending experience). I preferred as a quad also on this. These are performance boards. The rockers are that of the Hokua LE (or similar), so these are not like a Carbon/Kevlar version of the Mana, or any other high volume, high tech construction wide board with a fish/flat type rocker, the X32 is actual a short board performance X32.

Ride safe,

JB