NSP surfboards for kiting

[kitesurf66]

After spending a lot of time on my Bic 5'10" fish as a twinser, I've found a better configuration. The twinser works well on flat water. But for aggresive surf riding, I found it didn't hold an edge well enough, so upwind suffered. The stock uses 10.5 cm fins. On suggestion from Gabe Brown I put a smaller fin in the center, using a 9 cm fin from my magnum. I have 10.5 cm fins for the side fins, and a 9 cm fin as the center fin. The board rides just to my liking now. I found the 10.5 cm fin in the center to be too draggy and too stiff for my liking. The Bic fish is a fun board for strapless riding.
The minimal (thruster) works with a kite, not as much fun as the Fish, but more responsive than the magnum.

Have you tried two 9 cm twinsers without the center fin? When you say not as much fun as the fish, what are you referring to?

K66

[sflinux]

K66,
I was referring to the boards: Fish versus Magnum.
After much tinkering, I went back to the stock fins on the Bic Fish. This had the most upwind ability and rides well with a kite. For the Magnum, the stock center fin is too big. I shaped a custom fin (from a cracked spare I had) to be the same height as the two outside fins. So now I ride my Magnum as a thruster, instead of a 2 + 1 configuration. The board still has drive, but doesn't have all the lift that the stock center fin generates. I'm amazed at how little kite I need, when riding the Magnum, to be riding upwind when other guys are out kiting.
Many thanks to Kevin Salter for the idea of using smaller center fins on surfboards.
Though the Bics are not the most glamorous boards out there, they sure can take the abuse from kiting.

[romkite]

NSP boards suck! Sure, they are cheap and bombproof, but the riding qualities are terrible! They are heavy, and like the other guy said, they are SLOW.. I used to ride one and thought it was ok, until I rode a surftech board about the same size. The surftech board is half the weight, and has a livelier ride to it, but is still pretty strong. They are more expensive, but if you want a serious board for the surf, it is worth paying the extra coin IMHO....

I have never tried NSP so I can not comment their pros & cons, but I googled quickly to find out you can get a brand new NSP short board for 300 to 350 EUR.

That's the price I paid two months ago for a 2009 north kontact 6.1 in pretty good shape. That's also the price I would be able to resell it now or in six months ... when your NSP would be worth what ? 150 EUR maybe ?

Like IHateKooks I think you should use a dedicated board, but it is not necessarily expensive !