6x British SUP Racing Champion, Eurotour regular, and NSP team rider Blue Ewer runs us through his favourite aspect of the NSP Ninja—Blue's favourite flatwater weapon before jetting off to the ICF World Championship in Florida.
The Waterline
Unlike more rockered boards, the NSP Ninja holds a full 14-foot waterline. The very ends of the nose and tail sit at the water's surface. This maximises the effective hull length of the board, giving more glide and efficiency at speed.
The Nose
The Ninja has a much more stable feel to it than a lot of the other flatwater boards on the market. Particularly in a race situation, if you're in the wash and chop off the start, many flatwater boards with narrow, low-volume noses are very hard to paddle or even stay on.
The Ninja's wider nose and forward wide-point give it a really stable feel and make wash-riding much easier. This is particularly apparent when drafting in races, where boards with low-volume noses will struggle in the turbulent water. The Ninja sits really nicely in the wash, whether that's behind someone or in their side-draft.
The higher-volume nose also helps add to the versatility of the board. For a flatwater board, it handles bumps and chop well. Few flatwater events are purely flatwater.
The Dug-out
Both the NSP Ninja and the Carolina make use of deep dugouts. This gives the rider the lowest possible centre of gravity, keeping the board as stable as possible. The dugout rises more gradually toward the back of the board compared to some of the Ninja's competition, creating a relatively large flat deck at the back of the board. This flat deck tail area provides a platform for easy, stable turning and sharp, fast buoy turns.
Boards where the dugout reaches further back towards the tail don't provide the same base for buoy turns and also risk flooding the dugout when performing sharper buoy turns.
The Tail
Aside from the large flat-deck area, another great feature of the tail of the NSP Ninja is its width. For this year and next year's boards, NSP has widened the tail. This will add to the board's stability, particularly useful during sprints and turns.
The Bottom
A characteristic of NSP boards is their flat-profiled bottoms, with gentle, rounded 'soft' rails. The flat mid-section again adds to the board's planted feel. The rounded rails make the boards feel less twitchy than hard-railed boards. Instead, the Ninja will gently rock from side to side in a controlled motion. Combined with the great secondary stability of the high rails, this helps the rider keep the power on through wobbles.
Sizes
The boards come in 20", 21", 22", 23", and 24" widths. Being very stable for their size, riders are able to choose a smaller size than they might otherwise.
Comments