Review NAISH SUP 11'4'' stand up paddle board quality

Thinking of buying a Naish SUP?

You might want to read the following article on the build quality and customer service of Naish and Pacific board sports first.

Introduction: Having been a windsurfer and surfer for the last 25 years, I decided to go give Stand Up Padlle surfing a try.
We got in touch with Pacific Board sports and they were very happy to sell us the naish boards. We ordered 2 SUP's, a 11'6'' Naish Epoxy wood construction and a 11'4'' Epoxy wood from the most expensive Naish SUP line.

The marginal conditions in which the NAISH SUP board broke

We got the boards delivered after a few weeks, paid the 200 dollar shipping (per board) and opened the box: 1 X 11'4'' Naish Epoxy wood and... 1 x 11'6'' NAISH AST constructed board, the AST is the cheap and heavy construction, and not what we ordered and paid for.

Got in touch with Naish via Pacific Board Sport and they send us the right 11'6'' Naish Epoxy wood, we paid another 200 dollars in shipping, and Naish said the give us credit for that on future purchases, we didn't agree with this. However since we still had the extra board here, I figured : they want the board back they can come and pay the 200 dollar.(Anyway the shipping fee is not the big issue here).

The big issue is the construction quality of the Naish boards:

After 5 sessions Stand up Paddle surfing on the 11'6'' the board broken in 2 pieces in very marginal conditions ( see photo on the right).

I was very shocked when this happend, mainly because nothing odd had happend: no big waves, no late take-offs-no hitting the reef, no damage from transportation, no shorebreak problems. The board was pretty much brand new, used 5 times.

Besides being shocked, I was also surprised to see the actual construction; having seen many windsurf boards, I know what kind of reinforcements these boards have, stringers, denser foam, reinforcements on the rail, extra layers. This naish boards had none of these things.

An email was send to our Naish rep who lives 400 yards from me, he said he would fordward it to Naish.

After 3 weeks pacific Board sports came back to us, saying that the warranty on these boards ( retail value: $1,800 US) is the same as on surfboards, which means, if they break; bad luck, in their words "Rider Error". However in conditions like pictured to the right.

We were not satisfied, so I thought I'd seek some advice on some Stand up paddle forums. I posted them my story, without mentioning Naish's name or showing the pictures. All users agreed with me that the board should be replaced. it was the most popular thread on the Stand up zone forum.
After a while I got another email from naish saying there there was nothing they could do for me anymore, other than maybe offer me a small discount on my next purchase.

Only then did I post the pictures of the board on the stand up paddle zone forum, aince I didn't want to speak badly of naish boards, in case they were going to do the right thing (IMO) by replacing the board, however the admin of stand up zone forum immediattly deleted the thread and my account.

Here's what some people with board construction experience had to say about the Naish board construction:

• "Poor construction on the Naish SUP, not nearly enough reinforcements"

• "Constrcution quality comparable of a board in the lowest price quality" (these Naish boards are amongst the most expensive SUP boards on the market)

• "Naish should have replaced the board"

• etc.etc.

More info available at: http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2009/09/board-construction-things-you-should.html

and http://ncpaddlesurfer.blogspot.com/2009/09/updates-keep-coming.html

I am very dissapointed in Naish, I always thought Naish was a board brand by riders, like Robby Naish, for riders. This is clearly not the case, Naish is trying to make a quick buck by positioning their SUP brand as a premium brand, but selling a k-mart quality board, just to maximize the profit margins.

So if you are thinking about buying a Naish SUP online or in your local surf shop, take this in consideration.

Goes without saying that Naish has lost me as a client; for their SUP gear, as well as windsurfing and kitesurfing.

If anyone had similar stories about Naish or other brands, contact me on info at nowsurf.com (replace at with @ and remove spaces)

Happy surfing
Jim