Rider: advanced, well, I hope I am :)
Style: Freeriding, kind of Surf sometimes, Wake - not so often coz I am an old school kiter, Freestyle - YEAH!
Weather: 20-32 knots
Build Quality: Board 11/10, straps 8/10
Satisfaction: Board 11/10 , straps 5/10
Disclosure:

My Comments:
134/42
The first one I have tested was 134 size. Wind 18 knt. I took that board for testing almost a month ago. The wind was not as great as I hoped (I was praying for 30 knt) but the board was a big surprise. My first impression was god damn this board is skatie. I hated that feeling after testing few boards that have it :). The feeling passed after a few tacks as I was really focused on checking what on earth Nobile has come up with. Skatie feeling was replaces with comfort. and Massive pop with easy landing.
The rocker on the board was a surprise! Quite big on non wake style board. But...if we are slight going on hydrodynamics: More rocker - more pop, easy landing, more forgiving. Less rocker - faster board, quicker to plane (of course) and should have more control and less forgiving. Well, I can argue about that control coz after getting used to the skatie feeling I had no problems with managing that board. Important stuff is the spray. No spray on choppy water whatsoever! That massive rocker makes it quite easy to go through chops.
So, 134 - big jumps coz of that surprising pop, smooth landing. 134 doesn't feel like 134 size at all. It feels smaller. Even Nobile recommends to select NHP one size higher.

I have decided to buy it!


131/40...
I picked it up after Mambo Classic and was waiting for the Chicks Weekend on Jervis to test it.
Wind on Sunday was starting to be sweet. 20 knt and it picked up to 28, 32 in gusts :)
got on the water with 20knt and I knew that I will have to get used to the board after a month of waiting. Skatie feeling was there. Footstraps took more time to get used to. My foot was used to our old ones and the new straps on NHP gave me a strange, slippery feeling. I kind of started to feel like I probably should have tested 134 more thoroughly before purchasing 131 but...decided to stay on the water for a bot more. It took me maybe 20-30 min, few jump and landings, few slipped feet, 25 knt and I got used to it. The board became stable but not as fast as my (well my wife's board actually) old board. Water was kind of choppy but not high chops - med ones. The rocker was managing chops like a star and there was no sudden spray on my eyes.
Performance. Well, I was on 9m C4 and on my 131 NHP and by god I was jumping quite high! Pop was astonishing. Landing control was super easy and smooth. Even a small mistake (my knee is buggered after small accident I had) on landing was forgiven by the board. Carve was just too sweet to tell. Toe side carve was amazing. Managing the board on the water is also pretty astonishing. Small fins and rocker helps a lot :)
Going upwind is more demanding that on a board with not so much rocker but I had no problems whatsoever. Nobile says that the board creates less drag :) which is probably true but...less upwind ability is visible.
After 30 min getting used to a completely new board and straps I started to have a fantastic session!!

pros and cons

Pros
The board is forgiving. The rocker and board pretty well designed flex allows the board to forgive you some mistakes you will make.
POP - I hate that word but I will use it here "WOW!!!" Astonishing.
Landing - smooth!
Control - you will need to get used to the feeling but once this is done - the board is just great. Control through harsh water is managed by the flexibility and it is obvious that it is helpful.
Carves - iiiihaaaa. Powered toe side, heel side ones....just to nice to tell.
and No Spray - the spray is gone.


Cons
Upwind - is different that on board with less rocker. I didn't have any problems staying or going upwind but going hard upwind is quite hard.
Straps - I preferred the old Straps but my foot just needed some time to get used to it.
Speed - the board need more run to go fast coz for some it might feel slower. However, if I would like to go to Sandy Point and do some 45 knt runs I ll talk to Underground to get that speed stick they make :)).
The board will teach you how to edge instead or relying on your fins :) kind of pros/cons thing


the advise I can offer is - test it before you buy it :)

I have only had a two rides on my 134nhp so far and disagree a bit that it is a skatey board as they come standard with 55mm fins which are the oposite they are supper grippy. you must have smaller fins? the board definatly rides a bit slower than last years NHP size for size but rides with ease and i think it will hold down a lot more power , nice and soft with no spray in the face, the IFS pro pads feel nice and soft compared to the old white nobile pads and landing on this board is soft and controlled good for the old knees. Cant wait to give it a diesent ride in some different conditions.

Whats wrong with the pads?

I have spent a lot of hrs ridding in them and had no problems so far, the strap is a lot softer and doesnt rub and the pad is allso verry soft and a lot more comfortable than last years hard white slippery pads which i have used for the last 3 years.

The straps did seem to loosen off, but only a little for the first 3 riddes but after that i didnt seem to have to adjust them, but i think that most pads stretch and bed in a bit to start with.

As far as build quality with the little plastic adjuster and strap will just to wait and see how long they last, and the soft top layer of the pad will have to see how it wears. But seeing as nobile has a 3 year waranty i think if there is any issues there wont be a problem in getting them replaced.

A lot of people dont run there normal straps supper tight as they dont like that locked in feel like you get with the backless bindings like the syncs or boltons.(not that either are IMO a good pad as i have seen far to many syncs brake the strap off and the Boltons by SS you would be lucky to keep them tight for more than 10 seconds the LF pro pads seem OK.)

But I am definatly going to keep ridding with the IFS pro pads and see how they hold up after a season of abuse. Not just ride them for 15mins and then change them.

Mystic have got a replacment strap for the SS pads this year but i dont think there are any in AUS yet but i think when they get here they will be a good seller and make them a good thing. we will have to wait and see.

I have a 09 ,666 and the pads were rooted ,a few of the guys here have upgraded to the 10 pads and straps ,all seem happy with the new pads ,I however wasn't convinced,I'm not sure about the plastic adjustment straps longevity ,a few of the guys have had trouble with them comming loose.recon you break one of those thats the end of your days sailing.
I went for the North pads and straps ,I am wrapped with these ,I couldn't believe the improvement in the performance and handling of the board,hell of alot easier on the knees as well.
Could be time to upgrade the pads on the big EXT.

waxman said...

KiteNutt said...

Yeah Waxy already mod'd my new syncs to try stop them breaking.

Personally, I felt the strap did not give enough support to the top of my foot while edgen hard, the narrow tensioner allows the strap to rock back and forward too much. I tried different tensions etc and found that with my foot in the sweet spot for charging upwind my heel was over the edge beading of the pad causing sore heels.

I did persist for 5-6 sessions but just couldn't get used to them. The 09 pads straps felt great when I tried them on as obviously Im used to them from my 555 but they're worn out and I wanted to try somthen different.

What was the mod you did to the syncs?

For now I have just re-drilled and used slightly longer 10 gauge screws in place of the shorter 8 gauge ones but ill end up adding another screw to the heelside of each strap as toeside riding seems to cause most of the problems around.

Might have a project for a mates new mill (calling DaCopterDoctor).. some nice alloy replacement side blocks with decent tapped threads would be nice.

IWB said...

The Nobile IFS Pro pads have actually been out since at least December 2008. I personally have been using the Nobile IFS pro pads since Jan 2009 and have put on countless hours using them.

They were long awaited for... but they came out in late April, only few prototype have been supplied worldwide in early 2009 only to get feedback from everyday users... You must have been one of the lucky ones...

I tried the 134x42 yesterday in good wind (22kn+) with an 11m. It had the yellow 35mm fins on it.

chop performance: awesome, even heading straight downwind you don't have to lean back much to not nosedive

boostiness: cowabunga, very easy to hold an edge for boosts and olly off chop since the board is so curvy, very easy to land even the most retarded off balance jumps (which is all of my jumps)

upwind: toeside way easier than 2007 666, heelside just the same

speed: you can't have everything I guess, I really get off on overtaking people on my 2007 666, but this one isn't quite as fast.

footpads: very comfy after 4 hours, maybe a little too soft since my foot would push right in too far occasionally

colour: the board is very sexy but due to my crap eyesight I would probably paint the whole thing white or orange, I lost it yesterday for 10minutes and couldn't even spot it from the beach.