Review: Starboard Hyper Nut 7’2″

Summary: The Starboard Hyper Nut is a surprisingly slow board on most river waves. The construction is top notch, but the shape just doesn’t cut it on the rivers. Continue reading for the full review…

In depth review: Let me just start off by saying I really wanted this board to rock! I love my old Starboard SUPs. The Impossible and Rush are great boards, some of the favorite boards in my quiver. Unfortunately the Hyper Nut is not nearly as good as those older Starboards.

The “nut” shape (which creates an outline similar to the sidecuts on a snowboard) makes the board turn like a much shorter board. The board is also super light, making it react much faster than other river specific SUPs. The weight, combined with the shape, definitely allows the rider to snap fast turns.

The biggest problem with the Hyper Nut is its lack of speed. Looking at the board, you’d think it’d be incredibly fast. It has a massive single concave in the nose running into a channeled tail. Looks don’t matter however, because in practice the board feels slower than any of the other Starboards I own.

When surfing a glassy, slower wave like Glenwood Springs, you often need to jump forward on your board to gain speed and stay on the wave. On a normal board stepping forward is all you need to do. On the Hyper Nut when you step forward, it doesn’t feel like it goes any faster. My best guess is this is caused by the rail shape. I believe that the “nut” shaped outline adds extra drag when you surf further forward on the board while the board is flat to the wave.

This is where surfing river waves differs from ocean surfing. When ocean surfing you rarely surf a board straight with the board flat. Most often one rail is set into the face of the wave. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Hyper Nut is extremely fast on ocean waves with one rail set. On river waves where you often surf with the board pointing straight upstream with both rails in the water, the Hyper Nut feels super sluggish.

Photo Credit: Joe Holmes

So the board’s slow! What does this mean? When it comes to surfing the Hyper Nut, it required A LOT of extra paddling. I found myself constantly paddling to gain or maintain speed. With that speed I was able to make super quick and fun turns and carves, but it required a lot of effort. After surfing the board for 45 seconds I’d be totally tired. In contrast, a board like the Rush I can surf that for several minutes and not tire.

On steeper, faster waves the speed of the Hyper Nut was less of an issue. However the length of the board started to become an issue. 7’2″ is really too long for most steeper river waves. I found the 6’6″ Impossible much easier to surf on waves like Ponderosa in Durango and Lunch Counter in Wyoming. The Hyper Nut has a good amount of rocker, but not as much as most river specific shapes. If it had more nose rocker, the length might be more manageable. The board does come in sizes as short as 6’9″, but as the length goes down so does the width. The shortest Hyper Nut measures in at just 23″ wide and only 69L of volume, which would be quite hard to paddle up an eddy. Due to the length in the 7’2″ and lack of nose rocker, the Hyper Nut is not a good hole surfer. It definitely works best on green waves.

Overall, the Hyper Nut is an OK board. It’s light, and durable (in the bushed carbon construction). The shape leaves something to be desired. If you don’t mind paddling a lot or occasionally struggling to make the board fit in the wave, you may like this board. For me personally, I’ll continue to surf the old Starboards.