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Oh, next question... how well do they survive being jumped and having a Clydesdale trample around on the top of them? Some of the surf boards the guys here have (older ones) have 'dents' in the top from heel impacts etc...

It'd suck to spend $1,000 on a board, only to have it get munted by riding...

Very special board but the deck and fin boxes were not the most robust for me. I am heavy though at 214 lbs, not the most nimble and ride hard. For Other lighter more talented riders this boards durability might be just right. I have two from last year that have had or are getting repairs. Maybe the 2013 model is beefed up. I would like to see something thicker and harder vacuum bagged under the front deck and fin boxes that are beefed up or ones used where the fins breakaway.

Hi,

I have 2012 North nugget, and really love to ride this little thick bastard. I use it as my bump and jump board but also for wave riding.

But I also have some issues with building strength of the top layer of this board. I'm a heavy rider, approx. 95kg and I love to jump on this board. But now I have some delam issues on my top layer. The board was returned to North, but they claim that delams and cracks in the toplayer i caused by to hard use (hard landings must be) and refuse to excange the board (but I had a refund, so to some extend they accepted the problem?). So now it's time to make some repairs. I hope that weight gain on the 2013 nugget will solve this top layer issue, as this is a very usefull (wide range) and fun board to ride. Eventhough my 2012 are having this top layer problem, I still love the board.

Kind regards
Lars

Oh dear

I had a chance to ride the 2013 Ozone Reos this week, along with the new Nugget, Skater, Trespass, Compact, and Cypher. Thanks to my local kite shop for hooking me up with some of these demos.

It was typical Florida conditions...Tiny waves(if you want to call them waves), and a variety of winds. The Nugget is super fun. It got me going in super light winds, and is really fun to throw around. Reminds me of a Placebo 5'0 surf skate I used to ride, but a lot smoother. I think this shape(whether the Nugget, Firewire, or something simlar to it), is a good thing to add to one's quiver, if you don't live in places with huge waves and nuking winds... This board and the 12m Reo opened up a entire new level of fun in the super light winds.

Here is a video from this week... nothing exciting, but hopefully you can get a feel for how the board rides...(and some of the other boards)... and the Reos are amazing..

windsurfer-resurrection wrote:How much more low end does the nugget get you compared to as an example the firewire 6.0 quadra or some similar board used with a 10m kite.
5 knots less wind required to get on a plane, etc ?

Yes, the nugget requires less wind. Its a lot of fun in small junky waves.
The difference is that the FW QF is a real surfboard.
On the FW you can rip soul satisfying bottom turns on an 8 foot wave.

Its like comparing scrambled eggs to a cheeseburger. They are both food !
You would be happiest if you owned both of them. W

kitenb,

awesome video and good riding!

Could you briefly sum up the qualities of Nugget, Skater and Cypher ie. the early planing ability, turning, board speed etc. That would help us a lot! And also the sizes of Skater and Cyhpher please. I think you are the only lucky one managed to ride all those interesting boards.

Thanks and good waves!

Great vid nice style,got the nugget,getting the skater 5,4,what you think of the skater,thanks for posting this vid,TONY

omg wrote:kitenb,

awesome video and good riding!

Could you briefly sum up the qualities of Nugget, Skater and Cypher ie. the early planing ability, turning, board speed etc. That would help us a lot! And also the sizes of Skater and Cyhpher please. I think you are the only lucky one managed to ride all those interesting boards.

Thanks and good waves!

Sorry, just getting back to you on this. I've spent a few hours on the Skater, but have only spent about 45minutes on the Nugget, and maybe 10 minutes on the Cypher. So I don't have a ton of experience on these boards yet. But, here is my short summary based off of that.

Nugget: 5'0: Definitely the quickest to plane of the three boards, and easiest to rocket upwind. It is super skatey and you can throw it around with ease. Great for trying to destroy a little wave or piece of chop. For me, this board will be used in 14-18mph winds and our typical small Florida surf. You can definitely ride it back and forth in higher winds, but when I took it out in some 25mph plus winds and tried to do aggressive bottom turns, it was a little too much board(slid out)..

Skater 5'4: This board seems super small when looking at it, but it gets up and goes. Not as fast to plane as the Nugget, but way faster than some of my other boards. You can really throw this board around like the Nugget in the light stuff, but can also throw it around and do aggressive bottom turns, etc.. in the higher winds. It's more of a surfboard in shape and feel. I'd have more fun on the Nugget in the 14-17mph winds, but when the winds are 17-20mph, I'd have more fun on this board. Plus, if the waves are bigger, this board would be my choice

Cypher: 5'6: This board seems a lot bigger than the other two(probably because it is bigger ). It gets up on a plane like the Skater, but not quite as quick as the Nugget. Had a good time doing some chop hops with this one. The board holds a really good bottom turn without sliding out. Again, only had a few minutes on it, so can't really do a real review. My initial thoughts are I'd have more fun on the Nugget in the super light stuff. And it would be a toss up between this one and the Skater when the winds pick up. Probably go with the Skater.

tony montana wrote: Its more expensive than nugget,its time to support local shaper and save some money TONY

Amen brother!

How the heck can Naish be charging $450 more for the Bullet ($1129) vs the Firewire BP at $769?

Only difference I can see are the included footstraps/pads on the Bullet - and that's worth maybe $150 or so. (I don't want those anyway - why should I pay for it?)

Thus, a buyer of the Bullet pays around $300 more than the price of the BP. Why?

Someone please enlighten me.