First look at NSP’s roll-up, race-winning, SUP race board
NSP sent me a message at the end of June asking me if I would like to try out their inflatable race SUP. I tried to say no, but somehow the message I sent back was “Yes, please!” and a few days later UPS dropped it off at my house. Thereby making this the fastest SUP to ever arrive at my house.
End of review.
I’m kidding, of course. We need to know how this inflatable Stand Up Paddleboard performs on the water.
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| The NSP Performance Race FSL |
Performance Race FSL (PR FSL)
Maybe NSP’s marketing department had a day off when the name was needed for this inflatable speed machine, sorry, spoiler alert - it is quick. It will take you longer to say the name than it will to paddle across the finish line. Back to the name:
FSL is the acronym for the stuff the board is made of, FuSion Light.
Performance Race is the market this board is squarely aimed at.
This is a name that is factual. And this one is 25” wide, yikes! But Chris at NSP likes to throw out a challenge, and he repeatedly told me that Christian Andersen had paddled his to victory in an APP event, beating carbon hardboards (including an NSP) on the way to the finish line. I should point out that Christian is an Elite athlete, and I am not.
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| Christian on his NSP PR FSL. Image APPTour |
Fusion Light
This is the construction method, or material. Actually both.
Rather than my interpretation of the information on the NSP website, here is their graphic and some of their words about the PR FSL.
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| NSP Fusion Light construction. Image from NSP |
“Fusion-reinforced double-layer glueless pre-lamination combined with the new machine-woven drop stitch. Compared to traditional knitted drop stitches, the fibres of the new machine-woven drop stitch are stiffer and thus the number of fibres per square meter can be reduced. This allows an average weight reduction of 1.5 kg, while the board is also stiffer, less bouncy and allows for faster acceleration.”
It might surprise you to know that this might not describe ‘my’ board; we will get to that a bit later, too!
Back to the future.
The very first SUP My Race board was an inflatable, back in June 2020. Inflatable SUPs have come a long way since the McConks Go Race iSUP prototype arrived in Sweden six years ago, and in some ways, the new NSP is what that board could have been.
Unboxing
In the box was a fairly standard iSUP bag with wheels, in a very nice shade of blue. The bag has obviously been used, but was in great condition, and a little sandy. Beach life.
In the outer pocket of the bag, I found the fin and the finbox. This is a black plastic touring-style fin with a thumbscrew. I do wonder why NSP doesn't supply a plastic copy of their Race 24 fin with this board? And we all know that thumbcrews slow paddlers down 😉
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| NSP Vivace paddle, HP8 pump and PR FSL board |
In the main part of the bag was a brand new HP8 dual action pump and the rolled up PR FSL board. Which I excitedly unrolled, pumped up and cleaned. You should always do this to prevent the spread of any waterborne species that can survive drying out, and it had been used after all.
This is a good-looking board in the current NSP style, light blue, white and a flash of colour.
Features on the NSP Performance Race FSL
The headline features of the PR FSL are the dual chamber design, the flush fitting removable fin box, and the weight.
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| The dual-chamber valve |
Dual Chamber
The dual chamber is a first for me, but not in the world of iSUPS. I can think of several examples where manufacturers have used a second chamber on their inflatable boards and at least one where the chamber has a similar intention. But NSP have taken their implementation of this a little further, and as I have already found out, it makes a huge difference.
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| The NSP Dual Chamber Performance Race FSL |
The second chamber is positioned on top of the deck and covers around a third of the board, from the nose back to the deck pad. It has two functions.
- Increase the volume of the board at the nose, improving paddling performance in rougher conditions and to move water away from the deck when paddling into rougher water, and it does this well. It is noticeable in smaller waves that the board performance is better than that of other iSUPS I have paddled.
- Change the rocker at the nose. This is where NSP have been a bit clever. Other dual-chamber SUPs use the extra chamber to change the shape of the front of the board, adding a shallow V to the hull to improve paddling performance. The NSP PR FSL does this, but also more; it is used to change the nose rocker.
I can't measure the pressure used in this chamber. I do not have an adaptor to put a digital pressure gauge on, yes, of course, I have one of those! Don’t you?
Anyway, the max pressure is 1PSI, not much pressure at all, but this has a distinct effect on the nose, it allows the paddler to fine-tune the handling from flatwater to allwater, on the same board, with no tools of accessories, only the pump.
Here is a short video showing the difference. The board is inflated to 18PSI with the dual chamber empty. I then inflate the additional chamber.
Changing the nose rocker has quite an impact on the board’s performance. The difference that a few degrees of extra rocker has on a board is a huge subject, but to massively oversimplify things, a flatter nose means a longer waterline, and that means a faster board, while adding rocker improves handling in rougher conditions.
With the PR FSL, you have an adjustable nose rocker and, therefore, a very versatile board.
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| Left - dual chamber empty. Right - dual chamber pumped up |
Fin Box
The Air7 fin box is something I have plenty of experience with, not all of it positive. But I am glad to say that things have changed in 6 years since I got my first one, and the V3 fin box supplied with this NSP board is not the same as the V1 examples I have in the garage.
The V3 appears to be made of a better material, stronger and yet with a tiny bit of flex, which means that it should cope better with cold water, the Achilles heel of the older models. Bear in mind that my definition of cold water is probably not the same as yours. I experienced issues at temperatures well below freezing when the plastic became brittle. It will be a few months before I get to test the newer Air7 box the same way. I will keep you updated.
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| Air 7 finbox with plastic touring fin |
The V3 version is a better fit in the cutout in the board, both on the NSP and on the McConks I have in the garage, another good thing and showing the development of the product.
Installing the finbox may seem like an unnecessary faff, but it is really simple, as shown by Thorben at NSP in this video.
Once you’ve done this a few times, it takes no time at all.
Why an Air 7 finbox?
For me, the main advantage is a tighter roll on the board when you put it back in the bag.
The other advantage is the solid base for your fin. Inflatables sometimes have a little problem with fin attachment; there is (probably) extra drag from the chunky glue-on fin box used on some boards, there is undoubtably some flex from cut-away versions of the same box, and there are some compatibility issues with slide-in fins.
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| NSP Race 24 Fin with the NSP Performance Race FSL board |
The Air7 box that NSP have used for the PR FSL has a standard US box for the fin, allowing a huge range of easily available fins to be used. It fits flush with the bottom of the board, probably reducing drag, and it is solid, reducing flex. You probably do not want flex in your fin on a race SUP.
Weight
Now I get a bit stuck with words. I could do what many reviewers and sites do and repeat the weight on the NSP website. But, for this board, that would be misleading because my board is not a production board. So I checked with another paddler who has the same board, in the same width and asked him to weigh his.
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| Mark's production Performance Race FSL at rest in the UK. Image Mark Schwalm |
My board is a development board, made to prove that the design works, and it was made in a factory that NSP do not usually use. As such, it is a little heavier than the advertised weight, mine weighs in at 10,2kg, including the fin box.
Mark in the UK weighed his 25” PR FSL, and it is one kilogram lighter than mine, which seems like a pretty good weight for a 14’ long inflatable and matches the factory figure for the 25” board.
The weight isn’t really a factor for me with this board; however, it is good to get to use a board that might have sat in a box for the rest of its life. Things should be used, not thrown away or left to gather dust, and I am now enjoying it.
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| The dual-chamber on the NSP Performance Race FSL |
The deck and hull
The additional chamber also has a ‘scotty’mount secured to it, which allows a range of things to be added to the board, including a GPS mount. Be aware that if you have a RAM mount already, it might not fit. There are two sizes of RAM mounts; mine was for the other one! Instead, I have fitted a plastic kayak deck bungee mount with a 6mm bolt (with Loctite) to hold a loop of bungee.
This holds a drybag securely on the deck with my car keys, phone, etc. in it. I do wish that there were some proper bungees on the front of the deck for storage. I might have to do something about that!
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| Small dry bag from Lomo attached to the Scotty mount |
The deckpad starts behind the chamber and is a grippy, checkerboard style that feels good underfoot and should be good with boots in colder conditions. It has a series of markers to assist with foot position, and there is one handle, centrally positioned with sufficient padding.
At the rear of the deck, there are a pair of D rings (apparently for securing a PFD?), the top of the fin box with the strap used to hold the finbox in place and the main inflation valve with a combined leash attachment point. This is the only leash point on the board.
Under the board, there is nothing to see, other than an NSP logo and a subtle shape to the nose. There are no hard edges and no fin box. I am quite glad to see the lack of a hard edge. You need to be consistently over 9kmh for these to work properly, and they make it harder to roll/fold the board for storage.
Twenty-five inches of Performance
This is the bit you were waiting for if you are looking for a Performance Race iSUP. Now the name makes more sense! And this is the narrowest inflatable SUP I have ever paddled successfully.
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| The first time on Swedish water |
First time out, I had low expectations. Of the paddler, not of the board.
If you are new here, then I am a big unit, 194cm tall and between 95 and 100kg. I was expecting to swim frequently and had wondered if I could use this as a prone board.
I need not have worried, I pumped up the main chamber to 18 psi, put some air in the other chamber, attached a leash and got on the water. I stood up, carefully, and paddled. Then paddled a bit more and then a bit more enthusiastically.
As I was not swimming, I thought I should get my scheduled Booth Training session done. I paddled back to land, grabbed my hydration pack from the van and got to work, wanting to see what this PR FSL could do with me on it.
It paddles very well.
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| My first three Booth Training sessions on the NSP FSL |
Our first, the get-to-know-each-other session was a 20 x 2-minute at pace, completed on a windy day on a small lake in SW Sweden. There was some shelter from the wind, but it was still enough to push me around a bit. The huge paddler catches more wind than he would want to. And the board worked, accelerating to 9 kmh easily and holding that speed.
My track for the session was loops around two platforms in the lake. On a windy day, there were no swimmers, and I had the place to myself. Paddling a long curve along the lake shore between them takes about 4 minutes, turn and repeat, alternating sides for the turn. Slightly wind-assisted one way and wind impeded the other. Lots of reps, no swims, the board simply works. Even with me on it. The slight wind assisted legs a little more wobbly than a hardboard, the slightly upwind legs rock solid, and the nose works well.
Training
I have now completed three training sessions on the PR FSL, all at a small Swedish lake for a total of 24km, and all in windy or very windy conditions. The board simply works. And I am still surprised.
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| Session 2 - Fartlek and Session 3 - 10 x 4 on the NSP FSL |
Session 2 was a Fartlek session, starting at 15 seconds, building to 2 minutes, then back again. This time, I had very little air in the dual chamber to reduce the nose rocker, and it really makes a difference. Short, high-intensity bursts where the speed of the board impressed. Over a short sprint, there is very little difference between this and my NSP hardboards.
Session 3 was a 10 x 4-minute session at a pace I can maintain for an hour, Level 2. This was by far the windiest day I have paddled in months, with gusts hitting 60km/h, the board was unfazed. For this session, I used the NSP Race 24 fin that came with my Carolina EVO. This fin is a great match with the PR FSL. Tracking was improved, and the number of strokes per side was the same as my Ninja. With the nose still set to ‘low’, upwind performance was great, and downwind was pretty good.
The next test will be with some far longer intervals and then the 5km SUP My Race time trial, where this board has a target, set by my Airboard Rocket Light, with a time of 34 minutes 23 seconds. An average speed of 8,73km/h. Will the NSP take the crown as the fastest inflatable?
Christian Andersen winning an APP Tech Race on his NSP Performance Race FSL
Conclusion
The NSP Performance Race FSL has been a surprise, a board that I didn't expect to get, and did not expect to paddle easily.
Instead, I now have an additional NSP in my quiver, one that will go through the SUP My Race TT as soon as possible. And I suspect it might take the crown as the fastest inflatable on the 5km despite being a little heavier and a more traditional design than the current champion.
I have a good history with inflatable race SUPs. I had a little input on the design of McConk’s Go Race back in 2020, but sadly for me, that board changed before it went into production, slowing it down and diluting the ‘race’ part of the design. As a fast touring board, it was great, but it did not fulfil its potential to go fast.
This NSP Performance Race FSL is what that board could have been, especially in the production version, which is lighter. This feels fast, it feels stable, and it feels like it should live up to the Performance Race name.
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| Christian, a performance race athlete, with his Performance Race FSL about to win an APP tech race. Image APP |
Let's find out.
NSP are one of the leading SUP and Surf brands and are active all around the world. You can find out more about their SUP Range on the NSP website https://www.nspsurfboards.com and on their Facebook and Instagram pages. They have recently launched a dedicated SUP Race Instagram account - NSP Racing.
You can find me running the Facebook group SUP My Race and now, occasionally, on Instagram.
You can read the previous training logs here Training Logs and you can get to individual blog posts using the labels in the sidebar.