A little over a week is not a long time to give an opinion on a SUP Race board, but I have had several paddlers ask me about these two NSP boards, and with the race season in Europe about to start, I think it is better to put some words out now about the 2023 Ninja and the 2026 Carolina Evo that I have in the garage.
A Tale of Two NSPs
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| 2023 Ninja 22" and 2026 Carolina Evo 23,5" |
Technical Stuff
Here are the head-to-head stats: according to my tape measure, both boards are a little narrower than the quoted figure; both boards' weights include the central carry handle but no fin or leash. Volumes are from NSP.
Board | Width | Weight | Volume |
Ninja | 22” | 11,7kg | 264l |
Carolina Evo | 23,5” | 12,5kg | 268l |
I have paddled the Ninja for 50km or thereabouts in mixed conditions, and it has surprised me with how capable it is. I was worried about the width when I committed to the swap, and I needn't have.
If you are new here, I am a big paddler. 194cm tall and anywhere between 95 and 98kg, plus kit, and this Ninja board is 22” wide, narrower than my shoulders. But it has already proved that it deserves a place in my garage, and I am looking forward to getting some warmer water and finding out how fast it can go.
The need for Speed
Speed is my preferred metric for race boards, and this is why I use the same location and distance when I compare boards, but right now, that would not be fair on the Ninja. My training lake was frozen solid just a few weeks ago, and although ice-free now, conditions are very slow and will be for a month or more, until things properly warm up.
So how else can I compare two thoroughbred race boards?
This was in my head at the start of a training session this week. I was paddling the Ninja on some perfectly flat water, 2,5km along part of the southern edge of the lake, and admiring the way the bow wave was shaped, the leading edge cutting through the water nicely as I relaxed into my stroke and played about with weight distribution.
Like a hot knife through butter?
I dislike that idiom, although it is widely used. For me, some variables need to be defined: how hot is the knife, how cold is the butter, what sort of butter is it?
If the knife is hot, then it works; the knife will easily move through the butter, unless the butter is frozen. But if the knife is not hot and the butter is cold, straight from the refrigerator, then it is a different thing altogether. The butter will put up a fight.
Who heats up knives anyway? And why, just for butter or for something else?
But knives, there is something I can work with to describe these boards
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| Primus Chef's knife and Morakniv Kansbol Or a Ninja and a Carolina Evo |
I have several knives I use in the forest, and here are two. Both Swedish, both very good knives.
The blue one is a Primus chef’s knife; this happens to be the folding version, but there is a fixed one that is the same shape. The orange one is a Morakniv Kansbol knife. This is a fixed-blade general-purpose knife.
They both have different uses, both have different grinds on the blade, but they are both knives, and they are both used when camping or generally in the forest. They complement each other, just like these two SUP Race boards.
The Primus is only used for preparing food; it is very good at finely slicing, dicing, chopping and anything else you might want to do with food. It is almost good enough to use in the kitchen at home. It can also be used as a camp knife, although I chose not to, but it can be used to prepare wood for a fire, shaving fatwood, or making feather sticks. It is not very good at those tasks, but it can be done.
The Morakniv is used for everything at camp. It can slice and dice and chop, but it is not as good at those tasks as the Primus. It is not as precise. However, it is brilliant at preparing wood for a fire. Fatwood and feathersticks are easy, and it can be used for battoning and chopping wood if you don’t have an axe. The spine of the blade is ground to be used with a ferro rod, and it sends a cascade of sparks towards your tinder. It excels at rougher tasks at camp.
And that is exactly how these two boards complement each other.
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| NSP Ninja |
Ninja
The Ninja is the chef’s knife. A well-proven race board; paddlers around the world have had hundreds, maybe thousands of wins using it in races at all levels, from World Titles to your local club Time Trial.
The current fastest time in the 2026 SUP My Race Time Trial is from Alex Younger in North America, a Ninja paddler on a 20" who set a time of 30 minutes 25 Seconds for 5km in February. This is for an out-and-back, non-stop effort in accordance with the SUP My Race TT rules, which you can find here - SMR TT Rules - if you want to have a go.
The Ninja is primarily a board for flatter water, not a 100% flat water board, but a design that works on courses that are not rough. It has won on lakes, rivers, calm seas, and my experience of Ninja life, so far, is exactly that. When racing on a pure flatwater course, the only paddler with flat water is the leader; everyone else has to deal with wake, bounceback from the river or canal bank and jostling for position with other competitors. True flatwater is a rare thing.
It works very well in the conditions I have at the lake since it arrived, when the wind is howling down the valley, creating white tops on waves the Ninja ploughs through, holding a course easily. On that beautiful 2,5km of flat water that got me thinking about knives, we were quite happy moving along at nearly 9,5kmh, 6 minutes 20 pace. Which, on cold water, with a paddler who is still in winter shape, is promising.
And it goes slowly too, nice and easy to manoeuvre. Important for the start of a race when you need to work to keep your place with your fellow racers.
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| NSP Ninja |
The board is super stable for the width, tracks very well and handles chop with ease, cutting through waves like … a warm knife through butter that is at room temperature. And handling side chop way better than I thought it would with that hatchet-like bow. Oh, I like axes too! I will be doing a proper review of my Ninja soon. With speed data.
Carolina
The Carolina Evo is the burlier knife. An evolution of another well-proven design that also has hundreds of wins and podium places in its palmares at all levels, including World Titles.
The NSP Carolina is not going to keep up with the Ninja on flat water, but it is not supposed to. It will, however, make short work of conditions when the Ninja will start to slow down, bigger chop, higher wind, and bigger waves.
Profiling
Same length, slightly different width, deep dugout boards with almost the same volume. Yet the two board profiles are very different; you can see that easily in the images, and I think more so because of the difference in paint schemes. The current Ninja looks more like my Evo because of the paint. So I am glad to have the older one for comparison.
From the paddler’s viewpoint, looking down on the front half of the boards, there is a lot that looks the same, but side on, from the bow to the stern, the boards are very different.
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| Ninja on Carolina Evo |
The Carolina Evo has a more rounded bow at the waterline, which pushes water away rather than slicing through, like the Ninja. This makes the Evo easier to handle in larger side chop, as the nose is pushed around less.
Behind the bow to the mid point, they look very similar, even the drains for water, AVS in NSP speak - Accelerated Vaccum System - look the same, but on the Evo, these appear to be a slightly larger diameter.
One point worth noting is that when stationary, there is noticeably less water in the deck area on the Ninja than in the Evo. That was a big surprise for me.
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| NSP AVS ports are lined up |
From the mid-point to the stern, the differences are very clear.
The sterns of the boards are strikingly different; the Ninja is much slimmer. My Ninja has a much shorter area to stand in than the Evo, one big step back, and my foot is on the ramp towards the tail. On the Evo, it is two or more steps to get to the same ramp, so turning is a different experience, and one I have to learn more about on the Ninja. It is more urgent on the Ninja, more relaxed on the Carolina Evo.
For me, stepping back on the Evo is simple; I do not have to think about it and can stay there for ages, spinning around happily. I do not yet have that confidence with the Ninja; it was a surprise to find how short the dugout is, and it will take a little while to become confident with the different tail on this board.
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| Very different stern configurations |
That difference in turning, I think, defines the difference in design between the boards. The Ninja is optimised to go as fast as possible in a straight-ish line. Get to the turn first, then think about getting around. The Evo will be right behind the Ninja and will turn faster, at least with me on board, highlighting that this board is better suited to technical races than the Ninja for most paddlers.
The Ninja will handle rougher water, but as the water conditions deteriorate, the Carolina Evo will catch and pass it before you get to the turn, then the Evo will be gone.
How a board handles different conditions is a combination of design and the paddler's skill level and confidence. If you are not an Elite paddler, then you will probably be happier on an Evo if conditions are not ideal, but the Ninja will cope with more challenging water than other flat water boards I have paddled, and it has been paddled successfully in all conditions by the NSP team in distance and technical races and to the top step of the podium at the 2022 Marathon International des Gorges de l’Ardèche, a serious undertaking including some whitewater.
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| NSP Ninja ready to go to work |
Summary
The new-to-me Ninja has been a surprise. For the width, it is very stable, so much so that I would try a 21” without hesitation. Although I am using the Race 24 fin from my Carolina Evo, not the Race 22 that came with the Ninja, I need to try that next when the water is warmer.
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| NSP logos in all orientations |
The Ninja has already proved to be fast with me on it, despite the cold, slow water that I have right now; maintaining speeds in the mid-9s isn’t an issue. I expect to be somewhat faster in the summer on warmer water
For a used board, I think My Ninja is also in pretty good condition. This board has been around the 11 Cities SUP race course twice, the last time finishing on the podium under its previous owner, and that race, with multiple portages and lots of competitors on narrow waterways, is tough on boards. There are obviously some signs that this Ninja has been involved in some close-quarters combat, but they add to the character.
It's going to be fun taking this Ninja to its limits.
About NSP
NSP are one of the world's most successful SUP and surf companies with a huge range of SUP, surf and foil boards available worldwide. And they are one of the sponsors for SUP My Race!
You can find out more about the brand on their website and through their social media - Facebook, YouTube and Instagram
SUP My Race is the best Facebook group for Stand Up Paddlers, or so I am told, and I am proud to be the geek behind it. The group is supported by NSP and Booth Training and I strive to go as fast as I can on the water.