Naish
Robby Naish's Hawaii-born SUP brand — 24-time world windsurf champion turned stand-up pioneer. Home of the Hokua surf SUP, Maliko downwind hull and the Nalu all-round composite that defined the category in the late 2000s.
Photo: Surfex
About Naish
Naish was founded in 1979 by Robby Naish, the 24-time windsurfing world champion who effectively invented modern SUP design when he shaped the first commercial Nalu with his team in Kailua, Hawaii in 2007. Robby's early influence on the category is the reason so many current Naish shapes still trace their outlines back to the Hokua and Nalu templates.
Naish's hard-board SUP range is built around three flagship families: the Hokua GTW (a compact, high-performance surf SUP that has been on the podium at nearly every Sunset Beach Pro since 2015), the Maliko (the reference downwind and open-ocean race board, born on Maui's Maliko run) and the Nalu (a stable, wider all-round composite still used by SUP schools worldwide as a demo and progression board).
Naish also runs one of SUP's original team programs — Kai Lenny, Zane Schweitzer, Bernd Roediger and Fiona Wylde have all ridden Naish at various points — and the brand's Hawaii/Maui roots give it deep credibility in downwind and surf SUP that other brands, however well-built, still struggle to match.
Popular Naish models
Sources we reference
Surfex is an aggregator — we do not test boards ourselves. These are the retailer, editorial and manufacturer pages we cross-check when writing about Naish. Numeric aggregate ratings are only shown once we've scraped a real customer-review widget on one of our product review pages.
Where to buy Naish
FAQ
Is Naish still owned by Robby Naish?
Robby Naish remains the public face of the brand and is still directly involved in board and kite shape testing, though the company is operationally run by an executive team out of Kailua, Hawaii.
Where are Naish SUPs made?
Naish's composite SUPs are built at Cobra International in Thailand — the same tier-one factory used by Starboard and most premium SUP brands. Shapes and layups are designed in Kailua, Hawaii.
Naish Hokua vs Starboard Pro — which surf SUP is better?
The Naish Hokua GTW is slightly wider and more forgiving, and works better for heavier riders and everyday punchy waves. The Starboard Pro is narrower and faster in top-tier competition surf. Most reviewers give the Hokua the edge for real-world sessions, the Pro the edge in pro-level events.
Is the Naish Maliko good for beginners?
No. The Maliko is a dedicated downwind and open-ocean race hull with a narrow, tippy platform designed for catching wind bumps. Beginners should start on a Naish Nalu or an inflatable all-round.