Board Review - 9"2 In The Pink by Donald Takayama's HPD

In The Pink by Donald Takayama's Hawaiian Pro Designs

9"2 x 23" x 3" , PU, Coke bottle blue color

Picked the board up last summer in Hawaii and have used it as my go to longboard in Hawaii ever since. I was looking for an longboard that would be easy to surf and noseride well. Many people rate the ITP highly and it is probably Takayama's best selling longboard.

On first impressions it paddles extremely well with only the slight nose rocker and 60/40 rails. Getting to the nose was super easy with the wide nose shape and very stable feel.
The tail finishes as fairly small square tail with hard rail edges which makes the board very easy to turn

Most of my sessions were at the Ala Moana beach park breaks and at Diamond Head
Ive taken it out in tiny knee high up to overhead waves and found it handled all conditions really well- even when there was some chop in the water.

I was riding it as a 2+1 stock fins set up which is a 7.5" single with regular side bites and found it worked very well as an all rounder- Very Manoeuvrable whilst still noseriding great. Last week I decided to ride it as a single with a 9.5" fin and found it worked even better for noseriding and to smoothen out my turns.

In summary I would recommend this board to anyone looking to improve their noseriding without sacrificing performance in turning. I find it works equally as well as a single fin which gives the board a different character and an even better noseriding experience.
A few of my friends really like the ITP in Surftech construction which is a lot lighter and more durable. I personally prefer the feel of Poly boards and heavier ride.

The only minor criticism I would have for this board would be that there are faster longboards on the market which I think work better in steeper, larger surf. The board does not have very much rocker which does make it more susceptible to pearling in steeper waves. In my opinion its definitely designed with noseriding in mind and not as a general 'speedy' down the line performance longboard. All in all an awesome stick shaped by one of surfing' best

RIP Donald