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Articles

Pyranha S8 225

Mike Abbot in the S8 at the Bitches After trying the Pyranha S6 earlier this season, Pyranha sent us two S8s (a 225 and a 235) for review...

After the short bouncy S6, Pyranha went back to the workshop with two main goals: updating their line of long and slicey playboats (namely the Prozone 225 and 235) AND target a bit more the market of the big guys playboat. They came out with the Sub 8 (S8) which is produced in two lengths: 225cm and 235cm. For the detailed specs, just check out the Pyranha website.

Playak was lucky enough to meet up with the Pyranha crew at the Bitches Soul Festival at Easter and we came back home with two new toys to use and abuse for a couple of months. To be honnest, we barely used the S8 235, just because our testers found it a bit big ... Well, the tallest (JP) is 187cm (6'2") size foot 45 (UK 11) and finds the S8 225 very comfy !

Some photos

Here are some photos of the S8 225 as appetizer. You have a side view, hull view, front and rear view as well as a zoom of the front and back power pockets. Scroll down to get to the reviews.

Side view:

Hull views:

Ends views:

Power pockets:

... and if you still wonder what 10 cm difference between the 225 and the 235 means:

Allan Ellard at the Bitches

The reviews...

[ Again, none of the reviewers is affiliated with Pyranha or any other manufacturer (boats of software) so the people who sent us kit to review get only what they deserve ;-) ]

Andy Nelson

"The first positive comments I have about the boat is the outfitting.The outfitting kit that you get with the boat is quite good and I liked the prefitted foam padding on the seat, as its one of the things I never get round to. The advantage with the kit is that you don't have to hunt around for random pieces of minicell to do it yourself. Boat comfort for me was quite good, and I didn't feel as if I had to stretch my legs every 10 minutes. I liked the ratchet system on the backrest, it fixed me in the boat quite well. That is to say, until I had thrown the boat around a bit, when the backrest sank under my bum. No matter of fiddling about with the tensioners behind the backband seemed to cure the problem. I would definitely suggest that the backsupport system is something they have to work on.

However, the boat worked quite well on the water. It is much nicer to surf on a wave than the S6, because the longer edges on the boat mean you can carve more. The longer nature of the boat means that it is harder (for mere mortals) to do the spins and blunts that the S6 is allows you to do on features like Hurley. However, the S8 more than makes up for that because it is a lot nicer to cartwheel, because of the long slicy ends, and is much faster on waves. The boat was quite easy to control and line up for the next move. Unlike some other boats, which try to trip you up, this boat is quite forgiving. If you are new to playboating then the boat is easy to roll. I would say that the boat is very similar to the Prozone (225) which I used to paddle, if you liked that, then you'll like this."

Mike Abbot at the Bitches

JP Renaud

  • Boat tested: S8 225
  • Height: 187cm (6'2")
  • Weight: 85kg (186lbs)
  • Usual boat: Riot Dominatrix 47
  • Location of the tests: Hurley (3 gates), the Bitches

"I was lucky enough to try the S8 on a big wave at the Bitches Soul Festival. When outfitting the boat on the car park, it was quite obvious that I was going to take the 225 and not the 235 for the wave session: the 235 is just big. I mean, i am size 45 feet (UK 11) and can fit in the 235 with my trainers on ! Being used to sqeeze in a Dominatrix 47 for quite some time now, I felt the 235 was too big and gave the 225 a try. But people who usually feel uncomfortable in the newest type playboats should give the S8 235 a try because it might sort out many "I don't fit" problems ...

So I took the 225, outfitting was quick and efficient with the kit provided ("peel and stick" type minicell foam). With the seat in a middle position, I could fit OK with wetsuit boots on. The sitting position was nice and my knees really hooked in the knee bumbps on the deck. I actually realised that I was not really using the thighbraces, I did not need them and the thighbraces were for me just used as mount points for the ratchet system. The back rest system was identical to the one of the S6, i.e. nice, comfy and efficient ... once you have worked out how to prevent it from slipping under your bum when you lean back.

JP blunts at Hurley

On the water, the boat was fast, forgiving in the swirley eddies and easy to roll. On the wave, I was quite surprised by the way the S8 performed. It was fast on edge, the long carving rails have been designed properly, but I fand it quite slow when surfing flat in a front surf. The boat had a tendancy to be stern heavy, surfing with the bow up in the air, as if the stern was somehow stuck to the water. It was a bit disppointing because it was sometimes hard to get enough speed to initiate a blunt for instance. I took some video at the Bitches Festival and you can get here (Quicktime, 944kb) a movie of Mike Abbot surfing an S8 225 on the top wave at the Bitches. The wave was not very steep and because of the surging nature of the spot, I might not have caught it in the best conditions but I was expecting more speed from a boat this long.

I then took the S8 225 to Hurley a couple of times. In the hole of the first gate, the boat felt better than on the wave, it is easy to spin and relatively easy to initiate. I say "relatively" because it took me some time to get used to the extra volume compared to my Dominatrix. After a couple of goes, i got the hang of it although, and got some respectable rides (for my ability ;-) Click here (Quicktime, 963 kb) for a movie of the first gate at Hurley. In the middle gate, a steep breaking wave with nice green shoulders on both sides, I got blunts, spins etc... but it would not make justice to compare the S8 to shorter boats that really excel in that type of environment.

All in all, I would say that the key positive point of the S8 is that it is a boat that will please the bigger paddlers, especially the S8 235 that will definitely fit seriously big people and still bring performance. I have also seen Allan Ellard doing all the moves on the flat in the S8 235 so no excuse anymore ... For smaller people, I think that there are boats on the market that will perform better on the wave in my opinion and I would advise to try and demo first (as always ...)."

See full product details in the Playak Buyers Guide

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