Riku Matsumoto on the New Haydenshapes NOVA
- Alaia Mentawai
- Nov 13, 2025
- 3 min read
A few days ago, Haydenshapes finally dropped their new model — the NOVA. Summer is just starting in Australia, and there’s already a lot of buzz around this board.
Riku had the chance to test the NOVA here in the Mentawais over the past few months, so we thought we’d share a few impressions from those sessions.
The board he’s been riding is the FutureFlex NOVA 5'3" x 19" x 2 3/16".Riku himself is around 165 cm and 63–64 kg.
When he first received the board, the Mentawais were going through a small spell — perfect conditions to really test what the NOVA can do.The waves were around 1–2 ft, soft and playful — the kind of surf where many boards tend to lose speed or feel sluggish.
From behind the lens?It looked fun. The board held its speed even through the fatter sections, and thanks to its shorter, slightly wider outline, the manoeuvrability was impressive — quick and smooth even on smaller faces.The board looks really easy for turns and airs, and everything Riku does on it looks completely effortless.It feels like the perfect summer board — fast, lively, and built for fun sessions.
Most people probably imagine the Mentawais as heavy and powerful — and of course, it can be — but it’s not like that every day.There are plenty of fun, smaller days too.
That’s where a board like the NOVA really shines — the kind of board you want to have when it’s “the calm between swells.”In fact, for a lot of surfers — especially intermediate surfers who are trying to improve — the waves we ride at our home breaks are far more often around 3 ft than double-overhead.The kind of waves our guests actually enjoy and surf most of the time.
One of the questions we often get from guests visiting Alaia for the first time is,“What kind of board should I bring?”
It’s a fair question — for any surfer traveling somewhere new, choosing the right board is a big deal. But in reality, it’s often not something to overthink.
If your goal is chasing barrels during peak season, then you probably already have your Indo lineup sorted. So here, let’s talk more for surfers who come to the Mentawais looking for fun waves up to about overhead and a half.
Even though it’s the Mentawais, there’s no need to buy a long step-up if you’re not planning to paddle out when it’s solid.In most cases, it’s better to bring the board that you already feel most comfortable and confident on —your go-to all-rounder, maybe with a touch more volume than your usual setup.
And if you’re planning a trip in the early, pre-, or late season, when conditions can be smaller or softer,having a board like the NOVA in your quiver makes a huge difference. It keeps things fast, lively, and fun even when the waves slow down.
Watching Riku surf the NOVA, you could really see how much speed the board holds even on smaller, faster waves.It makes quick, sharp turns feel effortless — allowing him to link multiple turns even on small sections.He really liked how it felt, and it ended up being one of those boards he wanted to take home to ride in Japan’s beach breaks too.
Get your own NOVA from Haydenshapes
