Haydenshapes New Wave Mid Review

Mid Length – it ain’t a log, and it ain’t a shortboard, it’s right in between. So a mid length for you might be different for me, or for the kid down the street. But ideally a Mid Length would generally run between 6’6 and 8’0 on the long end I believe (Probably could squeeze it to 7’8 actually).

The Haydenshapes New Wave Mid is a little tweak on the mid’s that you’ve seen – no hull bottom here or 50/50 rails. It’s also quite different from their Glider Mid, which Hayden released a couple of years ago. The overall outline is pretty nice, nothing drastic, easy to look at and is a mix of traditional mid-length outlines and modern curves. If you look hard enough you’ll see some Hypto Krypto in the outline…

The easy entry rocker gets you into waves early but still allows smooth rail to rail surfing. It’s got refined neutral rails (which you’ll notice is different to most mids) with a rolled entry flowing int a slight double vee out the tail. The vee out the tail is a delight, well it is for me as I’m a big fan out vee out the end – it makes transitioning through turns much easier.nicer.

There’s a lot of extra foam up front, especially around the chest forward area, which helps with getting into the waves earlier, obviously, but also with generating speed down the line are you run across point break walls. You’ll find a double barrel concave on the bottom (speed, also helps with manoeuvrability), an easy rocker and tucked rails that are touch harder off the tail (allowing you to turn a bit quicker/sharper).

Fin options are pretty open given the board comes with a fin box (center) and two Future boxes for side bites (no FCS options here). The initial set up you’ll run is a 2+1, but you can play around and run it as a straight single or really fvk around and run it as a twin. Overall though, I landed on a single plus side bites set up and it worked a treat.

The conditions I surfed the Haydenshapes New Wave Mid in varied from 1ft high tide Dbah off the wall, to 4-6ft Snapper and 3ft Greenmount. So we got an ok range of conditions but would have loved some more surf on my backhand instead of surfing loony superbank. It’s the second Mid-Length I’ve reviewed that can handle tubes well (or sucky surf). A lot of other mids are generally challenging in sucky surf and you’ll catch that outside rail a lot, but the New Wave Mid handles itself well and you can thread a tube on it (see below, cough).

Try to avoid surfing it in windy/ruffled/choppy conditions, I found it didn’t handle chop real well and the way epoxy feels in choppy surf isn’t fantastic. Am yet to ride an epoxy in choppy conditions that I like though, just to be clear it’s not the model (the PU version would be a delight imo). Clean conditions though, it shines.

It’s not really for short and done waves either, you can definitely ride it in those conditions but you’d have more fun on a twin fin in those types of waves. The New Wave mid  excels when it’s running on a bank (think point break or similar) and has areas of downtime on the wave. Which is easy to say because pretty much every board should go on a point break right? True, but there’s a certain level of flow you get on a mid-length that can’t be replicated with other boards – the speed, flow, even the ability to trim and just enjoy the scene of it all. I even caught myself trimming one wave trying to put my hands in the lip like some weirdo…

Overall Best Conditions:
2-4ft surf that has some fast and slow sections, and even a couple of tubes on offer. Preferably on your forehand with a slight offshore or onshore. Bonus points if the sun is out and it’s warm.

Stats were:
17 sessions
97 waves
Top Speed of 37km/h (Snapper)
Longest ride was 671m (Snapper)

This isn’t the board for the surfer who just wants to get out there and rip, shred, tear. Like most Mid-Lengths the Haydenshapes New Wave Mid is more for the surfer who enjoys the challenge of different boards, the glide of something bigger or is looking for a board that’ll help smooth their surfing out a bit. Bonus points for being able to thread tubes with relative ease for it’s outline/size.

The beauty of the board is how much work it does for you, if you let it. It’ll run around a section with a slight push off the bottom, go the highline and you’ll get an immense amount of speed. I clicked 35km on one wave, same surf I tracked a wave for 650+ meters. Was nuts, the board just trimmed through sections and managed speed in a way that I hadn’t felt before. It never out ran the wave, but wasn’t pushing water or feeling slow, and if i have to race it’d take off. Something you’ll feel when you’re on it (vs me talking about it)

You can go straight up and do snaps if you want but damn it’s a challenge and isn’t how I’d suggest trying to surf it. When you’re trying to surf it like that (like a proper HP shortboard) you tend to catch, lose your arms and generally flail a lot.

It’s much more suited to carves, trimming and round houses. Think more horizontal surfing than vertical surfing, it is after all, a Mid-Length. Go for the highline speed runs, sectional floaters (long as it’s not dumping) and even some larry action.

The fins I used in the beginning were different to what I ended up on, and the second set – the 6″ Performance Single fin – left the first set (7″ Performance Single) dead in the water. You can see in the images below the difference in size, rake, depth, etc and the difference in fins used. Overall, I’d say go with the 6″ Performance and SB side bites.

You can buy the fins from Futures here:
6″ Performance Single Fin
7″ Performance Single Fin
SB1 Side Bites

Overall, the biggest thing I learnt with this board was to give yourself more time when surfing, more time off the bottom, off the top or doing cutbacks – stretch it out and take your time, the board will do a lot of the work for you if you let it. And in return you’ll get plenty of smiles, more waves and a stoke every time you come in.

To be honest, I didn’t like this board in the first week. I was coming from a PU shortboard moving to a Future Flex mid length and everything about it felt foreign. The flex, the float and glide and even the fin set up (thruster to single + 2). Once I got used to it all, I fell for the way it flows easily, does most of the work for you and makes every surf fun in one way or another. You’ll get into waves earlier, enjoy the high-lines and even get a renewed energy for smaller waves. Overall, the Haydenshapes New Wave Mid is a treat to ride.

It’s not for the person who wants to get out there and ‘Hulk Smash’ every wave, or is constantly riding slab like wave. It is for the person who enjoys the glide, the challenge of something different (that can be hard or easy to ride) or maybe is just getting a touch older, coming back from injury etc.

I have tested, I think, about 5 Mid-Lengths now so if you have any questions about what you want to buy feel free to email me. Each Mid I’ve reviewed has a sweet spot on where they sit.

The Wins:
*It’s just fun to surf on, and fun always wins.
*Glides effortlessly on a wave and allows you to enjoy surfing from a new angle.
*The fin options that the board can entertain.

The Challenges:
*It’s a challenging board to get used to initially.
*The epoxy chatter is real when it’s choppy.

If you’re not quite sold on the Haydenshapes New Wave Mid but are interested in getting a mid-length, some alternatives include the CI Mid, the Mid6 from Tolhurst, the Mid-Strength from Chill or spice it up with the Step-Up Twin from Morning of the Earth.