I’m an intermediate so this will be old news for many of you. I’m aiming this report at people like me, to encourage them to take the plunge and buy something like the Amos Nano. It’s 4’1” x 19”, 34 litres.

I’m a 10-second pump guy (ho ho!), 87kg, 65 years, riding consistently horrible conditions ie 20-30 knots onshore, 2-3 foot (front) windswell, often bigger but considerably uglier.
I’m comparing it to my Amos Sultan Prone mid-length, 5’ x 18” 55 litres, and my other small board which is 4’8” x 17”, 33 litres.
I’m using an F-One SK8 1150 with 200 Carve tail and a Gen1 FoilDrive with Magic Hub. The battery is on the deck next to my front foot.

The Nano was a real surprise in that I thought it would be an aspirational board that would be challenging to launch, and which I’d take out only now and again when we had decent waves (or more likely when I left town).

It was actually an easy takeoff on 2-3 foot-front windswell, much less demanding in terms of foot placement than the 2-inch narrower but 7-inches longer other board. It just wasn’t a problem. I got up on my first attempt on a 3-footer and then started playing with smaller ones to see where the lower limit was.

It’s so short that the dolphin kick works really well, whereas there was too much board behind me to make it work with the other two boards.

Once up on foil I was amazed. It was 10-25 knots, 3-6 foot-front, big chop everywhere and I have never had such an easy time threading my way through the nastiness. There just wasn’t that much board underneath for the chop to catch.
There was a much stronger sense of riding the foil rather than riding the board compared with my other boards, and much more intuitive when on the waves.

It turned what I expected to be a frustrating, wind-blasted slogging effort to try and learn something into a fun, wave-filled, leg-burning fiesta.
The mid-length is now relegated to pump practice and the other small board, while great, is now looking for a home.