On a recent family surfing trip down south I decided to step UP in size, rather than down and spent 10 days straight riding the PSH 10WAA (Wide All Rounder).
At 90kg my normal board is the PSH 9'2 Wide Ripper. I love this board for more vertical moves and steep sucky drops, but I was just not up to it, this trip and decided to leave the temptation of the Ripper, at home.

Due to a number of injuries including a dislocated shoulder, I had to 'ease my way back' into surfing , I decided to step up to a wider more stable board, thinking I would be chasing summer slop for most of the holiday. How wrong I was!

We arrived to a pretty solid ENE swell hitting most of the beaches. One North corner was consistantly popping up 6' faces. Feeling a bit timid I headed for the more sedate 7 mile Beach. This beach offers nice drawn out lines at the right tide, but can get very 'zippy' at mid to low tide.

I ran the 10'WAA as a quad. The main reason I do this is to help my back hand. I find a quad, especially in weaker waves is easy to turn back hand with a larger sweat spot.
It also makes the board a bit loser and skatier and easier to come of the top of the wave.

The PSH 10WAA is the most recent addition to the Boardworks Wide All Rounder line (Boardworks make the Paddle Surf Hawaii molded boards under license).

The 96WAA (139L) came out about 2 years ago and was followed by the classic 10'6WAA (167L) a year later. These boards are designed to be quick paddlers and nimble, agile surfers with a fuller nose for all-round riding. PSH call them 'wides', but at 29-30" they are very much standard width these days.

Without a doubt the 10'6WAA is one of the most popular boards in the Boardworks/PSH line up. At 167L it is too big for me though (suits 95-110 kg better for high performance surfing) and if I want to go down to 9'6 I would prefer to ride my 9'2 Wide Ripper. So the new 10'WAA was my weapon of choice for this trip.

Problem is, coming off a smaller board and getting onto a bigger board in waves can be a somewhat under-welming experience. This is magnified in smaller waves as you have to drive a bigger board so much harder and it always feels like hard work after a shorter board.

My first session in 1-2' weak waves was not overwhelming , but I was surprised at how well the board turned off the tail if I stepped right back. Hmmm, this might be more fun than I expected!

The charts were looking good, with a rising easterly swell building towards the weekend. Anything with east in it lights up this end of the coast. This is just what I needed to build up my shoulder strength.

With my next session family commitments forced me to go out in a dropping tide which means the waves get a lot faster and harder to make the zippy line.
The swell had popped up a foot or more and was now a decent 3-4' at 7 mile beach with a nice 10 second period pushing the lines in.

The one thing you notice about PSH boards is their drive and speed. This comes from a flatter rocker line under feet and a bit of Blane Chambers magic at either end. There is nothing better than a slightly longer board for getting into long period swells and I was enjoying the extra length on bigger days on this trip.



Get your weighting right and this board takes off down the line.


These pics are on the 10'WAA at a different session in weak 1-2'ers at Pambula. No shots of the more epic sessions unfortunately.





A couple of waves took me into the beach with a beatiful walling wave that just wanted to be smashed, so I steped back and whack, whack! This board can actually be reo'd pretty good for a 10'er!

I was starting to getthe feel of this board and I was really enjoying the extra stability. Most days the tide was spot-on after lunch, which also brought on a strong NE'er. Nothing better for building shoulder strength than battling 15 knots! Fortunately the wind is 'cross-off', so it holds up the rights beautifully. The hard bit is actually getting in and dropping down the face with 20 knot apparent wind coming at you! Basically you have to really 'pull' yourself into the wave with your paddle.
Once you have pulled in and taken the drop the momentum takes over and there is nothing stopping you zipping down the line of a long wall held up by a stiff off-shore breeze - it just hangs there!. The extra 30" of width was a blessing in these windy conditions as you really get buffeted around standing up there.

Day by day I was really starting to enjoy this board, The versatility was becoming glaringly apparent. Other than really tight snappy cutties, the 10'er was giving me the same surfing fun as the 9'2 and I was catching many more waves ( 7 mile beach has about 6 peaks just in the north end -plenty for everyone).

The hi-light of the week was the Australia day weekend. Starting Friday the surf picked up to a solid 2.5m swell from the SE.
Long drawn out lines were coming into the bay. Down the beach though, where we were surfing, the white water section was horrendous. A lot of crew just couldn't get out. With a bit of patience and endless white water pop-overs, the lulls eventually appeared. Thank god for the big black blade!

I don't think it ever crosses your mind when you get into StandUp that getting out on a solid day through beach breaks can actually be easier on a SUP!

The reward once out the back, was big A-frame peaks up and down the beach. What a sight!
I don't think there is anything quite like taking a big glassy drop and lining up a nice long wall, well over head, on a board you feel confident on! Yeew, I love StandUp!

Suffice it to say that I was pretty impressed with this board on a solid wave. It is very quick down the line and happy to snap back and sit in the pocket.
Even got shacked at the end - stoked!!

Back home now and back to 85% strength I reckon I will continue to ride the 10'waa and maybe visit some of my favorite point breaks on quieter days where the back wash and 'hustling' was always a bit too much for my 92!

I think I am in love with a bigger board!


Paddle Surf Hawaii 10' Wide All rounder 155L
10' x 30" x 4 5/8"


No 'training wheels' on this puppy. This tail is made for surfing.



The rocker says a lot about this board. A bit of extra thickness up front for nose riding, lots of stability and speed mid board, foiling down to a nice fine tail.

In summary, this is a surprise package. It has all the performance in the waves that you would expect from Blane Chambers and at 30" wide it is a pleasure to paddle and stay upright on, even in choppy conditions.


Go paddle!

AA

Disclaimer: As a retailer and distributor for Paddle Surf Hawaii I obviously have a bias towards Blane's boards.
We ride all the boards we sell though, including Naish, Oxbow, Simon Anderson and A-star, but this board has surprised me more than any other of late and I felt it was a story worth telling.