Got in 40 to 50 hours over the Christmas break Supping on my new PSH 9-2 AR and old faithful Ron House 9-10. I originally bought the PSH thinking it would outperform the Ron; the results are pretty interesting so I thought I would share them.

I'm 6ft 88kg ex outrigger paddler and mal rider been supping for 7 months and this is my review on the 2 boards.
Ron House 9-10 flyer swallow Quad
PSH 9-2 AR squash tail swallow 8" centre fin with trailers

When I first picked up the PSH I couldn't believe how much heavier it was than the Ron even though it was 8" shorter. At a first glance the boards look entirely different but when you lay them side by side the bottom rocker is almost identical and so is the bottom concaves it's just the nose and tail shapes that make the boards look so different. The widest part of the PSH is further back compared to the Ron and the rails near the tail are alot softer on the PSH this probably due to moulding restrictions , rails on the Ron are almost a resin edge (just how I like them).

Balance wise the PSH was just as stable as the Ron and it had really good secondary stability (which means it is easy to correct when off balance) my first couple of waves were really strange it was hard to control it came around so fast it was almost throwing me off , the board would flick around instead of carving a turn or drawing a line I felt like a rag doll on it , after the first surf I didn't like it , I had a good look at the centre fin and to put it bluntly it was crap , I can't believe a board of this performance standard is supplied with a cheap 8" plastic fin. I threw in a glass Laird 8” massive improvement.

I’m really used to the quad set up on the Ron and feel more comfortable on it rather than the tri fin set up on the PSH. Between the two the Ron is smoother to surf with out loosing anything in performance both boards absolutely rip, love cutbacks and smashing off the lip. The PSH would snap around on a cut back faster than you can bring your paddle over.This board would pull off some amazing manouvers but still nothing I could'nt do on the Ron with alot more control.

Paddle wise the PSH is slow from a standing start but does have a good glide for such a short board , it also does have a tendency to hang a little on the take off compared to the Ron.

In summary even though the Ron is 8” longer it still performs on a par with the 9-2 which I found amazing in fact I’d say it even out surfed it. Plus with the 9-2 even though I wasn’t falling off much in the neutral position I was burning leg power continually and you would really start to feel it after a 2 hour session. The construction of the PSH is bullet proof compared to the Ron, I hit it with the paddle so hard and it barely marked it. At this stage I have to give the Ron thumbs up over the PSH , I’ll keep surfing both and post again in a couple of weeks.

Rob