Merimbula Bay
26 Nov 09
Conditions: 15-20 knot tail wind. Two foot wind chop from behind. Three foot ground swell at about 45 degrees on the tail.
On the first day of Mambo 2009 I finally got to use my PSH 12'0" Gun as a downwinder in some pretty awesome conditions. Thoroughly impressed with its stability and ease of picking up runners, this novice downwind paddler had absolute ball running from point to point across the bay.
One word: Effortless.
The board is: 12'0" x 28.875" x 4.875".
We made a quick stop for lunch and a look around the Bega cheese factory before my phone rang. It was David 'DJ' Petersen. Apparently people were starting to arrive at Merimbula and the nor-easter was getting stronger by the minute. A downwind run from Merimbula to Pambula was organised. Everyone was excited. We had all heard the stories of the 'heavy' run made by DJ and Craig Boylos just before the start of last year's Mambo and we were keen to get some of that action.
The car shuffle was planned and we were dropped off at Bar Beach. We paddled out to the Aquarium in the calm waters protected from the howling wind by the long headland. It was so peaceful - kind of like the calm before the storm. We picked our line and shot off heading for the Pambula river mouth. The small chop gradually got bigger and bigger as we exited the shadow of the headland and reached the deep water swell of the bay.
This is where the fun started. Being new to the whole downwinder experience, I was very surprised how easily it was to stay on runners. They were only little at the start but you could still ride them for 25 metres or so. With that and the fact that the wind was pumping at our backs, the PSH 12'0" crossed the bay so effortlessly - it was amazing. I few little, well timed, hard strokes and you were away. A few steps back to take the drop on the bigger ones and you could stop paddling and just focus on surfing (yes, literally surfing) the runners, swinging the big PSH left and right to stay in the energy pocket of each bit of chop.
Sometimes I saw that the runner that I was riding was dissipating but there was another section building off to the side and in front. So before I lost too much momentum, a subtle direction change, a quick shuffle forward, a few more frantic stokes and I had paddled over the top of the new runner and was away surfing again. I thought you'd only be able to do that on the big 17 footers but this 12 footer held its own out there.
At the three quarter mark I found myself a little ahead of the pack so I stopped, sat down and waited. I realised I was still dry. Wow, I didn't expect that - I had travelled about five kilometres and hadn't fallen off - and now that I was sitting down, stationary, I got a better perspective of just how bumpy it was out there. The PSH 12'0" Gun is made for surfing which means its design is super stable compared to dedicated downwind boards. The extra nose lift helps too because you aren't burying the nose all the time which can be really hard to pull back out without being bucked off.
We all arrived at Pambula and were met with cold Powerades from our land support crew - thanks Rich. I'm not sure if it was the adrenaline of such a fun run, the easy paddling conditions or the effortless stability of the PSH, but standing around on the beach had me full of energy and wanting to drive back and do the run again. Time and daylight however had other plans. Maybe tomorrow.
We really should have spent more time planning the car shuffle as we now had five large race boards on the roof of Boylos' Commodore with six large, damp, sore men squished on the inside. Poor Matty Burgess drew the short straw and ended up in the boot. We must have been an hysterical sight driving back to the contest site, doing 40 in the 80 zone, traffic banked up behind us, sweaty male flesh squished up against the windows and the boards death defyingly flapping around on top.
A great afternoon to kick of Mambo 2009 and an awesome board to do it on.
Highs:
- Super stable even in the deep ocean bounce.
- Perfect amount of nose lift to ride steep pieces of chop.
- Easy enough to jump onto runners.
- Fantastic turning ability when surfing runners.
- Economical for a downwinder and you can use it surf too (big or small days).
Lows:
- A little heavy if you have to carry it a long way.
- Maybe not fast enough if you want to use it as a high performance race board.
