Paddle Surf Hawaii 10' All Rounder - Review

I had the good fortune to borrow a Paddle Surf Hawaii 10' All Rounder today. It was a demo from Andrew at Balmoral Boards.

One word: All-rounder (it's only one word if you put a hyphen in it).

I see this board being ideal for four types of people:

1. The really big power surfer who wants a high performance SUP.
2. The light weight intermediate SUPer who wants to cruise.
3. The average weight intermediate SUPer who only wants one board and wants it to do everything.
4. The average weight intermediate SUPer who already has a longboard style SUP and a short performance SUP and now wants something in between (wouldn't it be nice to have that much money?).

The 10' PSH is: 10' x 28.25" x 4.25". I'm not sure of the exact weight but I would say it's about 10 kilograms.

I’m 87 kilos and ride an 11’ Oxbow SUP about 50% of the time. The other 50% of my surfs are on a 6’4” shortboard, a 5’10” fish or a 9’2” performance longboard. I've been SUPing for seven months.

I went out the Bower at Manly with Andrew from Balmoral Boards (he was riding the 10'6" PSH All Rounder). There was pretty much nobody else out for most of the session (that doesn't happen very often at the Bower). A strong on/cross-shore was blowing creating heaps of chop. The big ones were nearly head high. Very tricky conditions overall but once you were on a good one there were some great rides to be had. We still had a ball.

We jumped in at the Bower Restaurant and started the 300m paddle to the point. The PSH felt a little wobbley but there was some pretty challenging chop to contend with. It paddle well, nice and fast and tracked well too - for a surfing SUP. The PSH deck pad felt really good under foot - comfortable and grippy.

I generally take it easy on my first couple of waves when riding a new board but when I took off on my first wave on the 10' PSH I couldn't resist - the board seems to ask to pushed - hard. I faded a bit on the drop then pulled into a heavy forehand bottom turn - not an ounce of slip - all carve. I could've pushed it a lot harder. Then I climbed up the face and was presented with a nice wall ahead. I tried to pump the PSH to generate speed but it is just a fraction too stiff for this - at least in these waves. I gained plenty of speed anyway and pivoted around my paddle into a pretty decent hack. Again, the PSH didn't feel like it would slide - no matter how hard you pushed it - just keep the rail in the water and away you go. A couple more, gentler, bottom turn/cutback combos and a little floater off the foam going left at the end. A very nice first wave. I can really see that this is a performance SUP - so long as you have the power to push it hard enough.

The next wave was a bit bigger but pretty much a carbon copy of the first - until a crumbling section reared itself up in front of me. It was just asking to be whacked - and the 10' PSH was just the tool to use. I hit it as hard as I could, whitewater everywhere, hanging on for desperation and then I popped out in front of the wave clean - and stoked. That was a big hit and the PSH handled it really well.

I managed to get up near the nose on a couple of waves although I wouldn't call it a nose rider. I did nose dive twice - once on the take off and once after swinging it around after a top turn. Both of these instances had very steep walls and both times I had the board going dead straight down the face. More nose lift might have helped but would also hinder planing performance - maybe I just shouldn't put a 10 foot board in that position on that type of wave.

I tried pushing though a couple of broken waves - big ones. Not a lot of success but I'm still not the best at this - so I can't blame the board here. It definitely didn't have that 'hit by a semi trailer' feel that really full nosed board has when you are punching through.

The 10' PSH is a great board to look at. No fancy graphics but really nice smooth lines. Workmanship and materials in the construction looked excellent from my view. It felt strong and solid yet quite light to carry.

Highs:
- Fast planing speed.
- Good paddler on flat water.
- Carves beautifully when pushed hard.
- Nice lines.
- Quality materials and workmanship.
- A great all rounder.

Low:
- A little wobbley in chop when paddling and when stationary.
- Not loose enough for a mid weight to throw around easily.
- Relatively expensive (I think).
- Hard to come by in Australia.


Here are some waves from the session: