Pambula Beach
28 Nov 08

Board: Oxbow 11’ Cruiser
Conditions: Strong cross shore wind. Fast, steep, chest high waves.

I thought I would take my own (comfortable) board out for the first session of the weekend. I took the Oxbow 9’6” down onto the sand as well, with the plan to swap over at some stage. Never got around to that because the waves were quite sucky on the shallow sandbank and I didn’t want to snap a borrowed board.

My 11 footer felt nice in the conditions and I was glad for the extra stability in the heavy chop. The good glide and paddling ability of the Oxbow 11’ made those frantic races to the take off zone during lulls easier than they might have been on other boards.

The extra length made it a bit difficult to make critical drops and work it down the line to make sections.

I got up near the nose a couple of times, nearly made some big floaters, got a few nice bottom turns in and pulled off a decent cutback or two.

Overall: Not the best board for the conditions but had fun anyway.

Highs:
- Good paddling ability
- Good noserider
- Can still turn it in critical waves

Lows:
- Hard to make steep drops
- Gets caught in the wind easily

Merimbula Beach, Bar Beach, Merimbula Point
29 Nov 08

Board: Penetrator 507
Conditions: Very light offshore wind. Fat, knee high waves.

I woke for the mega early, checked the surf and was a bit despondent of what to do as there were next-to-no waves. I walked back to cabin where AA suggested I take the Predator for a spin. Woo hoo - why didn’t I think of that.

I carry it across the road and down the beach, feeling like a full on iron-man - machine on shoulder, paddle casually swaying in other hand. DJ stops me half way and takes about 100 photos.

I get to the water, jump on this beast of a board and ... oh no ... my Guy Leech aspirations are quickly extinguished ... I fall, fall again, get up for a sec then fall again. I can’t do this - I am a kook.

If you’ve ever read Stuey’s description of the design concept of this board - you will know it is OK for it to roll sideways to an extent - you just have to trust it to stop rolling before it flips over - because it wont - that's how he has designed it. Having that trust is the tricky bit. It’s very tempting to roll to a point, think it will never stop rolling, then jump off - before it has a chance to correct itself. Once I found that trust, I was sweet. Relax, move with it, don’t jump off - scaredy cat.

Now I’m up and paddling through some tiny waves near the shore. It slices through them with its razor sharp bow - easy.

I get out the back in the flat water, stroke, stroke, stroke - glide, glide, glide - nice. This is one beautiful machine - both to look at and to drive. The smoothness and power it generates is awesome.

I paddle up and down the beach, then over to a sheltered cove where DJ, Helke and Boylos all took it for a short spin. None of them seemed to have as much trouble as me getting up and running!

I get back on and the four of us paddle out towards the end of the point together - beautiful scenery and easy paddling on a 16 footer.

I leave the others, paddle towards the middle of the bay and run with the little swell back to the beach. You can almost paddle as fast as runners when they are that small and your board is that long. That was fun.

I try catching a few waves as it has picked up a little since I started out. That was not fun. Very hard to keep your balance, re-position the board and negotiate sections. I reckon you’d have to have a lot of practice to be able to ride a broken wave more than a foot high.

Overall: It was an absolute pleasure to paddle such an awesome machine.

Highs:
- Incredible glide
- Awesome speed to paddle power ratio
- Tracks really well (don’t need to swap hands very often)
- Unreal to look at

Lows:
- A bit scary to stand on (first time)
- Hard to do big bottom turn/re-entry combos on waves

Its a beautiful thing!

These boards are hand made in Australia and start at around $2500 depending on length and materials.



This is the 16' racing model with carbon rails which starts at around $3000.

Most days when I take this beauty out to do some distance I end up playing round in waves - it catches the smallest ripple!
We scored the Bower one day at 4' and managed to surf it down the line - no problem!

Andrew.A

Thanks Casso for the reviews. I'm kind of surprised that you had trouble being balanced on it (the penatrator) when you first tried it. I would have thought it to be ultra stable, but as you said you need to get the feel for it. Certainly looks beautifully constructed and could imagine gliding on ripples. How did you find carrying it, what sort of weight are we talking?

oliver said...
How did you find carrying it, what sort of weight are we talking?

Real easy to carry, it's only 14kgs - same as my 11' Oxbow.

Brooko said...

AA said...

That mad thing looks like whale penis.

Yeah that little extra stimulator thing sticking up might do some damage!

AA

I would be interested to hear from Stuey as to whether you could put a mast track in one of these and have it double as a light wind sailboard? - bit like the *board Serenity.

I know this is probably sacrilege but having the versatility helps with storage space issues and the convincing of the Minister for Finance, War and Peace!

Here's some Pene pics..Taken at 6am at the Mambo.

DJ

Pambula Beach
29 Nov 08

Board: Paddle Surf Hawaii 10’ All Rounder
Conditions: Medium cross-offshore wind. Fast, chest high waves.

I just had a quick go of this board as it was the smallest board left on the beach by the time I got there. I was too slow to get my act together and missed out on all the sub 10 footers.

I only got about three waves before a smaller board was freed up but they were all good fun. I don’t really call a 10’ board a performance SUP (for somebody less than 90kg) but the PSH 10’ is still able to do most of what the smaller SUPs can do.

It paddles well and is quite stable - nice and comfortable, especially if the wind/chop is up a bit. It drives nicely off the bottom and is small/light enough to snap it around in the pocket with a bit of a push.

The workmanship is great in this machine shaped/hand glassed version. It’s not the newest board and lots of different people have been riding it - but it is still in great condition.

The fullish nose allows you to walk up the front when you want to and even drape a couple of toes over. The thinned out tail allows you to run down the back and pivot the thing around in a pretty tight radius. I guess that’s why they call it an “All-Rounder” (or an “All-Arounder” if you are Hawaiian).

Overall: A great all rounder - perfect for a single board quiver.

Highs:
- Great versatility in a range of conditions
- Fantastic quality
- A good paddler with decent stability

Lows:
- A bit too big for a mid or light weight performance SUP surfer

Pambula Beach
29 Nov 08

Board: Paddle Surf Hawaii 9’2” All Rounder
Conditions: Medium cross-offshore wind. Fast, chest high waves.

This was Matt Lumley’s board and Tom Carroll’s before that. Matt had promised me a go at the pub, the night before, so now was my chance to take him up on the offer.

I only had a few waves on the 9’2” but could tell from these that it is a really great board. Very stable for such a shorty and very versatile - a great turner off the tail, quite good drive out of turns and enough volume in the nose to go for a bit of a walk.

This was a machine shaped, hand glassed board so I’m not sure how the production, moulded 9’2” AR differs. I’m sure it’s pretty close.

Overall: A great all rounder for a performance surfer.

Highs:
- Nice looking board, great lines
- Great for all different riding styles
- Short and light so you can throw it around easily

Lows:
- Maybe not enough flow through turns
- Hard to come by in Australia

Good stuff Casso keep em rolling in

So if you had to pick one board for surfing which one would you pick ?

DavidJohn said...
Great reviews Casso.. I should have lent you my Naish 11'4" to do a review on it.

I would have loved to. I've never ridden an over 10' Naish in the surf - but am interested in seeing how they go. All the Windgenuity guys were ripping on their's over the weekend.

Great reviews Casso. Next best thing to being there.

Can I ask your height and weight please?

Great reviews Casso - have you tried any local manufactures. I only see the Penetrator but everything else looks like it is PIS or Oxbow.

Would be good to get some local board Manufacturers reviews as I would rather support locally made