Hi Shane,
The Hillary's to North Mulla's run is the best on the coast in terms of runners and direction. There's not a lot of joy in the Hillarys part of the run as you need to paddle on the right mostly to get to Pinnaroo and then it's pretty much straight downwind and the runners are superb. Very easy to link runners and plenty of them.
I've done the City beach to Sorrento, Brighton to Sorrento, Brighton to Pinnaroo, Sorrento to Pinnaroo, Port to Swanbourne and Brighton to Mullaloo runs. Most are pretty hard work in anything but a dead southerly, and I prefer slight SSE to make it easier, but the runners are always refracted towards the shore so you need to keep making adjustments to your course even though the wind is cross to cross off, unlesss you paddle over 1km offshore.
As a beginner, if there is a big swell, getting out from any of the surf beaches can be a nightmare. A few of our crew and one experienced guy got hammered fromBrighton to almost Trigg where they gave up after breaking a leggy trying to get through the nasty shorey on a particularly big day.
The beauty of Hillary's to North Mulla's is it's an easy entry to the water through the Marina or, even if you start at Pinnaroo, the start is a doddle. Only downside of the Pinna's to Mula's run is it's short, but action packed.
My thoughts on other places for great runners is the last 1-2km coming into Sorrento and from Trigg to Marmion. Prior to these spots, it seems pretty messy and random and although fun, it's a lot of hard work.
We'll be running the trailer from North Mulla's upwind throughout the season, but I try and pick the days where the wind is more southerly so we get maximum fun.
We usually announce it on our Facebook page here:
www.facebook.com/Stand.Up.Paddle.Perth?ref=hlJust "like" the page to be kept up to date with what we are organizing. Weather has been crap for the last little while, but is shaping up again.
Cheers mate,
DM