Today we had the big SUP demo day at Torquay and it was a doosie..a ripper..a bloody beauty.

Here's the winner of the surf expression session..Mat on his PSH (Paddle Surf Hawaii board )..closely followed by JB on his Naish.





The winner of the distance race was my mate Dave the fireman on his C4 11'6" shown here with me and Kev..btw..Dave was closely followed by JB on his 11'6" Naish.





I have more pics and will post them soon.

DJ

The only problem was the wind..It was gusting 10-15 knots side off and made an awkward chop that made it hard for all but Mat and JB.

















Just checking out what type of water that is....

Yeah I've got even more pics.

DJ

Thanks for all the pics and description of the day. What a great day.

Well done again DJ, looks like everyone had a ball.........

Great photos and recount, DJ. Well done. Did anybody get any video footage? I'd love to see some motion of the surf comp.

Thanks guys.

Champ I finished about 8th out of about 15-20 paddlers.

We had a very strong head wind for the long first leg of the race and in the gusts it felt like I was not moving even when paddling as hard as I could.

I was on my 11'4" so maybe not the best board for it..I had a guy on a Laird just in front of me and I could hear splashing right behind me and I was paddling as hard as I could..I saw JB take the lead around the upwind mark.

It just came down to the fittest guys winning..It was between Dave, JB and Mat.

I did paddle the gun to see how stable it is and if it floats me..I had to kneel paddle to get out because I kept falling off with the strong gusty side wind and even out the back while kneeling I was falling off from just being blown over.

The board looks great..It's very thin without much rail volume for stability and the whole back half of the board is so narrow that you loose that stability that a wider board gives.

I got going paddling in without falling and tryed hard to catch a wave but just kept missing..I felt like a real kook..I got one in the shallows but that no way to test a gun..

Guys that paddle the 9'6" would probably find it easy.. I've been using my 11'6" too much I think..btw..I took out the NSP 11' x 31" and had a ball in the choppy conditions..Caught some great waves and it surfed real good for my ability.

I would love to try it in glassy conditions (the Gun).. Thanks to the Sydney guys that let JB bring it down..I loved the woodies in the tail and I'm hoping the Glide has them also.





Casso I had my second camera there set up in my SuckerCam and we kept hoping the wind would turn off shore and drop..It turned off shore but didn't really drop..My friend John sat out there with his waterproof camera and tryed to get some shots of me riding a wave but I either couldn't catch one or I'd fall off.

It was very tricky conditions and never got to do the sucker cam thing.. Sorry about that..My little camera didn't have enough zoom to film the action in the bigger waves out the back..I saw Mat get some unreal waves..and JB went out later with a 4.7 sail and ripped it up way out the back..I wish I could have filmed that.

Dave..Thanks again for the offer to go down with you but Helke is better looking so we went together.. .. Congrats on winning the race..No wonder I have a hard time keeping up with you on those downwinders that we do..I wasn't up all night but I didn't get to watch any telly..It took about an hour to down load..upload..and post and I didn't put much thought into the comments maybe because I was rushing it but I'm sure everyone gets the idea of how the day went..The pics speak for themselves.

DJ

Yep, it was a great day, even if the wind and waves werent too favourable.

Was good to check out all the equipment and have a chin wag with other keen people in the sport.

Surfing Victoria was also one of the sponsors and Max Wells (from surfing vic) said that part of their involvment was to try to get volunteers for a SUP sub commitee to try an be a bit pro-active with education for SUPers, SUP schools, councils etc. and try to get some organisation going to prevent knee jerk reactions from administrative bodies from trying to ban SUPing from some areas etc.

Heres a few more photos, sorry they're a bit grainy, they are just from my little wrist camera, and I'm still getting the hang of the timing with the water shots.

The Line up before the paddle race.


Helke still smiling even after having a tough time in the windy choppy conditions.
I paddled up to her in the line up at one stage to see how she was getting on, only to hear her swearing profusely in her native tongue.


Rich giving some paddling pointers, right before handing the paddle back and getting whacked in the head with it.


You can take from this one either Lummer's cross step in the background or the paddler demoing the big Naish in the foreground.


Matt about to unload, he was doing some extra ordinary surfing in very ordinary conditions.


The Naish Gun being taken for a paddle.


Lorne Surf Shop owner all smiles on his polyester SUP.


Some of the expression session participants with Rich in pink.

Thanks Kev.

That Dick Tracy watch takes pretty good pictures..

Great shot of Helke..

DJ

boylos said...

Great photos DJ ,looked like a great day ! when's your next demo day? ,would like to fly down as that wee surfing spot looks ideal !

Are all these boards going to be there to try at Mambo ?

Cheers

Boylos

I'll let you know when the next one is..and I'm sure there will be a lot of demo boards at the Mambo..See you there..(It's not far off now)..I can't wait.

This is my friend Helke heading out to catch some waves soon after we got there in the morning on her 10'6" Naish board..

It was her first time in the surf after paddling with me for months on flat water.

It was tough going with the wind but she still got some good waves and had a ball.

BTW..I have even more pics..I took some pics of the new Stonker SUP boards that are locally made and I'll post them soon.

DJ

Yeah Oliver thats the one.

Its not bad, I havent really used the video function yet but have been pretty happy with most of the photos.

Its pretty light and not too much of an inconvenience on your wrist.....until you go to check the time on it....

Hey Champ,

I got it online about twelve months ago before they were really available in shops from a website called gogo gear which was the cheapest at the time, but I dont think they carry them anymore, was about $230 at the time I think.

I've seen a few surf shops with them in now and I think there is any aussie web site goprosport.com.au which has them for about $210.

Matty Martin said...

Hi Guys! Matty from Global Surf Industries -just wanted to say thanks to all that came down to the GSI Demo/SUP Rally, from near and far. It was a great day and thanks to Dave for posting the info.

Hi Matt.. It's great to have you on board here at the Breeze..

It was a great day and thanks for organizing it..It all went well.

There are things learned that will make the next one even better.

What's new from GSI.. Any new boards coming.. Any racing style boards in the works?

For those who don't know Matt he's the one in this pic teaching these guys how to do it.

DJ

Your not seeing things Brooko, both Kalamas have got the hand holes now.

Thanks jethro2.. Will do..

The first Mal that I had made for me in Byron was made for me by a famous mal maker and he said that he had put these nice woodies in the tail for me..more so for the look..and that name or term just stuck with me.

I have heard them called nose and tail blocks also.. btw.. I thought getting a woodie was more a yanky term.. .. Thanks anyway.

It will be interesting to see if Naish use tail blocks on the Glide like I've seen on some prototype Glide boards but they do tend to stand out a bit too much on a white board.

DJ