Long Reef Beach
28 Dec 08

Conditions: Light/medium cross shore wind. Fast, knee high waves.

During the inaugural gathering for the Sydney Stand Up Sessions I managed to snag a few waves on a new production moulded Paddle Surf Hawaii 11'0" Wide All Rounder. A demo board from Andrew at Balmoral Boards. Tommy Carroll had just returned it to Andrew after giving it trial run for a few days.

One word: Tank.

The board is: 11'0" x 30.25" x 4.75".

It was the old instance of everybody grabbing the "cooler" demo boards before I had a chance to "bags" one. The only board left that I had ridden before was the PSH 11'0" Wide All Rounder. Oh well, I thought, I'll just take that out and see how it goes even though I didn't really have much interest in riding it with so many other beauties on offer. The surf was tiny anyway (good conditions for big board) and it'd be interesting to see how it goes compared to my Oxbow 11'0".

I lugged it the 30 metres down to the lagoon edge and threw it in. Not the lightest of boards by any means and with no carry handle, you wouldn't want to carry it too much further than that. I jump on expecting it to be like standing on a small boat and was surprised that it wobbled a bit. I guess it is only 11 foot (not 12) and I had only been surfing sub-10 foot boards for the last few weeks. I'd say it'd have the same amount of stability as my Oxbow 11'0".

I paddled down the lagoon and out through the entrance, trying to avoid the small children playing in the shallows (mostly successful). Then through the little broken waves. The big PSH handled these quite well, just enough nose lift to pop over them and just enough displacement to push through in a straight line and not get tossed around like a rag doll in a washing machine.

Out the back it was all smiles, a nice change to those unpredictable fall offs I had been experiencing on the shorter boards lately. I could look back over my shoulder (to check on the wife and kids playing on the beach), turn to have a chat to the other SUPers out there, change direction and re-position the board ready for the next set - all in complete comfort and with no anxiety attacks due to constant death wobble recoveries.

It's not a high performance board by any means, but it's not intended to be either (at least not in 1 foot surf). The PSH 11'0" does ride quite well, however. You can work on your style moves like cross steps to the nose, soul arch bottom turns and switch foots. Trying to do those last minute, minor direction changes from the middle of the board caught me out a few times. You really need to plan your turns ahead of time and reposition your feet accordingly. This was especially noticeable in the white water after a wave had closed out, if the wave knocked you off balance a bit there was not chance of "catching" yourself by quickly manoeuvring the board under your falling body. The board wants to keep going straight while you fall flat on your face. Again, this may have been accentuated by my recent time on shorter boards where this is easier to do.

The PSH 11'0" Wide All Rounder would be an awesome board on a long, full, pointbreak wave where you could just cruise, nice and easy and focus on style rather than radicalness. I'd love to ride it at Noosa.

Highs:
- Easy to paddle onto waves.
- Nice and comfortable standing out the back waiting for waves.
- Planes well on tiny waves.
- High quality construction.

Lows:
- A little heavy if you have to carry it a long way.
- Wants to go straight if your feet aren't in the right position.
- Costs a lot of money.

Here's some footage of my time on the PSH 11'0":


Here's a full bio on me and my details: www.CyberSUP.com/about.html

Hey Casso, here is some more info on the 11' PSH wide.

Blane Chambers designed this board for the 'bigger' guy looking for their first board.
There are plenty of crew who have caught on to the fact that you can now go 6-12" shorter in a board and still get similar stability. This board is for the guy who wants both 'surfability' and 'stability' in a larger board in a more surfable length.

Tom Carroll has spent a bit of time on this board and loved it - in fact he wants it back.

This board has the volume of most 11'6 - 12'ers and will float up to 120kg.

It has a lot more volume than the 11' Oxbow.
The equivalent of the the 11' Oxbow in the PSH range is the PSH 10'6 AR or 10'6 wide.

I came off the 11' Oxbow onto the PSH 10'6 AR with very little difference in stability.

These larger PSH boards retail for $1999 with grip.

I hope this is helpfull.

Keep up the good work.

Andrew.A
Paddle Surf Hawaii, Australia