Sunova 7'4" 2in1 Foil SUP // Board | |
 | 30 January 2018 Imagine if that shiny new hydrofoil you just bought could simply slot into your favourite funboard surf SUP. No sending your pride and joy off to local board repairer to be sawn, drilled, routed, packed, laminated and painted. No risking divorce for buying a new dedicated SUP foilboard - "but you just spent $2,000 on that blasted hydrofoil contraption". I ... [ more ] |
Sunova 8'10" Steeze // Board | |
 | 13 September 2017 Back in the early days, 2008 I think it was, I remember seeing a young Matty Lumley absolutely ripping on a PSH All Rounder down at the Mambo Merimbula Classic. It was about nine foot long and, like a lot of SUPs from that era, it had a big rounded nose. I was on an 11 footer at that event and the thought of riding a tiny nine foot SUP freaked me out a littl ... [ more ] |
Sunova 12'0" Search // Board | |
 | 29 October 2016 It was good that morning, real good. A head high south swell was pushing across the peak making the classic lefts a bit too fast, but the rights looked super fun. There was zero wind, resulting in oily smooth conditions for the local crew that were out there. The rights were just perfect for high performance SUP surfing. What a shame that SUPs are banned out ... [ more ] |
Sunova 7'11" Speeed // Board | |
 | 03 October 2016 I had snagged one of those days that seemed like the planets had aligned. There had been a project scheduling mix up at work and I'd suddenly found myself with a free Thursday, all to myself. The kids were at school and the wife was at work and the fact that it was a last-minute, unscheduled day off meant that nobody had a chance to leave me with a list of j ... [ more ] |
Sunova Board Bag // Accessory | |
 | 19 September 2016 I haven't had a lot of luck in the past with protectively sheathing my pride and joy. There was that time I flew to the Goldy for a comp with a cheap, light-weight cover and consequently had to madly tape up an open wound (in the shape of a baggage handler's steel-capped boot) on the underside of my brand new comp board, the night before my first heat. Th ... [ more ] |
SIL Apparel // Accessory | |
 | 20 November 2015 It's not every day you come across a super high quality, paddle specific, clothing brand that is designed and made in Australia. SIL Apparel (short for Stuff I Like) has recently launched its new line of boardshorts and action shirts around the country. And boy is it good stuff. The gear has been designed for the surf and yoga crew but Australian Paddle S ... [ more ] |
Innoracks // Accessory | |
 | 27 June 2015 In the seventies it was occy straps, in the eighties it was all about using your legrope, in the nineties it was fancy webbing straps with one-way buckles, in the noughties it was lockable straps and now, in the teenies, we have Innoracks to fasten our pride and joys to the roof racks (no, not the kids). Innoracks are the latest in engineering excellence ... [ more ] |
Dunstan Boardshorts // Accessory | |
 | 27 February 2015 I was in Bali in the late seventies. I was a pre-teen grom, frothing on all things surfing. My Dad, brother and I found this little old guy in the back streets of Legian who would punch out tailor made boardshorts overnight. He measured us up, we chose our style and fabrics and we went back the next day to find these epic shorts ready and waiting. They looke ... [ more ] |
DEEP Oceanboards 7'2" Minion // Board | |
 | 31 May 2014 Whilst holidaying in the Sunshine State recently, I caught up with Simon Hunnybun, the mastermind behind DEEP Oceanboards, for a surf. We went to a quieter spot on the Goldy and he brought along his mini quiver of strange looking "Minion" quads. I wasn't sure if these weird looking things were really my cup of tea so I didn't borrow one then and just took ou ... [ more ] |
Turbulence Test // Paddle | |
 | 01 January 2012 It gets a bit boring paddling on the edge of the pool while rehabilitating from shoulder surgery, so... Paddles tested: - Kialoa Pipes (7.4") - C4 Waterman Carbon-Kevlar (8") - Kialoa Methane (8") - Quickblade Kanaha (8.3") - Quickblade Elite Racer (8.7") I'm not too sure what the results of this very technical and well thought out test are! They all lo ... [ more ] |
DEEP Oceanboards 8'4" MkII // Board | |
 | 04 April 2012 Five months is a very long time to be out of the water. I used to have issues if I couldn't get into the ol' briny for a week, let alone close to half a fricken year. Injuries suck. Shoulder surgery sucks even more. Drowning your sorrows in a brand new piece of EPS foam encapsulated in epoxy resin, carbon fibre and Innegra glass - doesn't suck, not one littl ... [ more ] |
DEEP Oceanboards 14'0" // Board | |
 | 10 September 2011 I had only gripped up one edge of this new rocket when the phone rang. It was Dan. He wanted to make the most of this blustery WSW'er and was talking about an inner harbour run that he reckoned would be pumping in these conditions. With a brand new 14 footer almost ready to go, I really couldn't say no. He wanted to leave in an hour and with breakfast not ea ... [ more ] |
LSD 8'10" // Board | |
 | 21 April 2011 Finally, a shaper has taken the leap and pushed out a low railed, high performance, production SUP. Unlike everything else I've seen in the production (non-custom) market, the new LSD 8'10" has been refined so much that the rail profile now resembles a thick shortboard. It has been a bit of a bug bear of mine for a while now, that all the so called performan ... [ more ] |
PSH 9'3" Ripper // Board | |
 | 30 March 2009 Conditions: Light on-shore wind. Waist high, punchy waves. After loving my first session on Matt Lumley's PSH 9'3" Ripper a few weeks back, I thought I'd better go and pay Andrew Allen from Balmoral Boards a visit - just to see what he's got in stock. As it turns out, I get there and he starts unwrapping a brand new blue one, fresh out of the container. H ... [ more ] |
DC 8'10" // Board | |
 | 25 April 2009 Conditions: Strong off-cross shore wind. Head high (plus) waves. Man, I love the look of this board. You can just tell by looking at it that it'll go unreal in the surf. Dale bought it down from Queensland for me to try out at the WindSurfnSnow demo day, so I met him the night before and checked it out. When he slid it out of the cover I just thought ... ... [ more ] |
PSH 12'0" Gun // Board | |
 | 05 July 2009 Conditions: Light to medium off-shore wind. Triple overhead waves. Ice cold. Checking the surf from the top of the Long Reef cliff with the pre-dawn wind whistling around me, I realise I should have really popped something thicker on, something thicker than my pyjama top! The time saved grabbing a jacket as I got out of bed doesn't seem nearly as valuable ... [ more ] |
Kialoa Pipes // Paddle | |
 | 24 January 2010 I took delivery of my new Kialoa Pipes last night and had to get it wet at the first possible opportunity. That was this morning for the early. I didn't even get a chance to tape up the blade. One word: Smooth. This little paddle is just so smooth through the water. The new blade design is like cutting soft butter with a hot knife yet the tiny surf ... [ more ] |
Quick Blade Slimline // Paddle | |
 | 11 February 2010 I was visiting Andrew from Balmoral Boards the other day and we got talking about paddles. He was raving about this Slimline Quick Blade he had been using and even though I was very happy with my current paddles I accepted his offer of taking a brand new one for a spin. It wasn't until a few days later that I finally found the time to cut it down to my size ... [ more ] |
Stand Sure 8'2" // Board | |
 | 08 October 2010 Eight-two. Ahhhh. That's a scary number for a bloke who weighs 84 kg - but what the hell, you only live once. I'd been riding an 8'6" for about six months and had been saying all along that there is no way that I'll ever go shorter than that or, in fact, that I'll even need a new board at all for quite some time. Then I saw a picture of the prototype Stand S ... [ more ] |
DEEP Oceanboards 12'6" // Board | |
 | 27 November 2010 Historically, the Merimbula Classic has been known to dish up some of the best downwinding conditions in Australia. Easy launch, easy exit, great open ocean swells to ride, excellent safety zone should something go wrong, strong tradewinds from the perfect angle, easy car shuffle setup and most of all, heaps of frothing punters to share it with. The 2010 Cla ... [ more ] |
