Here's the results of a little something I thought I'd try with my new deck grip:

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Highs:
- It provides fantastic traction in the surf (your feet and toes can lock into the grooves which allows you to really cling onto your board and maintain control through critical turns).
- It looks good (I reckon).
- It allows you to configure the grip so it perfectly follows the outline of your board (no areas where it stops too short or overhangs too much).
- It allows you to still see some of colour/pattern/design on the deck of your board.
- You don't need to use as much grip (makes the board lighter and allows you to have some spare stuff left over for repairs).
- If you ever encounter some problematic peel off, you will only have to replace a small piece, not the whole pad.

Lows:
- A bit rougher on your skin when knee paddling.

Here's some more shots:

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A little paddle art too:

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I got my inspiration from Blane Chambers:
www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php?topic=1997.0

Looks great but another low must be the hours of your life you spent putting it on.

P co said...
Looks great but another low must be the hours of your life you spent putting it on.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that ... four hours of measuring, cutting, peeling and sticking - over two nights. All good fun though.

Are the flags howling, is the wind flapping

I'm confused as to what is happening

Glass off said...
Is that a strip of foam around your paddle blade? Is it glued on ?

Nah, it's just some of that yellow and green striped electrical tape - four layers of it.

Glass off said...
NZ's just starting to get the wind /rain from the low pressure system you guys had last few days - are you getting any swell off it? looks like we'll get some swell once it goes through.

Sh!t yeah ... Saturday was epic in Sydney - a bit over head high waves fanned by offshore winds all day.

Glass off said...
Has your baby got a name?

With its colour and the grip pattern, I'm going with "The Turtle". That also works well with my other board, "The Tiger".

Glass off said...
have you fed it some solid swells yet ?

To reference back to the aforementioned epic waves on Saturday ... YES, the new baby is working through its solids very well. A little wobbly while waiting out the back in the turbulent, washy conditions (surfing near the rocks) but get it on a wave ... an overhead wave, and woo hoo - that thing rips. I was sitting wide of the pack (pretty crowded) and just getting the big, solid, wide ones that nobody else could get. Long, long drops down the face, big, drawn-out bottom turns to snappy off-the-tops or round house cutbacks. Got a whole heap of them - had an absolute ball. Didn't take any SuckerCam video as I got out there at 5:30am and it was cloudy - too dark. Sorry.

Sunday morning was a lot smaller but good fun none-the-less. I had a triangular beach break bank to myself for two hours. One to two foot lefts and rights with plenty of great sections to whack, float over or cutback into. Again, I had absolute ball. The 9'6" Oxbow goes unreal in these conditions too. I love it. Forgot to grab the camera this time. Maybe next weekend I'll have some footage to show off "The Turtle" in action.