When for my first surf on my new 903 PSH R this morning at Palmy-nice 2-3 feet with a brisk offshore a bit of bump and no one else out.
My wife is the happy owner of a 906 Wide Ripper-which I had to christen over the weekend during the freaky Pittwater SUP session-a lovely stable board, that glides into waves well and is still super loose.
The 903 by comparison is a whole different story-I came in and told my wife that the 906WR is like a sidewalk and the 903R a tightrope-having said that-it only took about 15 mins to adjust to the difference in balance and it was off I went-the 903 doesn't glide onto waves anywhere near as smoothly as a bigger board, so you have to adjust your position in the lineup to nearer the usual take off zone-however once you're on a wave the board surf unreal-it just feels like a beefed up shortboard-reacts very similarly to a shift in weight and feet, has great drive and smooth rail to rail transition-just a joy to ride-and this was my first surf with stock fins and with them set up kinda' conservatively (with the centre fin back in the box to reduce yaw). I'm really looking forward to riding some sizable waves on this board.
The 906WR (my wife's board
) will be a great substitute for smaller days and bumpier conditions.
Whilst out there I had a great dolphin encounter with the resident Palmy pod-they're identifiable as one has no dorsal, another has half a dorsal and another has a chunk out-I've seen the same pod of about 6-8 dolphins regularly over the past 6 or so years. Whilst paddling parallel to the beach the pod cam up behind me and started tracking me, then one of the larger ones (without a dorsal) about 9-10 feet long came up beneath me and then sat off the front of the board on it's side just cruising there for about 80-100 metres-just cruising looking up at me-then a set came and as I peeled of to catch the right the dolphin stayed with me and took off as I did-a little disconcerting on a slightly overhead wave as I was bottom turning the dolphin just sat with me the whole way ghosting my turns-I was worried it might pop out (as dolphins do) and whack me-it didn't, just pulled off the wave when the wave fatted out into the channel and re-joined the pod which then cruised off down the beach (but came back again about 45 mins later to catch a few more waves). Bloody great experience-made my first ride on the 903R all the more memorable.
Matt
