It was a beautiful Winter's day here in Melbourne today.
It was a perfect day to try out my new 11'4" Naish now that I have my deck grip on.
I missed a good day yesterday farting around at home drilling holes in my new board and sticking my deck grip and tail pad on.
Here's some pics from today.
DJ
I only had a few hours before work so I went to my usual spot..St Kilda beach.
The wind was a light off shore Northerly and the water was crystal clear and flat..this is in the shallows.
I'm out in the deep stuff now and it's getting choppier the further I head off shore.
The sky was bright blue with the odd whispy clouds.
I headed around the breakwater wall and followed it on the protected side.
I stopped off the see my mates at St Kilda pier.
I then headed further south feeling great down winding on my new board and hoping the Northerly doesn't pick up any more because I had to paddle back against it.
All of a sudden I'm surrounded by whitecaps..I turned to head back and the gusts were so strong I was going backwards while paddling as hard as I could forward.
The wind eased a little and I kept slogging away into a good 20 knot headwind.
It was when paddling head on onto the wind chop that I noticed a funky vibe when the nose of my new 11'4" slammed into the chop..I would feel the board flex slightly in a way the 11'6" didn't..I guess the 11'6" being about 6" thick would have something to do with that.
I soon got used to it and found that stepping about a foot further forward helps when going up wind..Also bending forward more and digging deep with the paddle helps.
Once back to the car I was able to attach my paddle to my board (with my new deck plugs) and cross the busy Beach Road keeping both hands on the board to help stop the wind catching it.
You can also carry the board using the paddle so those with the Kalama should consider doing this mod.
