My first big down-winder on the 14'er.

[DavidJohn]

Today I did my first big down-winder on my new 14' Naish Glide.. Here's some pics.

Todays forcast of 25-35 knots was a little off because we had a constant wind between 35-45 knots with a peak gust about 50.

Four of us headed off on the down-winder today.. There was Jonathan and Ronny with their 12'6" Starboards and Alan and me with Naish Glides.

Alan with the 12'er and me with my new 14'er.

For those who think the 14' Glide is just a bigger version on the 12' Glide they are like chalk and cheese.. Here's a few pictures showing the differences.







We got ready to start from opposite St Kilda breakwater.. It was going to be my first real test of my new board.



A 40 knot gust hit me while carrying my board to the water.. I had to put it down and sit on it till the gust passed.





All ready to do it.





Another gust hit and you almost couldn't even stand.



We're off.



We were hit with another gust that had us planing without even being on a runner.





We then had to go under St Kilda Pier.





I was off and catching runner after runner.. The 14'er did feel a little tippy at first because it is a few inches more narrow than the 12'er.



I was soon well ahead of Alan who was doing his first down-winder with us so I stopped and waited for him to catch up.







We were off again and the waves were getting bigger.



I soon found myself past and well ahead again so I stopped again and took a couple of pics.



Here Alan is just dropping off the back of a wave and about to sneak in behind it.



and he's off on it.. The waves were getting bigger the further we headed south. (it was a north wind blowing dead off shore)



and within seconds he's disappearing in the distance.. Time to catch up again.









I soon caught Alan and explained that the wind had swung from the north to the nor east and we were heading for Tassie.. He had trouble surfing across the runners to the left and kept heading the wrong way so I had to insist that he kneel down and  start paddling towards shore because we couldn't afford to miss Green Point in the distance.. So I paddled with him for a while on our knees.



Kneeling down we were able to paddle across the swells and towards the shore.. Once we were closer I left Alan to catch a few before we got to Green Point.






This is around the corner at Green Point.. and sheltered from the wind.



We soon headed off for the final stretch.. and past the windsurfers.



 Once at the end of our down-winder and in the protection of Sandy marina I swapped boards with Jonathan so he could have a quick paddle of the Naish.



The 14' Glide is amazing.. It catches even the slightest runners and surfs the big ones like a steamtrain... Naish did a great job with this one.

DJ

[SchUP]

Great set, thanks!

[stoneaxe]

Good job as always DJ. Looked like great conditions.

[GMONEY]

Great photos. What camera are you using the GOPro? You set the seed last nite we had a nice storm coming across the lake had the wife talked into driving me around I told her I would beat the storm head with all the lightning. Then I get all loaded up and she sees a huge strike over the lake. Trip canceled..

[Ronan "Doc Jacobs"]

Funny

I did the same last Saturday with the Naish's France boss, me on a 12 Glide, and him on the new 14.
25-30 knots NE, sunny and nice swell
We felt a little bit impressed in the beginning(1.5m swell, rocks around us), but quickly started to surf the runners. My GPS says we reached 13.87 km/h
But despite the GoPro on my wrist, my photographic skills will not equal DJ's ones
But as we say in french, "il n'y a pas photo"(means that you don't need a finish picture in an horse race), the 14 is soooo much faster, and remains stable even if it is 3 inches narrower than the 12
I'll post our little trip anyway, but you DJ set the mark of a good surftrip report so high...

[doms1]

great pics

[StandUpPaddleSurf.net]

Is it just the pic or do most of the waves run in the same direction?  Must be nice to just get on a train ride with a 40 knot wind.  I'm happy when the wind gets over 12 knots and ecstatic over 20 knots.  I can't even imagine getting 40+ knots.  If a 40+ knot wind is at your back it must be hold your axx time and enjoy the ride...or is there a lot of paddling still?

[DavidJohn]

Is it just the pic or do most of the waves run in the same direction?  Must be nice to just get on a train ride with a 40 knot wind.  I'm happy when the wind gets over 12 knots and ecstatic over 20 knots.  I can't even imagine getting 40+ knots.  If a 40+ knot wind is at your back it must be hold your axx time and enjoy the ride...or is there a lot of paddling still?

Yeah.. the waves are usually in neat rows all going the same direction as the wind.

You could just stand there and get blown along and you would still be catching runners.. The wind just blows you onto them every now and then.

I used to paddle about 95%.. These days it's more like 70%.. One day it might be down to 50% and doing it quicker.. 

DJ

[DavidJohn]

Great photos. What camera are you using the GOPro?

I'm using a little point and shoot Olympus 1030SW.. It's waterproof and takes pretty good shots.

DJ

[StandUpPaddleSurf.net]

Yeah.. the waves are usually in neat rows all going the same direction as the wind.

You could just stand there and get blown along and you would still be catching runners.. The wind just blows you onto them every now and then.

I used to paddle about 95%.. These days it's more like 70%.. One day it might be down to 50% and doing it quicker.. 

DJ

That sounds pretty awesome.