New Year, New Boat, New me!

After having spent the latter end of 2009 poorly and sofa bound, I decided that the New Year was a good way to put all last years woe’s behind me and start the year as I mean to go on. 

With this in mind on Saturday morning I loaded up the Dagger Axiom 9.0 from the demo fleet ready for a trip to the coast for a surf session. 

I have not as yet had a chance to paddle the Axiom since I couldn’t get into the prototypes and was poorly once the production boats where ready. I was looking forward to the surf and hoping that it was not too big as not being in a boat for over 6 months will have made me quite rusty.

Checking the surf report for Saunton before we left my heart sank it wasn’t big it was messy, 1-2ft, 4sec intervals at the bouy, NW cross shore wind. However this was not going to deter me as I wanted to paddle!

One police diversion and a couple of hours later we arrived at Saunton Sands, the sun was out, the tide was out and the wind was bitter! Looking at the boiling mass of back to back messy waves wasn’t the most inviting.

Once togged up in my Torrent with as much thermal gear that I could fit under it, we headed for the sea which seemed about a mile away and still undeterred we headed out through the mush.

The Axiom 9.0 is great, having paddled the GTX then the GT Max for years the experience is actually quite different. The Axiom 9.0  has more height in the bow, more progressive edging, more room up front and with a livelier tail end, I thought it might trip me up a bit at first but it felt quiet forgiving and manoeuvrable. The best thing is the speed and acceleration, even in the small back to back messy surf the Axiom accelerates fast down the face which took a bit of getting used to as initially I kept stalling at bottom of the wave. Initial stability is good although a little narrower in the hull than the GT Max, but this does allow for faster edge to edge transfers. One thing I have to mention is it floated me really well (I’m 130kg kitted up) and although a short session due to lack of fitness the Axiom 9.0 inspirred confidence within a very short time!

Sorry we where all on the water and the surf was poor for photos on Saturday! Maybe next time, soon, once I take delivery of my own Axiom 9.0! Here’s a recent photo to wet your appetite……

Mark Sharman from late last year at Croyde. Mark loves the surf and instigates nearly all my trips to the coast!

Oh, and if you haven’t yet tried an Extrem vest or Amp, go do it, its incredible!    

See you out there!

Ben