Ain't nothing like that new board feeling. But of course it's always good to test a new stick in the playful stuff, slowly building up to the point where you can put all faith in the staying power of the inside rail. So imagine paddling out on a board for the first time and having a ruler-edged six foot bomb swing your way? The following account is by Sydney surfer, Patrice Geraghty, explaining this incredible barrel on a recent trip to Pohnpei:

"In the morning I broke two of my three boards in half. Not great news when you have two weeks of waves ahead of you. Then my mate Ryan 'Wanga' Waine, big-wave charger from the Central Coast of NSW, destroyed my third board in the boat by stepping on it and pushing his fins through my last board. Wanga proceeded to paddle out and get 1000 barrels leaving me on the boat boardless. Thanks Wanga, love you champ...

I waited on the boat a few hours for Allois (from Pohnpei Surf Club) to bring me a board from camp that I could borrow. Watching everyone getting barrelled was driving me mental. Allois arrived with a 6'6'' Mt Woodgee Kong board. He gingerly handed it over to me with the words "you break, you pay" in his thick Brazilian accent.

The board had no rocker, a channel bottom and swallow tail and really did belong to Gary Elkerton. It had, like, three year old wax on it. I put some FCS H3 nexus fins in it, paddled out and caught this wave. I nursed the board off the bottom trying to feel my way into it but I think Kong had probably surfed so many tubes on the board that it knew what to do.

I took care of this board like a newborn baby for the rest of my trip. It was always safely protected by a boardbag when travelling in the boats, i didn't want to put the slightest ding in it. When I finally returned her to Allois - in exactly the same condition I had received her - he still tried to charge me for breaking it! Ha ha..." //PATRICE GERAGHTY

Additional photos are of Patrice's brother, Pascal, and a few empty ones on the biggest day. The boys had quite a trip...