FEEDBACK : GONG Surf Couine Marie !!!

Back after 4 weeks of waves in Brittany (Audierne Bay, Baie des Trépassés, then Locquirec), I’m putting, for the first time, a product evaluation online (all products combined). I’m doing it because I really wanted to share my excellent experience with my very first Board. Passionate about Bodysurf (fins only) for 4 years, I started Surfing only this summer. And the result with La Couine Marie 8’0 is just great for a beginner : – We get up easily from the start, really easily (in foam and waves) and so much more often than most other beginners on other boards that I saw. And I specify that I weigh 85 kg for 180cm so we get up really easily, even when we weigh more than 75 kg. – You can catch a lot of waves. I did not have experience paddling, but I was surprised to see the quality of glide this board had. Probably linked to the large volume that makes everything easier. We really feel that we slide well on the water, (and not in the water) and we can even, even as a beginner, catch many small waves even when they are very weak. We also realize that we can surf on “almost nothing”. All this may not be the dream of good surfers, but for a beginner, what joy to ride again and again (until exhaustion) on a maximum of waves and get the real feel for it. – In waves that are a little more hollow and powerful, we understand quite quickly that it is necessary to shift and transfer weight back by arching fully so as to not pearl. We can then easily gain speed to take off and “follow” small waves before they close, and to the end by reading the wave (even very little power). This again gives time for gliding and therefore more experience. – The Board “forgives” a lot of mistakes. It’s almost shocking! Not being very flexible, I have a tendency to get up too straight and not bend enough. Obviously it should be quite fatal to a good take off. But this Board “absorbs” seriously these mistakes and often allows to recover (provided nevertheless to flex quickly once found that is very badly engaged). – I imagine that good surfers would find that the Board is not fast enough, nor agile enough etc … But I noted that (without any comparison of style or performance), this Board quickly opens the possibility of trajectories enough close to good Longboarders. That is to say that it allows to catch a lot of waves even if slightly hollow (even for rowing and sliding prone a little longer), and then to stay really long on the same wave (even to go through a little foam to then have a kind of “reform” that really brings you to the end). That’s it, I’m a real beginner but I spent the summer catching waves and standing and really getting my head wrapped around it. I honestly did not expect that at the beginning of the summer. I’m 35 years old, I have good criterion in the water thanks to the Bodysurf but not at all an exceptional physical condition or good abs and pecs and I could surf endlessly. What a pleasure ! Especially, and in comparison, I saw a bunch of other beginners, younger and more “fit” than me, having a lot more trouble leaving, getting up, and staying long on the same wave. I lent my Board several times, traded with other beginner foam Boards, and I can say without hesitation: this Inflatable Surf is ideal to start quickly and well. I guess it’s mostly volume-related. Only downside : I had some problems with the Fin provided with the Board. 2-3 times, while I had it fixed (I think), the rear of the Fin was coming out of the rail. I noticed that the little “pin” that crosses the drift at the back of the drift to keep it in the rail was “decentered”, which allows, I think, the Fin to go out by a rail edge of which the pin no longer protrudes, or only very little. A little info for GONG: Inflatable Surf intrigues and attracts. I saw a lot of more experienced surfers come to ask me questions about my inflatable board, to feel it to see if it was really rigid (it is the case), to question me on the quality of the rail (not able to answer) … Surfer : Grégoire and his GONG Surf 8’0 Couine Marie.