Both Gary K. and Jon T. were already on the water by the time I got to the beach (North Kirra) and looked to be well powered up.

The pair were working the stretch from the SLSC across to Rainbow and were getting some goods jumps and getting some nice backside hits in. 5.8m and 93lt seemed like the go and I wasted no time getting myself sorted.

Now I have to confess that I am still coming to terms with rigging my new sails after having been an Ezzy-only sailor for oh these many years, however, after a little bit of toing and froing I finally had the sail looking pretty well set and was out there!

Must say there's a marked contrast in the feel of the Pryde (Alpha) and I was mightily impressed with how light and crisp it felt.

And though I'm sure it will take me a little while to get over my apprehension about going back to using a monofilm sail in the surf, the increased visibility was another real bonus.

But it wasn't just the feel of the new sail that had me grinning from ear-to-ear, as the new "Wave" just flew upwind and made it that much easier to line up some nice ramps.

So while there's still a part of me that feels a little bit guilty about ending what has hitherto been a wonderful "relationship", I am stoked to the eyeballs with my new "girls"!

I dropped in to Surf FX this morning after hearing a rumour that the new Pryde sails and accessories had arrived in store and as luck would have it my visit coincided with the arrival of the first shipment of JP boards for 2010.

Talk about sexy? From the new Wave, through the revamped Twinser, and into signature model Freestyle Waves, the new double concave bottoms are a standout feature.

And as each one was removed from its' box there were countless ooh's and aah's among the peanut gallery.

It was actually quite funny to see how quickly word spread that the new boards were in town and over the course of the afternoon I lost track of the number of crew who came through the shop for a sneak peek.

While today is understandably an awkward anniversary for some, for me it marked the end of an era, as it was probably the last time I'll get to take my much-loved "Mini Tanker" out for a run.

Got to the Alley around 1pm and while old Dave just seemed to be cruising around out on the wide bank, I came a across a very stoked (though shivering) Gary Kepper in the carpark who confirmed my belief that it was going to be "well worth the effort".

Consequently I wasted little time rigging up and getting out there to try and snare a few waves while there was still some breeze to speak of.

Although the wind never really got over the 13 knot mark, the waves were sweet as, with only a handful of learner surfers for company.

All in all, a great afternoon out and a nice way to "farewell" one of the funnest boards I've ever owned.