With a 5 oz lead only

Anyfeild anywhere 14ft rod
Akios 555 reel
Sakuma nite crystal .31 dia line and ultima powerflex 80lb leader 

234.76m . Have gone further in practice but they dont count.

Pendulum casting for me .
But was taught to cast off the ground first and still think that you should cast that way until you can hit at least 180m+ before going to the pendulum cast.

A lot of rods in NZ are not up to the task of big casts so be careful . Smashed a popular new rod a few mths ago . Snapped 2 ft off the tip and ripped the butt section apart.

I won't bother mentioning my official distance then, it's way under 180.

o Neill wrote: Are we asking about off the beach as you mention rigs or distance casting from the shore? They are quite different.

my mistake dude- miss read your first post,

o Neill wrote: 150m range with a zziplex HSM,Soon to have a M4 GT, ABU 6500CT or daiwa 7HT mag, small clipped down bait using the Moonfleet designed rigs,150gm gemini lead, 15lb sakuma crystal line and a fishing pendulum.

on average most people will only cast 60-80 meters with a bait off the beach- there are some (very few) that could cast further with a standard surf set up. Its very hard to work out distance when casting into the big blue as there nothing to relate it to- landmarks or rocks

A mate of mine casts 160 (field) over head cast  he makes it look easy putting baits where they ment to go .

With a 60g lure straight onto 80lb mono shock leader with a Warehouse $69 12' set can get about 85m off the beach (behind the third set on Kapiti beaches), using an overhead heave with the lure right at the rod tip.

Bought a K-Labs 18' off Trademe, can almost match the distance with a 4 oz sand grabber sinker and a whole pillie on a double hook rig (sinker high), with about 3' from tip to the swivel and sinker, the bait about another 1-2' below that. 

The 12' seems short in the handle, but light, so can bash out an overhead with little effort.  The 18 is a very heavy rod, so am trying to get the technique improved to load up the rod more.  I tend to wade out a bit (with the flat beaches here), so off the ground doesn't really work.   I am trying to use a similar action, before getting into the full on pendulum.

Built a couple of pulley rigs for the big rod, but they keep busting off because my knots leader - main were a bit dodgy.  Lengthened the shock leader a few turns, made a tidier knot, and seems to be working better.  Might try setting up a pulley rig in the future, see how it goes.

Only been fishing a couple of months, so still trying to figure out the best spots to fish from, times, tides, etc.