Fish Board Size for a Small Guy

[IIIISURFIIII]

Long time lurker, first time poster here, please go easy on me! I am looking for suggestions/feedback from smaller guys who ride Fish boards. Here is my info:

My info:
5'6"
115lbs
35 years old
Surfing 2x per week every weekend
Great fitness level, not tirathlon but better than average as I used to bike and surf a lot, but stopped biking for the past year after moving to my new location.

My Current boards:
Lost Mayhem Sub-driver, 5'7" x 18.75" x 2.25" - 25L
Hybrid Egg: 6'0" x 21" x 2.75" - 38L

I am looking for a Fish board I can use from 1-5ft waves as I am having a bit of difficulty with paddling speed with my current 25L shortboard. I rode a buddy's 5'11" Firewire shortboard which is 30L and I paddled much better with it, 30L seems to be my sweet spot. The problem is I couldn't duck dive his 30L as well as my 25L obviously since his board was much longer than mine.

So, my question is, Would I be able to duck dive a shorter Fish board at 30L, particularly any of the board specs listed below? What size Fish do you recommend for my someone my size? I am very interested in the Lost Puddle Fish Carbon Wrap board in the sizes below, I think the 5'5" board is the right size for me but from what I've researched, most people say go shorter to 5'4" or 5'3", but I am worried the volume might be too little at those sizes and I won't get any paddle power from anything less than 30L. Feel free to give any suggestions/tips/advice on any specs you'd recommend for me.

Lost Puddle Fish Carbon Wrap
5’3” x 20.00” x 2.32” / 27.50L
5’4” x 20.25” x 2.32” / 28.50L
5’5” x 20.50” x 2.38” / 30.00L

[jaffa1949]

Are we really that tough on people?
How do you go duck diving the hybrid egg?
It is not the length that is the issue duck diving ,it is the volume! Bigger cork!
How ever since duck diving is a practice enhanced skill, and you say you can do it but not as well, improvement will come, like changing golf clubs you really feel the difference at first.

I'll leave the specs up to you, see if you can try what you want, I'm an older Longboarder so I won't presume to tell you, but if you surfed a lot previously you probably know what you want! Do it if it doesn't work , sell it on!

[IIIISURFIIII]

Are we really that tough on people?
How do you go duck diving the hybrid egg?
It is not the length that is the issue duck diving ,it is the volume! Bigger cork!
How ever since duck diving is a practice enhanced skill, and you say you can do it but not as well, improvement will come, like changing golf clubs you really feel the difference at first.

I'll leave the specs up to you, see if you can try what you want, I'm an older Longboarder so I won't presume to tell you, but if you surfed a lot previously you probably know what you want! Do it if it doesn't work , sell it on!

Hi Jaffa,
I can duck dive my 25L no problem at all.
I felt the 30L of my friends board i could not dive it under as far, and the tail end was sticking up which is why I thought the length was the issue.
I cannot duck dive the 38L Egg as it is waaaay too floaty and my 115lbs doesn't even budge it!
My gut instinct told me to get the 5'5", but I am leaning towards the 5'4" only because of the length makes it seem easier to duck dive at 28.5L.

Does 1.5L make a noticeable difference from 28.5 to 30L? Is 1.5L difference in general noticeable at any size?

Thanks for the response.

[waikikikichan]

1) I understand you surf 2 x week, but how long have you been surfing in total ? How many seasons ?

I felt the 30L of my friends board i could not dive it under as far, and the tail end was sticking up which is why I thought the length was the issue.

2) Woah, Woah, back up. With the tail sticking up, the issue is NOT the Length or Volume. Are you using your knee or ball of the foot to push the tail down ?

[IIIISURFIIII]

1) I understand you surf 2 x week, but how long have you been surfing in total ? How many seasons ?

I felt the 30L of my friends board i could not dive it under as far, and the tail end was sticking up which is why I thought the length was the issue.

2) Woah, Woah, back up. With the tail sticking up, the issue is NOT the Length or Volume. Are you using your knee or ball of the foot to push the tail down ?

I can't believe I forgot to mention how long i've been surfing! Approximately 25 years off and on. Born and raised in Hawaii (Oahu), I started surfing since I was 8 years old out at Queens in Waikiki in the 80's/90's. I remember stealing the food trays from the old Jack In The Box by the zoo as a kid to go body surfing at Walls (yeah I was a total wall rat and proud of it!). Then surfed pretty much everywhere around the island if it was under 6ft... Until I graduated high school, then went to college in the mainland. No beaches in upstate New York meant very little surfing during those years (only when I came back home for holidays/summer) Spent some 8 years working in the mainland then moved back to Hawaii and been surfing every weekend for the last 5 years. I'm not a big wave surfer, I've never surfed more than 6ft waves, I just was never into bigger and bigger waves. I do love the ocean though! I also Freedive as well. So not a newbie when it comes to the water. I'm just having difficulty finding shorter boards that work for me as I am getting older, especially Fish boards since I've never owned one. I've owned boards as long as 8'0" and as short as 5'6". This Fish stuff is new to me.

As for my technique, I push down first with my arms/hands and knee, then kick with my foot to bring the nose up. It works fine with all my shortboards I've used, but they've always been 25L or less. Maybe I should find someone with a 30L-ish board under 5'7" to let me try and duck dive it? I swear I am built like a 16 year old grom. At least my clothes are cheaper since I can fit boys large.!

[dtc]

When you say ‘fish’ is that because you specifically want a fish, or because you want something with a bit more volume but not too much longer than your current board? Because a board like the hypto krypto sounds very much like what you are looking for - a 5’6 or 5’7, so similar length to your current board. You can see the HK and the puddle fish aren’t too dissimilar (and the puddle fish isn’t really a ‘fish’, it just has a swallow tail)

There are of course plenty of HK imitators and/or similar eg rusty dwart, lost rocket

[waikikikichan]

I too also grew up bodyboarding at the Wall. But there in may lie your duckdiving problem. On a bodyboard you use your knee. So you have that ingrained habit. You have to learn to use your foot so you can push the tail down and have the board flat under the water.

As for my technique, I push down first with my arms/hands and knee, then kick with my foot to bring the nose up.

Other then the above mentioned foot usuage, you are missing two key actions in the middle of what you described for your technique.

I'm 5'3" 125lb. /56 kg. and 50 years old. My "Fish" board is 6'4", molded-epoxy 21 wide 2 1/2 thick and 40.2 liters. If I can duck dive that, YOU can duck dive a 5'5" 30 liter board.

Oh, and like DTC said, that Puddle Fish isn't a true fish ( which I consider as havingTwin Keels ). Are you getting your Lost boards from Schaper Hawaii on the Northshore ? If you surf Diamond Head, try looking into Mitsu's "Akule" model.

[IIIISURFIIII]

I too also grew up bodyboarding at the Wall. But there in may lie your duckdiving problem. On a bodyboard you use your knee. So you have that ingrained habit. You have to learn to use your foot so you can push the tail down and have the board flat under the water.

As for my technique, I push down first with my arms/hands and knee, then kick with my foot to bring the nose up.

Other then the above mentioned foot usuage, you are missing two key actions in the middle of what you described for your technique.

I'm 5'3" 125lb. /56 kg. and 50 years old. My "Fish" board is 6'4", molded-epoxy 21 wide 2 1/2 thick and 40.2 liters. If I can duck dive that, YOU can duck dive a 5'5" 30 liter board.

Oh, and like DTC said, that Puddle Fish isn't a true fish ( which I consider as havingTwin Keels ). Are you getting your Lost boards from Schaper Hawaii on the Northshore ? If you surf Diamond Head, try looking into Mitsu's "Akule" model.

Holy cow, if you can duck dive that 6'4" 40L, and you're 125lbs, then I am doing something wrong. I mean you do have 10lbs on me but 40L is a lot and you can still dive that. Crazy! Time to go out and practive on my 38L, but I swear that thing just doesn't budge. I am seriously grom sized and it upsets me sometimes since I can't dive that thing.

You and bigwavemaster are right, it's not a true Fish but I am looking for something around my current shortboard size that floats better, but something I can also use during the summer months with smaller waves, plus the swallow tail can help with carving. They Hypto's are really nice but i'd rather try to buy a board made in the USA or by a local shaper, just my preference for now, i don't want to go into that debate! But the Hypto is very nice, i love that blue tint color option. Maybe I should look into getting a local shaper to make one similar to the puddle fish size. I really think for now 30L is my limit as I learn to adjust my duck dive technique on these larger volume boards. I've seen the Mitsu boards, and oh man I want him to shape a funboard for me so bad. I'll have to reach out when I am ready, Thanks for the suggestion.

About to hit the small waves today to i'll report back on my duck dives on my38L...wish me luck, i'm going to need it.

[oldmansurfer]

I surf only boards that can't be duckdived because they have way too much volume. I still do a half duck dive or duckdip as it is called in this forum. I shove the nose under the water in a kind of handstand then the wave hits my rear end and the back half of the board and I pull up on the nose and it goes mostly under the wave from there. Just another option if you find you can't duck dive that board.

[IIIISURFIIII]

Well I have some good news. My buddy's Firewire board is 6'0" and 30L, I thought it was 5'11 but no matter. He came out surfing with me today and I used his board and tried the foot technique and it definitely helped get the board pushed under. I was out there for 4 hours and I still have to practice this way since I'm used to using my knee on my shortboards, but I can definitely say it changed the way I dove the board under the wave for the better. With me being so light, I kind of have to "pump" the board down and use all my weight because I am too light to just "sink" the board deep enough just by pushing alone. Skinny guy problems...

I am a lot more confident in being able dive my board so now I am actually looking into the Puddle Fish Carbon Wrap in 5'6 to 5'7" instead of the 5'3" to 5'5" range. The 5'6" board is 31L and the 5'7" is 32.5L. I'm thinking the 5'6" would be my best bet?

5’6” 20.75” 2.40” 31.00
5’7” 21.00” 2.44” 32.50

[YungGrom]

When you say ‘fish’ is that because you specifically want a fish, or because you want something with a bit more volume but not too much longer than your current board? Because a board like the hypto krypto sounds very much like what you are looking for - a 5’6 or 5’7, so similar length to your current board. You can see the HK and the puddle fish aren’t too dissimilar (and the puddle fish isn’t really a ‘fish’, it just has a swallow tail)

There are of course plenty of HK imitators and/or similar eg rusty dwart, lost rocket

I am 5.6 and about 55kgs and ride a 5.8 hypto krypto with 31 letres and it is piece of cake to duck dive so someone of my scrawny figure. If you dont want a board with more leterage than 30 then I dont think you should be wanting a fish

[IIIISURFIIII]

I wanted to report back and give an update.

I ended up getting the 5’5” x 20.50” x 2.38” / 30.00L board size and it turned out AWESOME!!!

I spent the past few weeks taking it out on chest high waves and this board is fast, I mean real fast in a quad setup! And get this, I was using small fins (FCS2) as I normally do on my boards, but someone suggested using mediums for better turns. Come to find out, the mediums work better as it resulted in less effort to cutback since the board didnt feel like it was going to slide away like the smaller fins did.

As for the duck diving, I have definitely made a difference since using my feet against the traction pad to push down has enabled me to push the board down further. It is much easier on the 5'5" 30L board than on my friend's 6'0" 30L board. It just is for me.

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice!

[IB_Surfer]

I love my fish, it's 3" thick and 34L of buoyancy. I don;t worry about duckdiving it in 2 ft surf, it doesn't duckdive deep like my shortboard but just enough to let the wave roll over me, even had it in overhead mushy waves at OB when I want to shoot the pier. Point is, the fish won't duckdive, none will, but they are a blast to catch small (or big mushy) waves

[waikikikichan]

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