Some thoughts and feedback on my tale

[twizzly]

i'm at the ripe age of 31, surfed for about 4 months 2-3 x each week. because i'm very fortunate, i've already managed to surf at puerta vallarta and at waikiki but my local break is venice beach/santa monica.

my friend and i have several boards (we're both about 6' 180lbs) ranging from 9'0" to 9'6" and we are what i would describe as pretty crappy beginners. in other words, on a decent day in decent conditions, we can catch most waves, but we're still winded as heck, fall off a lot, have trouble getting into the lineups, do a lot of silly crap, etc etc..in general, i can get up, do a little turning action down the line of the wave, shuffle around and then fall off. any more challenging waves tend to make me dive for pearls and the sort.

anyway, my friend insisted that we start surfing shortboards, so we bought some Merrick Flyers. mine is a 6'4" tuflite. waxed it up and took it out in Manhattan Beach over the weekend -- wow! what an incredible difference in style.

i managed to catch 2 waves during a 90 minute windblown session and really enjoyed it, but i'm concerned i'm just not at the level where i should be moving to a shortboard yet and i'd be better off putting the Merrick on a shelf and sticking with the Mal's for now. it seemed exhausting to paddle on the board and the nonstop duckdiving was a real challenge (although i must say it was probably easier to get out in with that board than my longboards would have been!). also, it seemed like the board was very narrow and hard to stand on -- and i'd been told it was the easiest and one of the finest shortboards around!

Your thoughts appreciated!

[baja fresk]

i would keep practicing with those mals if i were you. just keep popping up on those small waves and setting your line, once you got the hang of that and can stand on a wave and do some decent leaning turns, then i would move on to the shortboard for bigger waves, but doing the same basic stuff. you just gotta wean it off bit by bit by your progress

[kitesurfer]

If you're enjoying it then stick with it would be my advice.

Cheers KS

[buckthis]

and how did your friend do with the shortboard?

[twizzly]

very good question! my friend and i are at pretty similar levels. i may have better balance and he's a bit more fearless but it probably evens out. he had "the time of his life" catching 1 or 2 waves himself (staying in a crouched position with a hand on the rail).

i'm really thinking that i should go back to the mal at least for a while and continue to develop my timing and wave catching skills. i'm also thinking i'd be well served to take a lesson at some point soonish.

thanks for the feedback!

[GowerCharger]

keep to your mal for those crappy days if your enjoying them more on that, wait for a nice clean day with some 3-4ft surf then take the shortboards out again, youll find it much easier. The shortboards are much more sensitive to balance so riding them on chppy winblown waves your gonna find it hard but you should be ok when its cleaner, then when youve got more of an idea how they go youll be ok on the messier stuff.