Surfing Waves

Hi guys I am writing from Mazatlan Mexico!
I have been going out 3 to 4 days a week for 2 months now on an epoxy Byrne 6´6 mullet.

LENGTH 6'6" 198.12 cm
NOSE 12.50" 31.75 cm
MID 21.00" 53.34 cm
TAIL 15.50" 39.37 cm
THICK 2.75" 6.99 cm
VOLUME 39 liters
FINS FCS

It has five fin setup to be ridden as a thruster or as a four fin. I am using the thruster setup at the moment.

I went for it because it has plenty of volume and the extra bouyancy of epoxy boards, i tought that it would help me out since im new to the sport and since I am also 30 years old so padlling assitance was welcomed.
I knew this board was intended to gather speed on flat sections of mushy waves but i tought that it would be just fine for me.

BTW i have been a bodyboarder for over 15 years so i kind of know how catching waves work. I still have to learn how to position myself, beacause it is an entirely diferent art catching a wave on a surfboard than on a bodyboard. I am 5´10 (178 cms.) and weigh 165 pounds.


Now that i have been heading out i am having second toughts on my purchase since the main place where i go to is a beach brake where the waves usually range from shoulder to overhead and a half tall. They are fast and steep faced. Not only the board doesnt seem to be intended to be surfed in those kind of breaks but also it is a pain in the ass to duckdive it, the board is easily "sucked" by breaking waves, and it also doesnt get into the water much when you sit on it so it gets "pulled" by swells. So it makes it hard to get outside when you get caught inside and you have to constantly reposition yourself on the line up. It is also very dificult to gain speed when you start paddling it.

At this break I can catch steep breaking waves just fine but i barely make it on the way down.
On breaking shoulders i can ride down the face but struggle to turn or get bowled over when i ride the wave sideways.

Besides all this:
1) It sucks at steep faces beacause of the low rocker and lots of tail volume. It gets hanged up till the last minute so you have to put a lot of weight on the front foot, so this and little nose rocker = lots of pearling
2) It is very dificult to hold on a rail on steep faces specially for a noob whos not heavy enough to dig the oversized extra floaty rail.
3) Turning is quite strange at first it is very hard to turn due to all of its volume and beacause of its flat bottom.

There is another place where the board excells... a powerless point brake wave but this place its usually too crowded so i hardly get any riding time there and you need to zigzag your way through people which is very hard for me to do at this point . At this place i can catch waves just fine i can make it down the face 3 out of 4 times but i cant keep on the wave that much since i dont know how to turn, wait for the wave, etc...

When i bought this board thinlking that i would better be learning on this one rather than on a minimal because it would be able to handle both of this kinds of waves, i also tought that it was a good learning board because of the extra bouyancy and planning speed and i also apreciated it beaing tuflite so that it could handle all the pounding it was going to get from me during my learning.

Would you be so kind as to tell me your opinion on this board for me and the breaks i described. These two are LEARNING breaks since there are other bigger/better point and beach breaks near here, but i dont plan on heading there until i master riding down the face, turning and riding the waves.

Should i be better learning on a fat/wide regular shaped shortboard instead?
Should i stick to it? Is it surfeable at the breaks i described?

I am worried about spending $600 bucks on it trying to have a better learning experience than on the used 6´0- 6´4 potato chips available.

Since i havent had the board for that much time i tought i could still exchange it for another one more suitable for my breaks without having to loose that much ammount of money.

Sorry for the long post but i tried to describe all the issues and the place i surf at the best as possible in order to get better feedbacks.

My thoughts …….

I learnt on a shortboard I later surfed mega (for me !) waves on, and found no reason to change it as my short board of choice.

I spent so much time with my board it was literally like a part of me. Twitching and moving it into critical positions was (too !) easy at one point.

And the piece de resistance was the confidence and ability it gave to catch waves without paddling.

I cared for it and cleaned it and polished it. It never touched sand, rock, concrete, metal or car park – it was lovingly placed straight into its board bag after each session.

If you are seriously wanting to surf where you say, get a suitable board and learn on that from the beginning (assuming you have a real potential ability at this time). That’s what I did and do not regret it at all.

.02

However it should be a giggle in the shoulder high stuff !

do you want to sell it? i have been looking for a used mullet.

The mullet is a great board, I own a 6'3 and it's one of my fav boards I've ever ridden. The key, though, it's designed for gutless, mushy surf. Once you start getting into head high+ waves, it starts to get a little sketchy. This type of board is made for less steep faces, and made to turn off the tail as opposed to going rail to rail like a thruster.

For the steeper break that you're describing, you'd be better off with a thruster that is lower in volume (thinner/shorter) and has more rocker.

Hope this helps. Keep your mullet for those soft days, you won't regret it. I'm looking for another just to have as a backup.

It has been long since i first posted this.
I understand that the mullet isnt a bad board it´s just too damn big for my weight, and doesnt work well at the waves i usually ride.

Besides I want to get a small wave shredder that resembles a thruster as much as possible.

Thanks for the reply and for the advice i apreciate it.

Pornstar wrote:It has been long since i first posted this.
I understand that the mullet isnt a bad board it´s just too damn big for my weight, and doesnt work well at the waves i usually ride.

Besides I want to get a small wave shredder that resembles a thruster as much as possible.

Thanks for the reply and for the advice i apreciate it.

The board you have is "ok" for what you want to do. In fact I'll go as far to say that you will surf better on your current board than a low volume. You will catch more waves, have a wider margin of error, and generally have a better time.

Honestly, you will learn fastest getting on a longboard on the small days as well as using your shortboard. Surfing is so much more than the board skill alone. You need to learn about the ocean.

The first few years of surfing are learning the ocean and what the wave is going to do and why. You need to learn how your board is going to react and why. Next you learn how you can utilize your knowledge of what the wave is going to do ahead of time to setup for manuvers. And so on.. All of this takes time in the water and more importantly, waves. The more you catch the more you learn. That being said what you want to do is figure out how you can catch as many waves as possible.

Anyway, I hope you see my point. The $600 board is not going to help much at this point(unless its a longboard). What you need is time and water and most importantly wave count.


ALL of that being said if you have $600 and its not going to put you out, BUY IT! Hell you only live once, and boards are cool! Just have realistic expectations of what the board is and isn't going to do for your surfing.