Surfing Waves

W'sup guys

I am in a bit of trouble here as most people new to shortboards. I keep on stalling.
I catch a wave every once in a while, I noticed that I can't line up with my longboard nemesis now
My pop ups are decent i guess, i can stand on the board, but my problem is here.
I CAN'T STAND ON THE BOARD VERY LONG! I don't know what the problem is or why its happening!After I get on the board about 5 seconds later the next thing i know i'm sinking!!!! I'm somehow stalling the board. Ok so my first thought is my ass needs to get the gas going so i lean forward, soon afterwards my noes of the board goes down and so do I. I've just recently gotten this thing and its my transitional board from a costco 8' softtop. I've also found that I can't ride whitewash anymore.

I'm 5'11 and my weight is about 220lbs. Am I too heavy for my board? MY board is a fish, with dimensions of 6'6" x 21.8" x 2.8"
I'm having alot of trouble getting the board to stay with the wave, i'm not really riding the wave, but i'll catch it then next thing i know i'm in white wash, and it dosn't even stay in the whitewash! on the softtop i could ride the whitewash in!

Anyway I'm having lots of troubles, i'm not really staying on the wave. I'm surfing like waves 1foot plus. I"m surfing at doheney state beach, Laguna Beach, and Salt Creek. I live down in socal. But I need tips, and lots of them.

Fishes (and indeed all shortboards) need to be worked to stay in the pocket of the wave or on in the critical section of the wall.

You've made a huge jump from an 8ft soft-top to a 6'6 'real' board, but a competent surfer would have no trouble with that board so now its just practise practise and more practise.

You need to pump up and down the wave to maintain the speed and keep in the powerful section of the wave. You dont want to be in the whitewater - you need to be on the face. You need to use the power of the wave, but it wont do the work for you.

And drive forward. get your weight forward, point your leading arm where you want go, drive drive drive.

cool man,


but how do i stay on the wave without going off the wave? like yesterday i rode a 4' wave i flew downward infront of it where it was curling im goofy footed so my right foot went up in the air i was balencing on one foot brought it back down, then i lost the wave. how do i stay with the top part of the wave instead of flying downward? it feels like i would fall off the side of my board if its like dug into the wave. O.O

you gotta carve, if you get too far ahead of the whitewash, do a cutback. it's a lot of turning, as dbb said. up and down the face, and along it as well. a shorter board in very small surf is not ideal, even a 'fish.' if i were you, i'd stay on the longboard until it gets about waist high, then take out the fish. a fish is NOT a replacement for a longboard in a quiver

Just my 2 cents:

Fishes, on take offs, were designed to be VERY fast. There are many reasons why you are pearling: too far forward? taking off at the wrong time? not paddling hard enough? to name a few. On takeoff, you're supposed to bottom turn and go down the line. I will say that at 6'6" you are losing out on how the fish was meant to be ridden. Short board height, wide with plenty of thickness in the center. Radical turns on slop to overhead flowing with the wave. 6'0 would be the MAXIMUM according to your height and weight if you want to seriously ride a fish. I'm not suggesting you go out and sell your board, as you are new to fishes and from what you provided you came from a longboard. As twerked said, the fish is not a replacement for your longboard. It's a totally different board and the way you ride it is different from longboarding and shortboarding.

LOL, welcome to the world of big shortboarders, an anomaly in the surfing scheme of things. Most guys our weight go for bigger boards, but like you I refused to give in and now ride a 6'5" as my go-to shortboard and a 6'2" as my mess around shortboard. I tried a firewire 6'4" and had the same problem, especially when I did cutbacks, my board would sink and loose speed, partially due to the thinness and partially to the flex, it was really flexing too much.

However, your fish is stop on, but from what I can tell you are riding 1ft waves, and it really isn't made for that. Your 8ft foamie did ride the whitewash, because it was 8ft and thicker, but if you remember it probably had zero performance properties. The fish should be good at two foot plus, if you want something for small 1ft waves you will need a bigger board at 220lbs. I did the a no-no as to shapes, I had my shaper make me a 6'10" epoxy quad fish, super floaty and it does pick up 1ft waves, but just barely, it's what I use instead of a longboard, I don't really surf it in bigger surf unless it's a super mushy wave. So, only advise I can give is to wait for slightly bigger waves.

Lastly, to ask some basic board info, is it a twin, thruster or quad? And what set up, FCS or Future or? and what specific fins do you have front and in back? Just want to rule out the setup

LOL, welcome to the world of big shortboarders, an anomaly in the surfing scheme of things. Most guys our weight go for bigger boards, but like you I refused to give in and now ride a 6'5" as my go-to shortboard and a 6'2" as my mess around shortboard. I tried a firewire 6'4" and had the same problem, especially when I did cutbacks, my board would sink and loose speed, partially due to the thinness and partially to the flex, it was really flexing too much.

However, your fish is stop on, but from what I can tell you are riding 1ft waves, and it really isn't made for that. Your 8ft foamie did ride the whitewash, because it was 8ft and thicker, but if you remember it probably had zero performance properties. The fish should be good at two foot plus, if you want something for small 1ft waves you will need a bigger board at 220lbs. I did the a no-no as to shapes, I had my shaper make me a 6'10" epoxy quad fish, super floaty and it does pick up 1ft waves, but just barely, it's what I use instead of a longboard, I don't really surf it in bigger surf unless it's a super mushy wave. So, only advise I can give is to wait for slightly bigger waves.

Lastly, to ask some basic board info, is it a twin, thruster or quad? And what set up, FCS or Future or? and what specific fins do you have front and in back? Just want to rule out the setup

themathteacher wrote: is it a twin, thruster or quad? And what set up, FCS or Future or? and what specific fins do you have front and in back? Just want to rule out the setup

haha yeah i probably should ride bigger waves then huh :I

its a thruster setup i think, its got 3 fins, the middle one smaller. they are future fins with the side two angled to point toward the middle of the board.

naniekso wrote:

themathteacher wrote: is it a twin, thruster or quad? And what set up, FCS or Future or? and what specific fins do you have front and in back? Just want to rule out the setup

the side two angled to point toward the middle of the board.

"It's the new way"