Surfing Waves

Howzit,

Heres a little background of my surfing history:

-I've grown up in a small town, Nanakuli, on the west side of the island of Oahu. Our whole coastline has some nice breaks but my main break is Ulehawa, a shallow reef break that barrels like pipeline (locals call it mini-pipe) when the right swell hits it. Winter time this break is one of the best imo, also there is practically no crowd here. For example, one morning when I went out, the waves were 5-7 Hawaiian height with perfect barrels. For three hours, there was just me and two boogie boarders. Anyways, all my life I have either boogie boarded or body surfed when at the beach. Then just this past January, I decided to buy me a surfboard from craigslist (6'2 20 width 2 2/3 thick) and try to "self-teach" myself to surf. Because I decided to start during the winter months here in Hawaii, obviously the waves were raging quite a bit. Luckily for me, almost every week there were waves this past winter at my break. I don't know if its because I'm lucky or just naturally athletic, but by my third or fourth session, I could paddle into waves and get shacked. For the past 4 months, thats all I've been doing, getting barreled. What I want to start doing is snaps and turns and all that other crazy xxxxx I see these guys doing on youtube.

Me= 5'11 180 pounds...my board= 6'2 20 2 2/3
-I like my board but the only problem I have with it is its thickness. The board is a little heavy and I know I should be able to duck dive deeper than what I'm doing now. What I want to know is how thick should my next board be. Any suggestions would be great.

Mahalo

hi howzit


you want something around 6' 1" x 18 3/4 x 2 3/8 , with a squash tail. if you wanted to go thinner you shoudl get 6' 0" x 18 3/4 x 2 5/16. but i would go with the second choice seeing that the waves are very consistant, and you want something that you can rely on

peace brochacho!

naniekso wrote:hi howzit


you want something around 6' 1" x 18 3/4 x 2 3/8 , with a squash tail. if you wanted to go thinner you shoudl get 6' 0" x 18 3/4 x 2 5/16. but i would go with the second choice seeing that the waves are very consistant, and you want something that you can rely on

peace brochacho!

Mahalo for the quick reply.

Wow. you dont know how jealous you're making people. I've seen that place and I know how good it gets there. I've been surfing a while and I still dont get barreled reliably. lol. It just comes down to being more comfortable knowledgable in the water. I live townside. You should PM we and we can surf over there one day.
Hahaha. It'd be killer to have an invite to surf there from someone whos got it wired already ya know.
How is it for bodysurfing? If you ever come down to Panics lemme know..

i surf at bowls almost everyday. not today or yesterday cuz of the doo doo spill.

SSSurfer wrote:Wow. you dont know how jealous you're making people. I've seen that place and I know how good it gets there. I've been surfing a while and I still dont get barreled reliably. lol. It just comes down to being more comfortable knowledgable in the water. I live townside. You should PM we and we can surf over there one day.
Hahaha. It'd be killer to have an invite to surf there from someone whos got it wired already ya know.
How is it for bodysurfing? If you ever come down to Panics lemme know..

When the next swell picks up I'll definitely pm you (if I remember )

Bodysurfing there is good but imo the wave is a little on the fast side so boogie boarding/surfing will guarantee give you those nice in-and-outs, though bodysurfing is still definitely fun there.

Im feeling sick right now from surfing kaisers. UFCK I hope Im not legitimaetly sick. I'm from NY. Our cleanest water is dirtier than your dirty water here. I figured I was immune by now.

Take off some width and a little thickness if want less volume. I gotta agree with naniesko. A 6' 1" x 18 3/4 x 2 3/8 with a squash tail sounds perfect for average waves and your size. Good barreling waves I would go with a type of pin tail and less beef in the rails, but add a couple of more inches in length to help make up for the lack of volume in the rails/tail and a larger fin template.