Surfing Waves

Hey all!

I normally ride a 7'8" funboard and have a 6'3" x 18 3/8" x 2 3/4" shortboard swallow tail...

My question is, will I be fine changing over? I am around 5'2" and I guess 79kg? Been surfing for a year and a half, started on funboard and that took a while like a week or two before got used to it compared to the longboard I was using when went to a surf school here.

I surf maybe 4 times a week try to go more if work permits, not really unfit, but am overweight for my height. I have used it before and did manage to catch a wave, but was terribly hard to stand up right as kept falling off.

Should I just give it another go? I want to move to Long Beach here in Cape Town. Much better waves, sometimes has barrel and goes up to about 6' or so on nice days.

zangpakto wrote:My question is, will I be fine changing over?

Well, no, not fine as such, but if you've nailed the basics on your funboard then its time to move over to the shortboard. But it will a whole new learning experience. And probably a frustrating one sometimes.

The size of the board is a little small for your weight, but give it a go and see you how you get on.

Thanks for the reply!

I will try then more often, I'm currently losing weight as well for cycling season which is starting in a few months now here. At end of year aiming to be around 60kg...

Also, I'm visiting my mom at end of year in Australia, she has bought a 6'0" board for me, the dimensions she didn't tell me, but umm will it be a big difference going from my 6'3" to a 6'0"? I want to ride some great waves there, but don't want to spend a week or two getting used to the board again whilst on holiday...

And like I mentioned I have gotten the board to go along the wave fine, just trouble standing up... Could the trouble be because of my weight at all? I mean it doesn't sink when I try to get up on it, but it sure as heck doesn't feel stable at all... Like a bull trying to throw me off kinda feeling, or is that normal and I'm not used to it because of riding a funboard?

Once again, thanks for the reply much appreciated

If your not getting up on a 6'3" then nor will you on a 6'0". If one of them was 20" wide or so it could help a little.

Thats my problem :/ but thing is... I can catch waves easy enough like I proved today again, but...

Whenever I popup I seem to have too much pressure on my back foot and the drag shoves me off the back of the wave, I can't seem to get it down at moment to put all weight on my front leg as I get up, as I think your supposed to correct?

I mean I have stood up a few times in kommetjie here, I live in Cape Town and the swells get nice and big here

I enjoy surfing at Long Beach but maybe it's because I went to Muizenberg to learn to shortboard ( as some guy broke a bone in their spine at Long Beach not so long ago from a wipeout and don't THINK it's good idea to learn to ride anything there... Surfing is awesome though if can ride ) that is the problem? Long Beach is generally speaking around 4 foot on smaller average days and gets a lot bigger... Muizenberg around 2-3 foot and clean on good days.. So big difference, but thought a beginners beach is a good place to transition over to a shoartboard? Or am I mistaken?

I see a lot of others using a shortboard there and some even doing aeriels but most use a funboard or longboard, mostly longboards though...

zangpakto wrote:Thats my problem :/ but thing is... I can catch waves easy enough like I proved today again, but...

Unless you've paddled into the wave, popped up and are standing quite stably, you havent 'caught the wave'. Merely being pushed along by it is a world away from catching it. If you havent got to the stage yet where popping up is routine, then you're not ready for a shortboard.

Transition to a shortboard wont be a matter of a couple of weeks. If your priority is catching waves on a two-week holiday, take the funboard.

"learner" beaches are hopeless for shortboards. Shortboards need POWER

I've been surfing for just over a year and a half on my funboard and don't ever have to think about the popup I just do it... go at moment around 4-5 times a week but now that we busy at work about 3-4 times a week now... I'm thinking either my popup needs tweaking or I'm getting up too early or too far back on the board... That is my guesses..

And the catching waves on holiday part is a transition from a 6'3" to a 6'0" board, and that is in December so a long way away yet

So I should just go to Long Beach then to learn? My only problem there is it is very shallow and powerful the wave... So I would need to popup even quicker or get dumped by the wave onto the sand... On a funboard I'm fine there though

You're WAY too far ahead of yourself there mate. Get the 6'3 dialled for a good while. Take it out even when it's not ideal for it. Take it out when it's perfect. Carry it around with you to the shops. Sleep with an arm over it. Get it down so that any other board just feels a bit weird. Then think about cheating on it with another board.

Chopping and changing boards too much when you are learning will slow you down in my very humble opinion. You'll never know for sure if a bad surf was you or your board. If you keep a "constant" you'll know better what's going on. I started at the same time as a friend with too much money and not enough sense who kept buying new boards and I progressed much faster and had many more "stoke" surfs in the meantime.

Transitioning to a shorter board can be frustrating, and takes bull headed determination. It also takes a bit more grunt from your paddling which requires more fitness. If you take you're 6'3 out even when the waves are less than ideal for it you'll build up your paddle fitness a lot faster.

Thanks the 6'0" is for my holiday, my mom bought it for me without asking if it's ok... only going to be using it for a little over a month then back to my normal 6'3"... Basically, it's a board for while I'm there and don't have any other boards

Basically, I live in South Africa, whilst she lives in Australia and she bought me a board for there when I visit at end of year...

Also I have fallen in love almost with my 6'3" only thing I can't do is stand properly now, but how she moves and behaves on the wave when rode prone for a little while to break the rytham of not riding, it was like just... wow... so responsive and her swallow tail really does it for me I do keep her in my room by the way no chance is she being left in garage or around house... haha

Hmm would a board with these dimensions be ok then to transition better from my funboard? 6'6 - 20 1/2 - 2 5/8 Also a shortboard but thicker, longer, and wider. I'm thinking of swapping my funboard for the 6'6 if you guys think it will be better and quicker to transition down to shortboards from that... Considering my eventual goal of a 6'3 and a 6'0 for holiday at end of year...

Before I swap my funboard out, I want to know opinions :S I have fallen in love with it, but I want to move over to shortboards now as not having much fun with a "fun"board...

Absolutely 100% yes. That board is an ideal transition board. Again though, if you do go for it, stick with it till you get it dialled before moving on.

Thanks Will see if person still wants to swap for mine

And other news... my 6'3 board is now easy for me to catch waves, still a bit hard to ride, but starting to stand up better now on it think for next 2 weeks might just stay on that to see how it goes on...

Oh... and wipeout today and sliced my foot pretty bad haha only noticed like 10 min ago, which means in shark infested waters I was happily paddling with my foot covered in blood and no one told me even though it was crowded today haha

EDIT: When I caught and stood up on a wave, a few seconds after my board kind of spun and turned 180 degrees under me and I slid off and I fell onto the board on my arse haha is the looseness because it's a swallow tail? Cause it seems soooo loose compared to my funboard! I only tried to turn and the whole thing just went spinning!

zangpakto wrote:Hmm would a board with these dimensions be ok then to transition better from my funboard? 6'6 - 20 1/2 - 2 5/8 Also a shortboard but thicker, longer, and wider. I'm thinking of swapping my funboard for the 6'6 if you guys think it will be better and quicker to transition down to shortboards from that... Considering my eventual goal of a 6'3 and a 6'0 for holiday at end of year...

Before I swap my funboard out, I want to know opinions :S I have fallen in love with it, but I want to move over to shortboards now as not having much fun with a "fun"board...

I've read your posts in this thread and others you've posted, I'm curious as to why you want to go short to a level where you are going to struggle to catch waves or be pitched really late in the take off if you catch it and you have some fear of the more powerful waves at longbeach that are suited to a short board.
Stick with the longer board you have, if you are catching waves successfully on it stay with that a while, do the good thing you are doing surfing lots at different breaks and master the one board first. Garbarrage and Drowning bit by bit advise you well listen and take your time.
BTW longer boards can be used anywhere the skill is in the rider not the board
I'd also ask you to have a look at the advise you are giving other beginners, is it good advice. Share your learnings not your guesses of how it works!

Actually, I bought a 5'10" X 20 1/2" X 2 3/4" board today, works like a demon o.o

Catches waves like a demon, and in bigger waves up to about 6-8ft it handles excellent

My thing was a shotboard like my usual 6'3" is too thin and narrow to handle the different breaks I surf consistently, whereas the 5'10" handles them perfect

Look I know the advice I give, and making and riding a board like this is where it got me, and honestly, I love it.

Longboarders irritate me with how far out they catch, swimming back, then catching the VERY next wave sometimes, and
complain at you going for that wave even though you've waited maybe 5min and they caught one before you already o.o

And as for boards, I don't know, I've come to love shortboards, I know it has been relatively not too long, but I feel at home with them now, hell it feels wrong when I take a board bigger than 7'0"... Crazy I know, but it seems to have worked out for me :/

The fear of longbeach is more the fact the other week someone broke their back there and now realize how strong the wave is before I didn't even care that it hurt me to even just duckdive a bit late... The whitewash is strong enough to propel nearly everyone on a 5'6" if they wanted... Just to put the power in perspective... And it's shallow that the wave breaks at waist - chest height occasionally so with my height the depth is 3-4' whilst the wave is maybe around 5/6' on most days....

I chose a biscuit and the waves I ride and have seen those boards rode are vary varied... small though, they don't turn too good, but once it gets above knee high till about 8/9 foot, the board just shines better than any shortboard I've seen or tried. It's more to do with the pocket and barrel and the fine tuning you can do, rather than how the board shoots out of the pit.

I love these boards now, nothing will make me go back to a minimal or bigger, I even told my family I found my first love and that it was the board I got this week. That's how much I love it at the moment.

EDIT
Also by the way, the reef I sometimes go out to, the wall of water and speed of the drop in, you would have to better than everyone to actually surf these areas in a longboard, hell I'd pay to see it happen, that is how much I doubt it could be done. The wall builds up and then slams down within a few seconds, it's not like most breaks... At least not here anyway... Your hair even gets thrown forward when you turn at the bottom to put that picture in your mind.

I'm glad you found a board you really love that will make a huge difference to your surfing.
About longboards and my addition SUPs if the rider has no manners then that paddle out I believe I'm entitled to it scenario is just plain ugly.
On the other longboard statement, for the wave you're talking about it is probably out of the capacity of most longboarders but guys ride pipeline and a lot of the short punchy hawaiian breaks to mega size.
BTW short to longer oard is a continuum shape size width and bottom contours are personal preference and once you get a quiver you can tailor your boards to different waves. It's like hey you can putt with a driver in golf and drive with a putter, but each is better in its proper context.
Explore, have fun, become a multiboarder.

jaffa1949 wrote:About longboards and my addition SUPs if the rider has no manners then that paddle out I believe I'm entitled to it scenario is just plain ugly.

Hmm I hope that wasn't aimed at me

I mean on a good day everyone waits their turn etc and behaves, on a crap day, they basically try and pretend they own the break with their longboards, thats how crazy it can be

Nuh, wasn't aimed at you, from your post you seem aware about handling the crowd. I have a general beef about those who don't share.
I ride both long and short boards and have done since 1958, on my longer boards i could take lots of waves but I enjoy picking my turn and letting other people get good waves too.
Cheers Zanger

jaffa1949 wrote:Nuh, wasn't aimed at you, from your post you seem aware about handling the crowd. I have a general beef about those who don't share.
I ride both long and short boards and have done since 1958, on my longer boards i could take lots of waves but I enjoy picking my turn and letting other people get good waves too.
Cheers Zanger

Same as you mate, all you need in a neutral crowd is one good "head" in the water and everyone has a better session. Unfortunately, all you need is one plonker and everyone has a bad session.

Make a point of cheering people on to waves, and occasionally calling someone on to a close-out to give everyone else a laugh. Create good vibes, Juggle the cups!

The longboard greed uncool

yes you can start on a shortboard I did a 5'11 lol but after every session i almost cried then i eventually got used to it








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