Surfing Waves

Just wondering who did start the hard way.
I was young, age 12 when I started (70's). On a 5'9" Plastic Fantastic.

I unfortunately did it the hard way. Im 6'4" 93kg and I started on a 6'6" x 19" x 2 1/8" took me a very long time.

So far fly it looks like just us two out of 30+

I went... soft foamie... I can stand! Buy a shortboard!... bugger, can't stand again... steal a friend's mini-mal, I can stand!... buy a funboard, ooh a bit wobbly but I can stand!... buy a shortboard... eventually I can stand!... buy a smaller shortboard... buy a smaller shortboard.... bugger, cant stand again... back to the slightly bigger shortboard

I started with a 6'2 al merrick mx

Started on an 8ft singlefin, but within a year I went down to a 7'2 california gun (thick and wide, unlike regular guns)

Soft Foamie and 8' single is not a shortboard LMAO!

I went through various boards for a short period of time (3 different boards in a month) but ultimately settled on a 6'6" shortboard. I started riding a shortboard in February but got worked because the waves were always overhead... so I took a break and started this past June where the waves were 3-4'. It took me 3 months to understand/learn the correct timing of popping up on the wave, judging waves, and turning... and I'm still learning. Hopefully I'll get more proficient at it before winter rolls around and I get worked again :/

17 on a 6'2" custom !

I used to surf a bit when I was younger but started again when I was 27/28 on a 6'4". I think when I was a kid it was probably a 6'4" and a 6'0. Spent a lot of time body boarding and body surfing as a kid too though, and all that helps a lot.

Most guys I know started on shorties too. Tell you the truth I find bigger boards more difficult.

started on a 6'6, was alright, didn't like the feel of a longer board.

I was 9 years old and started on a 5'8" Strickland single fin. Then after a year, I switched to a 5'10" Quietflight twin-fin.

Hello,
I started on about a 6'10" 70's single fin. It was not the best board for learning. I did not know any better at the time and I did not want to ride a longboard. I did have the motivation to make it work though. You can learn on a shortboard, it's just a longer wider board is easier to learn on. Some people also get frustrated early on and think they will never learn because shortboards are more difficult so they give up and never learn to surf.

I started when I was 14 on a 5'6'' G-Board KID Twin Fin and now got a 6'7'' Shortboard both from BIC

I started on a 5'6'' G-Board KID Twin Fin when I was 12, now I surf on a 5'10'' Fish. I'm not sure if i'm going to change to a shortboard, because fish is really awesome to surf on.

MY first face ride was on a 6' 3" Wahl board. It was the first board I bought and @ 220 lbs. was not big enough. I waffled around and went hot/cold on surfing for a bit as money got tight, but I now ride a 6' 7" 7S WMD and a 7' 3" 7S SuperfishXL and love them. I also have a 7' 2" Steve Coletta squashtail that is pretty nice.

Hi there, first post around here.
My first two sessions I rode a rented fun board. Then I bought a second-hand 6'5" shortboard, 19 1/5" wide and surfed it for about a year.
Managed to pop up successfully on my first session riding it. I have even lent it to a friend who had just started surfing and he managed to stand up a few times on his first session riding it too. Guess I was kinda lucky to get this one.
I did struggle with balancing for a while but other than that the amount of frustration involved was minimal hehe.

Here is a picture of her.

I'm about 164cm and I learnt on a 6'0" Byrne shortboard thruster (my dads from about 20 years ago, hes 164cm too) when I was like 160cm .. I find it will be easier than going from a softboard, to a mal, to a shortboard .. Started December 2010, can surf whitewash at the mo ... just picked up a 6'4" Nirvana thruster to keep learning on so my dad can keep surfing on his 6'0" Byrne ...

First I tried to surf on a 7'2", but it was to cumbersome and I couldn't move around on the thing, and since the only places there is any surf is fast breaking pointbreaks, I couldn't angle into the face decently. I then got a 6'6", and on that I could move about and it helped a lot. That broke and the only board I could afford was a second hand 6'1". It was to small but it taught me how to catch a wave late. I then got a almost new 6'3", and that was a really good board, but still to small. I caught some big waves on that board, but it kept sliding out on anything over 5ft. I then recently got a 6'5", much thicker and wider, and can catch anything up to 8ft, maybe even a bit bigger. I rode my biggest wave ever, a double overhead bomb half a kilometer out the ocean, all the way to the beach...

ABSurfer78 wrote:I was 9 years old and started on a 5'8" Strickland single fin. Then after a year, I switched to a 5'10" Quietflight twin-fin.

ha, me too. i started at 10 with a 5'10 Quietflight: a fat little early 80's style shortboard. 23 years later i'm still using it for small hollow beachbreak. works well under a kite too. great board. i left the east coast long ago so i've never seen anyone else riding one.