Surfing Waves

aloha people
sorry to put another post as thease.. but havent found my awnser yet.
new to the forum , im from gran canaria , 17 years old. i was formally a bodyboarder. 5.10 hight and around 70 kilos but ive started getting the atraccion to surf. cuase i live infront of the beach and seeing all the guys i know surf has dragged me to it.
i was given a tropical brazil 6´2 board last week. got it out in the water this morning around 7am, paddling was great , abit slow but smooth , sitting down on it was no problem, catching the wave took abit of work , but i got it. i was only going along on my belly , getting the feel for the board. first try to stand up made to my knee´s.. need to get the bodyboarding style out of my head.
first 10 trys where the same. then i finally got this great wave where i managed to stand for a small ride but i felt like i was on their ages haha.

so anyway questions are.. is it succselfull to learn to surf on a shortboard? im going to be in the water about 4 days a week, what are the best ways to start of from? just any advice would be so helpfull. im so determined and stocked to be aybull to just ride a wave.

so hope i dont sound like a pian doing this post, im new on the block.
cheers from gran canaria.

Don't say it out too loud, "yes you can learn on a short board", you have several advantages, you have surfed on Bodyboard so you can catch waves on short equipment.
You have already taken the curve to successfully standing up and getting a ride, 4 days a week at 17 years you will soon be surfing fine.
Practice going to the standing position in one movement if possible but other than that I don't see a problem for you that 4 days a week won't solve
I've met lots of Grand Canarian surfers around the world seem to be a good crew, good to see you becoming an upstanding member of the crew.

learning on a shortboard is not impossible. The difference is that on a longboard it's more fun right away since you will stand up easier.

Like Jaffa said, practice practice practice. One thing though, and you will hate this since you already know how to surf from bodyboarding, is that you have to start on the shore, and not in the lineup.

Forget paddling, forget getting out, get about waist high in the water and practice your popup. Wait for some whitewash, throw yourself towards the shore (important, don't plop on the board, get momentum going towards the shore) and try to pop up, then surf just a tinny bit. Do it over and over and over until you can stand up easily, probably a week or two, then go back to the lineup. With a new ability to stand up you will enjoy yourself in the lineup.

cheers guys thats just really put my hopes up. got an idea of where to focus on starting.
went down to the beach this morning at 6.30 cuase a neighbour said it was going to be good acording to a weather forcast , cuase he was going too , so we both went and nothing , flat as a pancake. i was bumbed.
forcast has picked up something decent for tomorow so going to get down their and get in the whitewash and get that pop up comin along.
cheers for the advice.
and anything any of you guys want to add on please let me know

stocked! after 3 weeks of giving it hard 4 days a week i finally got a good pop up and a ride.. nothing special.. but i was up and going!
still need some tips on a board, got the 6´2 , i was thinking maybe something like a 6´4 ? would i notice the diferance?

The more you get out, the easier it gets.
Want to make things a little easier, forget the 6'4 and go with a 9'+

Since you're around 70kg, 6'2 would be pushing it to learn on, and 6'4 isn't much bigger. I'm not saying it's impossible, but if you want to make learning noticably easier get something at least 6'10. Preferably 7' or more will be best, and you can keep it as you progress too. I sometimes wish I still had my mini-mal for the small days.

Don't think there'll be much difference in 2 inches. How does it feel when you are up and riding? Bit wobbly, not really getting your footing right? If so, you may benefit from something 7'ish.
That said, I've seen some of the boogers around here (about your age) take to shortboarding pretty quickly. After a couple of months, they are more than a challenge in the line-up. If you've got a bit of spare cash the 7'+ board will get you going sooner. I'd hang on to the 6'2 if you can afford to though. Judging by the booger converts around here, you'll be looking for something similar in a few months anyway, and you can always paddle out on the 7' on a small day.

go bigger! In 3 weeks you only caught one wave!

If you buy a 7ft board you'll stand up every time you get out, then go down in size once you get really good. You don't need to look like a cool surfer when you can't surf yet. Go ahead and look like a kook, you are one, I was one too, nothing wrong with being kooky and having a big board, embrace your inner kookiness.

Go bigger! If you want a shortboard looking big board they make them, like the Merrick MBB for instance. Not necesarily a merrick but that shape, but go bigger to learn.

Agree whole-heartedly with themathteacher. Only thing is, I wouldn't bother with the pointed nose (shortboard look). If you do go that route stick to a mal shape, just don't see the point in the pointed nose. More foam will get you better use out of the board when you do drop back to the shorty.

aloha chicos ,
sorry i havent posted , been to busy in the water , i got my hands on a 8´school bored , it was great , rides every wave.. i spent a couple of weeks on it , and then sold it and got a bic 6´10 , it took a some time to get to grips with it , but after a couple of hours of being out , stocked. im using that one at the momant , and sold the tropical brasil board and got myself a little treat a peter daniel pukas 6´5 with 1 session for 200 euros with new grip pad and fins. but only taken that out twice. wish i just done this from the start , but ive progressed so much in about 8 weeks. going out with my little bro , who spent 4 weeks at this surf camp and is riding a 5´ 7 years old , pushed me to not let him show me up as much when we go to the beach haha
anyway, thats my progress.

Great to hear!! Keep riding that 6'10 and you'll be able to progress a lot faster than on the 6'5.

Sounds like a good deal on the 6'5 and that's a versatile length shortboard for a year down the track, but it will make your learning slower at the moment.

Keep us posted on how you progress, and keep the stoke!!!

Glad the advise helped, learning should be fun! Enjoy the stoke, welcome to your new addiction LOL