Surfing Waves

Hi everyone. It's been a long long time. I hope you all are doing great.

Yes, I'm too fat for my board now. I have a JC Hawaii - SD3, 6'0 x 18.75 x 2.35. It's a regular shortboard. It used to be great and I could catch most of the waves I paddled for and rarely missed any good section. Back then, however, I was around 69-70 kg. Now I'm around 76-77 kg. Height is still the same, 177cm (fortunately). I can still surf on this board but my paddle speed has actually decreased, when paddling and catching a wave. Back then I could backdoor some barrels. Now I miss most of them.

What should be the size of my new board? I can't work out my current board's volume but I guess it's around 26.5. I'm thinking about getting a 6'1 x same width x 2"3/8 or 2"7/16. What do you guys think? Thank you.

p.s. I gained weight from working as a full-time chef. I tend to snack off at work, and I drink beer nearly every night just to get through it (you know, with all the stress and bull****).

Go longer and thicker , depending on your local surf and transport issues . Perhaps
More than required so you won't out grow it also .

jaktequila wrote:, 6'0 x 18.75 x 2.35.... I was around 69-70 kg.

Now I'm around 76-77 kg... I'm thinking about getting a 6'1 x same width x 2"3/8 or 2"7/16

Think of it this way - you're weight has increased by 10%, so to get the same float you'll need to increase your board by a similar amount. 1" longer isn't going to cut it - very roughly, the board will need to be 6 or 7" longer if you keep the same width and a similar thickness.

i would say go a a teeny bit wider and a little bit thicker but keep the length the same, maybe even lose an inch..

so maybe 5"11 19.5 and 2.5 thick and then go for something with slightly less entry rocker to help with the paddleing.

my 2 cents,.

I'm not good at metric conversions but I'm a fat guy too, lol. 6'1" and 240 pounds. My board is 6'4" x 20" x 2 7/8" and I have no problems catching anything. If I'm not mistaken volume is 42 L I think.

Hi guys! Thanks so much for your replies. Seems like everyone has their own opinion regarding this. I appreciate all the comments.

I went to a local surf shop (finally..) a few days ago. The guy kind of knows my surfing so he showed me a wider nose shortboard and I was like, wait, why didn't I think of this?. I used to ride a 5'10 hybrid fish a couple years ago and I loved it. I think a wide and thick 6'0 would be more than enough to float me. By doing this I will have 2 different types of boards too.

I'm 175cm, 73kg. I find anything over 33.5l harder to duckdive and at my ability (beg/int) under 30l too low. Current boards are 5'3" Firewire 32L groveller and 5'10" 30.2l hybrid for up to 5ft. I dont really go above that, oh and I'm 48 which makes a difference when paddling, so hopefully that will give you an idea with hybrid shape. Go on the Firewire website for more volume info but dont pay any attention to their advised volume, its way too high. Find a board you like, select an appropriate volume and then either go Firewire or find something of similiar dimensions.

That is a curious answer; "go to the Firewire website to check their volume adviser, then ignore it because it's way too high???????? Interesting.
Increasing board volume is one way to match jaktequila's increasing volume, width and thickness are the key 18" is a a low volume width as if that is the widest point then the rest is less, the rounded nose as you've found helps and going to 22" can do it a little length on that gives a better profile.
There is no one size fits all solution, too many determinants!
If it works for you it is the right answer>

I'm a heavy guy as well, 1,90cm and 94kg. My board is 6'0' x 20" x 2 1/4, but its works fine to me. I think that you should go wider. I have another board that is 6'1' x 18 x 2 1/4, which is too narrow.

Keep the length the same however you should go a little wider.