Surfing Waves

Hi, my name is Ian. I am 5'6-7 and 160 pounds. I am an intermediate longboarder (starting to noseride and big turns on a 9'0) and have only tried shortboarding a couple times. It seems fun but I have been unable to catch a wave. I like surfing at the malibu pier and leo carrillo when it is smaller (1-3 ft). It is somewhat mushy at leo and medium steep at the pier. I've been looking at used puddle jumpers and rusty muffin tops but I don't really know what to get. Does anyone have any suggestions for boards and/or sizes?

Thanks a bunch, Ian

How big/old are you and how much do you surf (times a week)? When you tried the shortboard what was the size of that board and why couldn't you catch a wave/what was the issue?

I just saw how big you are.

When you say 'shortboarding', what size board are you talking about eg 5'6 or 6ft or 7ft? I suspect you will find it best to initially go for a hybrid board around 7ft and surf that for a while; or at the very least a fat and wide shortboard (which is what you want for the waves you describe anyway). Volume and flat rocker and a slightly wider tail.

dementadlama wrote:I've been looking at used puddle jumpers and rusty muffin tops

Too short for you coming down from a 9' board. Loads of volume, but surfing a board the same size as you are or less (which is what you should be doing with these boards) is a skill set that you don't have yet.

As dtc said, you'll find it easier - and hence catch waves - if you go for a hybrid around 7ft.

I surf about twice a week (more or less). I don't know my friend's sizes, but I couldn't paddle fast enough. So any suggestions on which hybrid I should look at?

dementadlama wrote:I surf about twice a week (more or less). I don't know my friend's sizes, but I couldn't paddle fast enough. So any suggestions on which hybrid I should look at?

If you couldn't paddle fast enough, then you need volume and plaining surface (...um, like a longboard)

So, as a rough description... something about 7' x 21+' x 2 3/4+' with the volume up front for ease of paddling and a wideish tail for ease of catching waves.

Something like the 7S at 7' or even 7'6 maybe...
http://www.surfindustries.com/shop/au/s ... fish-3-cv/

Plenty of boards out there like that these days, so loads to choose from.

dementadlama wrote: I don't know my friend's sizes, but I couldn't paddle fast enough.

If you don't want us to keep guessing and give you vague advice, ask your friend what size board he let you try. If he says it was a 5'6", then try out 7'0" ish. If he says it was a 6'6" , then you going to need more like 8'0"ish.

Say you were comfortable at lifting weight at 100lbs. You tried benching the same weight as your friend can at 300lbs. and struggled. Should you then try 250lbs. ? No, you should gradually work you way up to that weight. Same for surfing, as your skills, timing and strength improves, gradually go down in size.

drowningbitbybit wrote:If you couldn't paddle fast enough, then you need volume and plaining surface (...um, like a longboard)

So, as a rough description... something about 7' x 21+' x 2 3/4+' with the volume up front for ease of paddling and a wideish tail for ease of catching waves.

Something like the 7S at 7' or even 7'6 maybe...
http://www.surfindustries.com/shop/au/s ... fish-3-cv/

Plenty of boards out there like that these days, so loads to choose from.

Also have a look at the Firewire Addvance. Some other examples are the Miller Waterskate or Mark Richards Flying Saucer (although you wont be able to buy them unless you are in Australia). These will give you an idea of the kind of shape we are talking about. Then look for boards with that shape - as DBB says, they are fairly common. The boards mentioned aren't necessary 'recommendations' per se for the specific board (although I would buy some of them), but to give you an idea.

A more left field one is the McCoy Nugget (ok, no volume up front but it does have the wide tail!).

All of them have the same general principles - narrower nose than a minimal but not a pointy nose, wide (21+) and thick (2 3/4+), thickness going out to the rails, flat rocker.

Alright, I will definitely take a look at those. Thanks a bunch for all the help and sorry I couldn't give more details.

Ive been surfing for about 15 years now, im 6'0 205 lbs and I'm riding a puddle jumper that is 5'10'' x 22 x 2.75 with about 38.6 CL of volume. It is great in the mush, but struggles when it starts to gets steeper and overhead+ or the winds are heavy onshore and there's a ton of chop. I don't know where you live, but you could give a service like quivers board shop a go. You pay for a monthly membership and get to try all the boards; http://surfboardquivers.com/

What can you tell us about the board(s) your have now? Who is the shaper/model, what is the fin setup?

If you are only surfing twice a week (like me), it will take a long time to adapt from surfing a 9' board to a 6'-7' board. You could try a high performance longboard/funboard in the 8' range with a thruster fin setup. If you are currently surfing a classic, nose-riding, single-fin, a high performance thruster will feel agile by comparison.

Just for example the NSP longboard in 8'2" or 8'6". I believe W-Chan has a lot of experience with those boards and can offer some insight.

http://www.nspsurfboards.com/surfboards/#longboard

I have and can surf my 6'6" hybrid fish, but I prefer my 8'6" HPLB when the waves are 2-3' mushy and weak, which is the norm for the summer.

However, If you have your mind set on going short, like a beautiful woman, go wide, round, and thick.

https://www.degree33surfboards.com/coll ... dard-epoxy
https://vimeo.com/9682627

Namu wrote:However, If you have your mind set on going short, like a beautiful woman, go wide, round, and thick.

?????????
I can't get my mind around this one.....guess we all have different standards and measures for our ideas of optimal.