Surfing Waves

Hello guys this is my first post in the forum. first of all i never touched nor did i drive a surfboard. All my life i have been skateboarding from the age of 8 years untill now. i was sponsored from 17 to 24. untill i got my kid. i do all flip tricks regular and i can switch to goofy. in skate terminology it is called switch.

OBsession to obsession

After all my life skating i had a call. a spiritual call i guess. i went to the beach in bray dunes in france and i saw this kick ess kid skimboarding, and i was like yeah piece of cake. little did i know that my weight was to much for that skimboard but i just had to do that man. i needed to skimboard that small board with no volume to hold me. in the process i learned that the way to keep the skimboard from the sand is to consistently do mini ollies. but it wasnt enough to slide all the way. so this thing started playing me at night. i got this insomnia for weeks. and i was like i need a profesional skimboard. i never got one really. i did skate on a carverboard. some of you might know dem boards. they are the surfing board of the land.
i started going mental on the internet john john florence and kelly and machado and i started playin ol games like transworld surf and kelly slater just to learn the terminology.
damn..........................

it became so big in my head that my wife started to be annoyed by me. i started to skateboard like a surfer. doing airs and wheelies and similar tricks cloning them from what i saw from the surf world. for the first time in my life i wasnt really liking the skating. the surfing made it all complete. water nature fish speed. hey but i stilll didnt surf

my skateboard experience is tremendously high. i skated against big guys like ricardo fonseca or javier mendizabal from the cliche board team. i even won a game of skate against rodrigo texeira. Tim zom is my friend blablabla. but really thats how goofd i was and still am good. i just dont do 12 stairs and rails anymore. ive done it you know. so its not a new thing there.

so by saying all this im actually asking for advise.
i am really not gunna buy a fish surfboard quad setup or a hybrid fish.
i took the hard way as a skater going full on pro boards. and i feel home with a shortboard i know im a special case cause i will carve really fast and all that. but i shouldnt dwell on my previous experience. the fact is im new to surfing and being arrogant isnt gonna help me.
but im fully confident that as a beginner i will be advanced in a half year.

so saying all this i need to give my info
i am 1.72m is 5.8. i weight 80 kilo im 33 years. im sporty but im not high on cardio. but that changes soon.
ive been looking at some channel island and pyzel boards. but i just dont know what my volume is. can any of you tell me which shortboard will make me start easy even tho it may be an intermediate board? what is the perfect volume? and size? i was thinking 6.1. please help me guys surfboards are freaking expensive and im not rich like some of you. im midd class and i cant even pay grancanaria. ull see me in spain and morocco.

pls i ask u. what is the board for me? even a guess would be appreciated

being arrogant isnt gonna help me.but im fully confident that as a beginner i will be advanced in a half year.

drowningbitbybit wrote:

being arrogant isnt gonna help me.but im fully confident that as a beginner i will be advanced in a half year.

I know it contradicts. But there is nothing wrong in convincing yourself and taking the challenge to become better in a short period. Even if u might not get that better.

The problem with learning to surf is there are no board riding skills that you can use until you learn the ocean. You have to learn about waves and currents and wind and how to paddle and how to get out through the surf and then to build paddling strength then where to paddle and when to paddle how to popup then maybe you can use some board skills. So your confidence will mean an extremely steep learning curve that all your board riding skill won't help. If you had trouble with a skim board then a shortboard is going to kill you.

Thank you for your friendly reply.
I forgot to mention that i had the chance to use a zapp skimboard. And i caught a lot of waves. But in overall you are right. I have a loooooot to learn. Catching waves was a matter of coincedence. I would ride from the sand to the deep and just basically gamble on untill coincedently i would see a wave i could ride.

So what do you advice in volume design and length

fromsk82surf wrote: ive been looking at some channel island and pyzel boards. but i just dont know what my volume is. can any of you tell me which shortboard will make me start easy even tho it may be an intermediate board? what is the perfect volume? and size?

Just go to the Channel Islands website and select the Volume Calculator. Add in you Skill Level, Fitness, Age and Weight. From the recommended list provided, you can get an idea of volume and sizes. Pyzel's volume calculator only needs Skill level and Weight.

By the way, there's no "perfect" formula for volume and size. "Easy intermediate shortboard for a beginner"? What is an easy F1 Race car for a person who just got their drivers permit ? Should one start off on a 500cc 2-stroke MX or a 80cc 4-stroke MX bike ?

fromsk82surf wrote:i took the hard way as a skater going full on pro boards. and i feel home with a shortboard i know im a special case cause i will carve really fast and all that.

If I get a $10 skateboard at the Toy store / Walmart, when i point down a drive way or hill, ( or ramp or half pipe ), it will speed up and go. I will "catch" the hill, ramp, etc. , Wether or not if $10 made in China toy or $1000 Canadian maple deck with Bones swiss bearings, you will go. In surfing, you need to paddle to catch the wave. You need to paddle out to the wave. When you get tired skating, you can just stop where you are and take a break. Surfing, you're at the mercy of the ocean.

fromsk82surf wrote:I know it contradicts. But there is nothing wrong in convincing yourself and taking the challenge to become better in a short period. Even if u might not get that better.

Sure if you don't drown ( or others drown trying to save you ) or hurt others in the process. But you seem to have great determination, so keep saying to yourself over and over, "There's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong", as you're caught in a rip and being drawn into the impact zone as 4 surfers are dropping down right on you.


I added your info into the Channel Islands Volume Calculator and got 4 boards all around 65 liters +. A 6'1" Robber ( since you like Rob Machado ) is only 35 liters. Even a 6'4" Biscuit ( which you won't consider a Shortboard or cool ) has 56 liters.

For most beginners a longboard that is about 3 feet longer than you. After you learn the basics then you can start moving down in size. If you put in lots of hours in the ocean paddling and gaining paddling strength and endurance then the learning curve can be shorter.

Seriously man, your 5'8 why would you be surfing s 6'1. Most of the pros only ride that length to height ratio when they are surfing big waves or large playing fields. I think if you want a pro board you should be on a 5'8-5'10 with maybe 28 liters.

And what are pro skate decks? Also street skating is pretty lame, pretty much zero likeness to surfing beyond both being on boards.

1. Nominated for newbie post of the year.
2. You are not a special case.
3. At 5'8" and 80kg you aren't in shape...you need to not only be in better shape but in surfing shape just to catch waves and last longer than 45min in the water.
4. It is obvious that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about so I'll take it easy.

You will not believe a word any of us say.....in your mind you are a special case. Do yourself a financial favour and either rent a board, borrow one or have a lesson before going in a shop and buying that first board. Take a lesson and about 20 min into it on your 8-9ft foamie board a light will come on and you will then understand all the advice and sarcasm given here.

Heavy beginners like yourself (yes, you are heavy for a surfer....I am 87kg and I'm at the far end of off the shelf stuff in most shops), heavy beginners need big boards to learn on...bigger the better.

I was out a couple of days ago at a famous break here....there were more than 70 heads in the water scattered over three peaks....waves were relatively gutless that day which meant 2-3 decent waves per set and one good wave mid set. That's max 4 good waves per 5-6 min. There was a handful of surfers taking all the waves.....the rest of the lineup was either out of position, had bad timing, range too small to catch waves from poor starting positions, weak paddlers, or not "savvy" enough to snake and back paddle to get a wave....it was an ugly scene with people fighting tooth and nail to get a wave....at least 75% of the lineup flat out had no chance at getting a wave....they were just not good enough and to top it off I would guarantee they were on boards too small for them, their skill level and for the conditions.

To become a good surfer you need good waves....to catch good waves by yourself in a vacuum you need to have good paddling, technique, timing, positioning.....to catch a good wave in the real world, you need to be better in all the above than the three people around you otherwise you'll either never get a wave or get your fins punched out (or more) for dropping in......BTW look that up (dropping in) along with surfing etiquette in general; at least that is something you can kinda learn before ever getting wet.

Also....never addressed your level of ocean knowledge. It is a serious business....others have and you can drown rather easily if you do not know what you are doing. Before I started to surf (at a later age like yourself) I had been around the ocean quite a bit....was a former oceanography and marine biology student at the University of the Virgin Islands, first mate on the research vessel, assistant diving officer on the same boat, a dive master and dive instructor on the weekends to pay for school as well as feeding fish outside of Atlantis submarine tours (4 bounce dives in 4 hours)....in the water almost every day for the 4.5 years Iived there....beyond that I spent a month on a research project in the Florida keys mapping a shipwreck from a couple hundred years ago...that was a month of 7-8 hours bottom time daily. On top of that I am a lifeguard, and have several dive certifications including rescue diver, search and rescue and medievac training (we had a helicopter for that...that was cool), O2 provider, CPR, first aid, defibrillator training.....for certifications for various posts and projects I've had to do a one mile open water swim, drown proofing of one hour in the open ocean with no flotation gear (float and stay alive fully clothed), open water bailouts (holding all your diver gear in your hands you jump out of the back of a moving boat then we sank down to 35ft and assembled / put on our gear there.....I can free dive to 60-70 ft and when I used to do it a lot I could stay down around 2 min on average, 2 1/2 being the longest.

I skateboarded a lot when I was younger....street and vert....I was no pro but can ride a board well enough that I thought I had a leg up.

All that being said, 20 min into my first lesson I was exhausted and realised that I knew F-all about surfing. My ocean knowledge provided a good base and sent off warning signals in my brain as I realised at that point that if I were alone and I lost my board I could easily DIE.

At least I could recognise that fact.

Surfing is fantastic....I surf just about daily....had a nice 2 h sesh before work this morning.....starting at your age you will need TIME in the water....lots and lots of it.....and time on the right sized board. Good luck.

GRAVITY SUCKS ! BIG TIME?
I'm glad you can sk8
M8 , but listen B4 it is 2 L8 m8.
You might be gr8 on your sk8 but let me put to some basic information you are not special case, you are an absolute rookie! Just a CASE!
All board sports other than surfing you are all ready standing you point you board down hill and gravity sucks.
The hill doesn't change direction nor does it suddenly increase in size nor does it hang over your head and fall on it.
You do not lie down and using your arms to paddle you back towards the incoming hill which once again may fall on you( avalanches excepted) you do not have to duck dive or find a way under, over or around the hill.
The hill cannot fill your mouth and lungs if you make a mistake and that is just paddling out.
You need to match the speed of the incoming hill to catch it this is all while you are lying down.
You have get to your feet, everything else you have done you are already standing, waiting to cross that fall line where gravity sucks, and you have sk8ing speed, then an maybe then your turning skills might help

Forget the street sk8 talk, you can't put a graffiti tag on a wave, Skim boards don't count either they like all board sports are already stand up butrequire special skills and people who do it well are gr8 , but you have to start at basics again.
Now. Go hire a number of different boards get cardio and paddle fit and enjoy the experience , there will be old guys , girls, little kids and regular age people who will show you how unspecial you are, just like every other good sk8ter snow boarder , wake boarder etc who thinks it will be a walk in the park to change over!
You needs lots of days surfing and lots of waves under your belt before you become average.

please do not go offensive or be dissing on me. i know i am a rookie. but my circumstances are ideal. there are literally no surfers in my environement. When i start surfing it will be in morocco in sidi mghit beach. u cant go there by car and even a rover will have a hard time. Ill go there by horse or walk it. Once you are there on the beach it is really clean. the water does not have rock underneath and there is little to no people there. there is fortunately one bamboo made house where u can get a place to sleep.

even if i would surf in holland or belgium or france. im not gonna take the biggest wave.(there is none actually in my circle range anyway) so when we talk about my safety and of others you shouldnt worry. my swim skills derive from a young age i know how to handle it and i know the danger when the sea starts taking water away.

but what i dont know: i never surfed. literally.
also the level skill f my skateboarding is underestimated. i am not a street per say. i do both. when i started skating street wasnt even a thing. it was half pipe and airs and grabs. later on those things became a thing. another thing is that many surfers got better in surfing because of skating including john john. skateboarding has more pain and fail ratio. if i fall from a grab in the air and free fall on the ground it will be different then water. i know some will take offence in this. there are allready people feeling offendeed unfortunately. look im not a fanboy so let it go.

but some of you friendly guys said that skateboarding is a great thing for surfing. but it will only take effect once you learn the ocean and waves. so to use my package of knowledge it is required to learn that first.

i know some of you are like what is this dude saying. but text and theory and confidence is not practice real life. i am a responsible man and i know where i stand; im a BEGINNER. let us not forget that. im not a blind believer.

a longboard just isnt for me. i must turn. and many of my SKATEhomies started surfing with a shortboard and they kick ess when i watch their youtube vids.

having said all that is that i basically wanted advice for volume and length and design. as a beginner you kinda have the idea what to buy. but u dont know for sure. i will find my way do not worry, i even read those things here learn how to surf and stuff. and i know it doesnt sound that way but im humble. i just have a goal that im very enthousiastic about thats all.

i hope you guys appreciate i allready notice the trollism here LOL. but i will just ignore it.

Big H wrote:1. Nominated for newbie post of the year.
2. You are not a special case.
3. At 5'8" and 80kg you aren't in shape...you need to not only be in better shape but in surfing shape just to catch waves and last longer than 45min in the water.
4. It is obvious that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about so I'll take it easy.

You will not believe a word any of us say.....in your mind you are a special case. Do yourself a financial favour and either rent a board, borrow one or have a lesson before going in a shop and buying that first board. Take a lesson and about 20 min into it on your 8-9ft foamie board a light will come on and you will then understand all the advice and sarcasm given here.

Heavy beginners like yourself (yes, you are heavy for a surfer....I am 87kg and I'm at the far end of off the shelf stuff in most shops), heavy beginners need big boards to learn on...bigger the better.

I was out a couple of days ago at a famous break here....there were more than 70 heads in the water scattered over three peaks....waves were relatively gutless that day which meant 2-3 decent waves per set and one good wave mid set. That's max 4 good waves per 5-6 min. There was a handful of surfers taking all the waves.....the rest of the lineup was either out of position, had bad timing, range too small to catch waves from poor starting positions, weak paddlers, or not "savvy" enough to snake and back paddle to get a wave....it was an ugly scene with people fighting tooth and nail to get a wave....at least 75% of the lineup flat out had no chance at getting a wave....they were just not good enough and to top it off I would guarantee they were on boards too small for them, their skill level and for the conditions.

To become a good surfer you need good waves....to catch good waves by yourself in a vacuum you need to have good paddling, technique, timing, positioning.....to catch a good wave in the real world, you need to be better in all the above than the three people around you otherwise you'll either never get a wave or get your fins punched out (or more) for dropping in......BTW look that up (dropping in) along with surfing etiquette in general; at least that is something you can kinda learn before ever getting wet.

yo big H

yeah im heavy muscled. i should go back to 75. i noticed that on mma i always have to fight skinny tall ones and they choke like anaconda's.
i see that also in surfing being to heavy aint a good thing. perhaps the 75 is more ideal. i can handle sarcasm we are man and its allright. between your sarcasm i can see you are serious in the matter and i appreciate that

fromsk82surf wrote:please do not go offensive or be dissing on me [.......]
i hope you guys appreciate i allready notice the trollism here LOL. but i will just ignore it.

You have received a lot of good advice from very experienced surfers. And you have no idea at all what surfing is about. So I suggest to pay attention to the advice given. It will accelerate your learning and increase your safety.

This thread has provided me with a lot of entertainment.

Listen to the advice. Skateboarding skill means pretty much NOTHING when it comes to surfing, until you're at a very high level perhaps. The two are not alike at all. The only vague similarity is that you're standing on a board.

When you're at a high level (I'm talking minimum 5 years+) maybe you could use something from your skateboarding. Now you're probably thinking that you'll get to the high level much quicker - you won't.

If you don't believe our honest advice, ( and seriously I am trying to help you as best as I can without crushing your dreams ), Listen to what Channel Islands says about their own boards.
Your Level is Beginner ( actually even less since you have never surfed at all )
Your Fitness is Average ( not determined by time at the gym, but more time you can paddle )
Your Age is between 30 and 35 ( at 33 you can go either way )
Your Weight is closest to 175lbs.
With those numbers, Channel Islands says you need a large volume board - 65liters plus

You want to get a 6'1". Fine. Try adjusting the input on the Volume Calculator until it shows board around 6'1".
You're going to have to raise your Skill Level way beyond Beginner, Increase your fitness level past Average. One thing you already know you need to do and will help you get to a 6'1" is lower your Weight. Age ? Well that stays constant. Take that as a challenge to improve yourself to get to that point where you can ride a 6'1". But I know you are determined no matter what others say even if it's from Al Merrick himself. ( you may think people here are dissing you, but they're not, they just don't want you to make a mistake or get hurt ). We all know exactly what is going to happen. Sometimes we just need to sit back and let you learn thru your own experience.

You got the STOKE to become a surfer. I wish you luck and hope you don't give up. It's going to be way way harder than you ever imagine. Just be safe. I am really concerned that you'll be surfing by yourself at a desolate spot. ( you think it's a good thing, but actually it's unsafe ). Make sure to give us a update on what board your purchased and how your first surf went. Aloha

waikikikichan wrote:If you don't believe our honest advice, ( and seriously I am trying to help you as best as I can without crushing your dreams ), Listen to what Channel Islands says about their own boards.
Your Level is Beginner ( actually even less since you have never surfed at all )
Your Fitness is Average ( not determined by time at the gym, but more time you can paddle )
Your Age is between 30 and 35 ( at 33 you can go either way )
Your Weight is closest to 175lbs.
With those numbers, Channel Islands says you need a large volume board - 65liters plus

You want to get a 6'1". Fine. Try adjusting the input on the Volume Calculator until it shows board around 6'1".
You're going to have to raise your Skill Level way beyond Beginner, Increase your fitness level past Average. One thing you already know you need to do and will help you get to a 6'1" is lower your Weight. Age ? Well that stays constant. Take that as a challenge to improve yourself to get to that point where you can ride a 6'1". But I know you are determined no matter what others say even if it's from Al Merrick himself. ( you may think people here are dissing you, but they're not, they just don't want you to make a mistake or get hurt ). We all know exactly what is going to happen. Sometimes we just need to sit back and let you learn thru your own experience.

You got the STOKE to become a surfer. I wish you luck and hope you don't give up. It's going to be way way harder than you ever imagine. Just be safe. I am really concerned that you'll be surfing by yourself at a desolate spot. ( you think it's a good thing, but actually it's unsafe ). Make sure to give us a update on what board your purchased and how your first surf went. Aloha

i really listen to you guys. i take it all with me. as soon as i have my board ill tell you. ofcourse again with all the advices gathered from you guys and a local shaper(shop) ill go karate kid on those guys and let them be mister miyagi. 65 liters he. perhaps i should do a rental or go to lessons just to be sure where i stand in this situation. obviously im overly obsessed with the idea to do a floater and an air in a short period. this optimism must not let push away realism ofcourse.

you will find me on this forum. and i hope to stay on board with you guys. lol i steel need to get on board

Oldie wrote:

fromsk82surf wrote:please do not go offensive or be dissing on me [.......]
i hope you guys appreciate i allready notice the trollism here LOL. but i will just ignore it.

You have received a lot of good advice from very experienced surfers. And you have no idea at all what surfing is about. So I suggest to pay attention to the advice given. It will accelerate your learning and increase your safety.

but how do you explain my friends going from skateboarding into shortboarding and going all mental in a year and catching waves? i listen to advice man i take you guys damn serious. but it doesnt have to go snail steps. we could go baby steps or walking as adults(no running i understand)
everybody picks up his own way. that is how it is. just dont think all you say is for nothing. i take it damn serious. and if i fail my judgment ill give you the right to laugh.ill put a youtube film for you to laugh at me its all good

You really are welcome on board, we do care about you getting there and being safe in the journey.
Surfing is such a great thing we all enjoy, me since 1958. Must be something addictive about it!