Surfing Waves

I'm looking for some honest, non-sales driven advice on buying a new surf board. I've been living/ surfing for 5 months now in Bondi Beach, Australia, using a 7'2" mini-mal, but I believe I've progressd enough to move down to about a 6"8" short board (I'm 23, 6'2", 230lbs- so clearly a 6'4" wouldnt cut it unless I was a real ripper, and lets face it, if that was the case I wouldn't be seeking out so much adive). I've been to every surf shop in the bondi area, plus a few in some of the northern beaches. There are tons of good boards out there, a few which feel really good, and I've had some pretty good advice from the surf shops, but at times it seems like they're just trying to push whatever they have on the rack. any advice would be greatly appreciatd.
-BG

Will any of the shops let you test ride boards? Some shops have test boards for customers to try out that are not for sale - they do in Newquay. Also its not just about the length of the board - a wide, thick railed chunky 6'4" may well suffice...
For instance I've got a 6'2" rounded pintail with thick rails that is too big for me, because there is too much foam on the rail so when I try to turn it won't sink the rail enough and I have to stand further back to carve it - which sucks cos that means I have run up and down on the board. If the rails were thinner then I could sink them with my weight fine without moving to the back.
I have other problems when just hugging the wall on a nice hollow wave - I have to shuffle my feet toward the edge of the board nearest the wave to keep the board flat, again cos the rails are too thick.
I've also got a 6'2" squashtail with thinner rails which is perfect for me. I just got it repaired and can't wait to get back out on it .

Thanks for the responce. Theres a shop or two I've seen that have some boards to test, but they ask for a $500 cash only deposit... too much for me to just pull out of the bank and leave at the shop. I've looked at a 6'4" McCoy, they look very impressive, though it seems almost overly chunky. Plus, I've heard very mixed reviews on the thicker, shorter boards, ranging from they're incredible to they are so fat and bouyant they'll topple over on you if you're too agressive in a turn, so I suppose until I find somebody who will let me try theirs, or a shop who will let me hire one for the day, I dont think I'll go out and buy one of those.

Don't be scared of short fat thick boards, those are just rumors because right now it's cool to have potato chips so kids have to make up rumors about why they can't get a fat eggy shape instead of a 5'10 2" thick chip even though they allready can't paddle their 6'4, and the real reason is because the egg isn't cool enough for them. McCoy's get really good reviews, its the way he shapes and did his resarch and wasn't scared of doing somthing different, and hey, he got a better shape, and improved it. If you can find a demo and they ask for the deposit, try it once and then if you like it turn that money to a new one off the racks.

And again, they're aimed towards the older, more traditional surfers who like chunk and length and don't care if the wave is in shreads by the time they're off of it, but like having the fun of the easy paddling, easy wave catching, easy riding, and still being able to bust a few turns every now and then.

And if you can't test one, buy one and see if you like it. If you only use it once and can tell you don't, you can sell it again and probally only loose like 50 bucks if you don't kill it that one time.

Try what he did, move away from the crowd.

I'd recommend a Webber Fatburner, its a chunkier fish like board, which i learnt to surf on. I wouldnt say it's quiiite a shortboard, because when i ride my shortboard now i can tell the difference , but they are great, quite easy to paddle boards. Check out their site. http://www.webbersurfboards.com He shapes out of Mona Vale, which is on the northern beaches so he is relatively local to you... Also he shapes for some pro's, namely Taj Burrow so he is a respected shaper.

ok. if u have enough money, go see a shaper and get a custom board done. that way they can make a board that suits your ability and size. you'll progress quicker than you would on any board and it is well worth it. hope this helps

thanks for all the help. I ended up going with a 6'9"x 19 1/4 x 5 1/4 pipedream, burton shape. I was definitely looking into getting one custom shaped, but some one came along and offered me a price for my board that I couldnt turn down, so as it was I couldnt wait 3-4 weeks for a new board without any board of my own to surf on. I looked into Webber and LSD (Luke ____ Designs). I obviously I'll know more and be able to tell more by the time I'm ready for my next board, but from what I can tell now I'd really like to have a board from either one of those 2 shapers. I actually almost bought a 6'6" luke design, and now after surfing on the 6'9" I think I could have handled it after a week or two of struggling, but all in all its better I got the slightly bigger board. The waves right now are very uncharacteristic of Bondi for this time of year (so I'm told)- 2 foot max!- and the only guys catching good waves are on 9'-10' boards. Hopefully it will pick up and I'll have a real chance to try out my new board. thanks again.