Surfing Waves

Hi! I have been surfing for about 2-3 months now and I surf about 3 times a week. I am 5'5 and weigh 118 pounds but my 5'10 shortboard sinks and is very much underwater when I am paddling out. I am an Intermediate surfer - I can turn frontside and backside on my longboard very consistently and I have been working on learning to snap. I have learned it is much easier on a shortboard so that's why I bought a used shortboard. But can someone explain to me why my shortboard sinks? Is it normal or is my board to small for me? Thanks!

AT 118lbs I doubt its 'too small'; but smaller boards dont have the same volume and will sink. If you can paddle it and get to where you want, then dont worry about it

just for clarity - if you are out the back and sit on your longboard, probably your legs are entirely or almost entirely out of the water. If you sit on your shortboard, it might sink so the water line is at your waist or belly button (hopefully no lower at this stage). When you paddle its the same

Oh ok so this is normal?

How long, wide, and thick is your longboard ?
How wide and thick is your 5'10" shortboard ?

No it is not normal! If you can't paddle it effectively you can't catch waves , can't make turns or snaps or any other thing.

The waves you catch on a poor paddling board will be late drops or over the fall take offs and you will not have the wave speed to make much of a wave.

The turns you need to learn are a flow from one fully committed turn to another turns gaining speed in each turn.
A starting sequence of turns, initial bottom turn swung into an effective top turn / and degree of cut back turn. Another bottom turn or even the first one if it is well done and powerful will allow you to put much more direction change power and control into the top turn. Do that well enough and sudden enough and a snap is born.
Where or how did you learn that short boards do it easier. ( sales person?)
BTW don't buy the sales pitch that only short boards can do this, it take s the skills of the rider to do it , even on longboards

Really get your moves rocking on your longboard and then come down you are light enough to do that! Consider too a short board with more volume , up the floater quota and catch more waves. Get more wave time and hey presto your skills will improve

waikikikichan wrote:How long, wide, and thick is your longboard ?
How wide and thick is your 5'10" shortboard ?

The Longboard is 22 inches wide at its widest point, 3 inches thick, and 8 feet long. The shortboard is 19 inches wide at its widest point, 2 inches thick, and 5'10 feet tall. Thanks so much guys this has been a really big problem for me and you are really helping me out!

messi5085 wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:How long, wide, and thick is your longboard ?
How wide and thick is your 5'10" shortboard ?

The Longboard is 22 inches wide at its widest point, 3 inches thick, and 8 feet long. The shortboard is 19 inches wide at its widest point, 2 inches thick, and 5'10 feet tall. Thanks so much guys this has been a really big problem for me and you are really helping me out!

Just not enough float in that boat, post a picture of the board, the overall shape distribution will show just how much foam there is to aid your struggles in paddling.

messi5085 wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:How long, wide, and thick is your longboard ?
How wide and thick is your 5'10" shortboard ?

The Longboard is 22 inches wide at its widest point, 3 inches thick, and 8 feet long. The shortboard is 19 inches wide at its widest point, 2 inches thick, and 5'10 feet tall. Thanks so much guys this has been a really big problem for me and you are really helping me out!

2 inches thick?

Anyway, your shortboard is around 26 litres volume I'm guessing and the longboard will be around 60 litres. Since the volume is what supports your weight in the water, given that you have less than 1/2 the volume then you have less than 1/2 the support (lift). So it will sink. Volume is your friend in paddling out to waves and in catching waves (its not the only thing but it assists); however once you have caught a wave then volume becomes less important but is still important, particularly in terms of creating speed (on a lower volume board, it cant carry your weight and just create speed as well, you may have to work to help it create speed eg pumping or top to bottom etc)

When you say 'sinks when paddling', do you mean you are paddling and the entire board is underwater? Or just that parts of it sink (for example, your knees and calves are underwater),whereas on the longboard the whole thing justs sits on top of the water ?

Paddling aside, what you're describing is a "good" wave board....you need decent sized waves to make that work, waves bigger than most 2-3month deep surfers venture out in. Do you have friends with shortboards that are a bit bigger? If so, have a go on one (or all) of theirs to get a better feel of what a little bigger or a little smaller means under you.

On my longboard when I paddle, the board sits on top of the water....but on my shortboard only the nose is sticking out when I paddle....if that's what you mean it's normal. When I sit on my longboard in the middle, again on top of the water.....sitting on my shortboard the entire board can be under and I'm submerged to the middle of my torso.....again, it's normal.

You haven't said whether paddling is a problem or not.....for sure it's not as easy as a longer board, but it's probably enough for your size and weight to get around just fine. I was 12 years old when I was your height and weight.....I guess you're about that too.

What size fins have you got? They might too big and are causing too much drag.