Surfing Waves

I've been surfing for about 1.5 years and started off on a 8'0 mini-longboard. Switched to a 6'6 Firewire ADDVance recently, it's been 4 months on it and I'm enjoying it, but it's definitely at the peak of my ability in terms of ease of use. I've been catching waves with it and even throwing small weak-ish bottom turns, but I now want to see how increasing glide and paddle power a bit again will feel after these last few months. Is it worth getting a mid-length high volume board or should I just get a full on longboard (8'6" / 9')? I know that the ADDVance is something that will probably least me years down the line and know that a mid-length board (7'0 - 7'6") may be something I won't keep. Thinking a longboard may be kept for very small waves. What do you guys think?

I'm 5'11, 165-170lbs and surf Northern California (SF/San Mateo). Usually go out when the waves are 7' and under.

Saw some of these mid-lenghts on CL and just wanted to get some thoughts.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/spo/5419037645.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/spo/5417956833.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/spo/5419416789.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/spo/5422599711.html

Thanks!

Found another mid-length that seems decent:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/spo/5426724202.html

Thanks again!

Finally, this one was uploaded and seems pretty ideal:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/spo/5426582285.html

You have to decide what you're looking for....glide at your weight is only going to come from a longer board....none of those that you have up there are going to give that glide feeling that you get on a longboard....that being said, I would say that all of those except the shorter mini magic are going to be easier to ride than the addvance just due to the extra stability from the length of the board....I don't know how you surf but I would guess that you can catch waves but are sometimes slow getting up, sometimes stand up out of position and thus killing the speed of the board making you miss the best part of the wave or getting into the wave at all.....sometimes you do get up alright but then make too sharp a bottom turn, or aren't going fast enough to make a bottom turn actually work....

Anyway, I'm no pro, not an instructor and am a relative newbie myself, but seeing as how I went through what you did not too long ago, I would recommend the first board, the Ellington Funboard....not too long so that you can start to get the feel of being more careful about your body position on takeoffs but not too penal that you can't have fun and mess up a little but still get away with it....short enough to be able to turn easily, long enough that you can rest your feet on the board if your fitness isn't to the point that you can keep your legs up and not dragging on your paddle outs....it's called a fun board for a reason, has a wide stable nose and tail, is thick and has less rocker than the last board you put up and will come pretty close to feeling like it has some glide when you're paddling in the sweet spot with your legs up and crossed out of the water.

Big H, your guess on my surfing problems is spot on. The 6'6 Addvance was surprisingly easy for me to get on with in terms of getting used to paddling and catching waves on a board that is 1.5 ft shorter than my first board. However, there are often times when I feel like I almost caught the wave but just manage to lose it, and if I had just a little more length on the board it feels like I would have caught it (probably a combo of not quite enough paddle strokes / planing). I also do feel like it sort of has glide when I have my feet out of the water, was not aware that was how you were supposed to paddle as most people seem to have their feet half dipped in the water.

I'm probably leaning more towards a mid-length now as I rode a friend's 9' longboard recently and while it was very very easy to paddle around, it felt so sluggish compared to my Addvance, so may be too jarring of a difference if my goal is to surf the Addvance well. Probably not worth thinking about buying a board that does not fit my immediate needs.

Why do you say the 7'0 mini magic wouldn't provide additional ease? Is it cause it's doesn't add much length and is narrower/thinner than my Addvance?

What about the Scott Anderson or Stewart? Is the rocker very apparent on the Stewart? Also, out of these 3 boards do you feel the Ellington has the biggest wave range?

Also I emailed about the 7'6 Magic and the dims are 7'6" - 18.5 - 21.75 - 14.5 - 2.75

Finally, saw another posting today for a 7'2 Egg. Could be wrong, but are eggs generally not supposed to be that large? Was under the impression the were more in the 6' - 7' range depending on weight.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/spo/5423021275.html

Thanks man!

Just to add my 2c - I have a 6'10 hybrid (Addvance like), a 7'4 mini mal and a 9'1 LB.

The 6'10 is just in the size of sometimes having to pump to keep up speed - you cannot rely on the glide.

the 7'4, which is much wider esp around the nose, certainly has much more glide, when you step up from the 6'10. But its got nothing on the LB in the glide sense - with that you feel like you are floating along on air almost.

However, I rarely surf the LB any more because - as with you - I just like the benefits of the shorter boards. I do often have days when there is no obvious reason to choose the 6'10 over the 7'4 or vice versa - I could probably get rid of one of them without too much detriment (there are days when one is better eg the shorter board has much more rocker and much better in low tide steep waves; the longer board is better at high tide and points - but I can surf either in both situations).

In any case, you have to choose whether you want something different because you want to just have something easier to surf which allows you to improve your skills, before you pick up the Addvance again (to be honest, seems like a good choice if you aren't really doing bottom turns etc). Or do you want something that surfs differently to have a different feel - more glide, for example.

If the former (develop skills), then go mid length and go for a funboard or a mini mal (not a big hybrid). Something closer to 7'6 I suggest, but probably no longer (so 7'2 - 7'6). If you go shorter, you aren't getting anything much different to your current board [note: obviously there are differences in how a 6'6 hybrid surfs vs a 7ft mini mal and a some will say they are chalk and cheese. But for the purposes of skill development, I don't think the differences are huge enough to justify buying a second board. Others may totally disagree!].

If the latter (a different experience), I don't feel anything under about 7ft6 will be sufficiently different to be worthwhile. It will be a bit different for sure, but getting a 7ft board (for example) is unlikely to get you into waves that the Addvance will not (keeping in mind how much volume the Addvance has - potentially just as much or more than most 7ft boards). A 7ft mini mal wont give you the endless glide of a proper LB. So go 8ft or above.

Or you could have a think about the issues you are having with the Addvance and really concentrate on picking up the skills eg pumping. However, it is hard to pick up pumping and turning and positioning and paddling etc all at the same time. A longer board gives you more margin for error with some of these things (eg positioning and paddling), allowing you to work on those other skills.

dtc wrote:Just to add my 2c - I have a 6'10 hybrid (Addvance like), a 7'4 mini mal and a 9'1 LB.

The 6'10 is just in the size of sometimes having to pump to keep up speed - you cannot rely on the glide.

the 7'4, which is much wider esp around the nose, certainly has much more glide, when you step up from the 6'10. But its got nothing on the LB in the glide sense - with that you feel like you are floating along on air almost.

However, I rarely surf the LB any more because - as with you - I just like the benefits of the shorter boards. I do often have days when there is no obvious reason to choose the 6'10 over the 7'4 or vice versa - I could probably get rid of one of them without too much detriment (there are days when one is better eg the shorter board has much more rocker and much better in low tide steep waves; the longer board is better at high tide and points - but I can surf either in both situations).

In any case, you have to choose whether you want something different because you want to just have something easier to surf which allows you to improve your skills, before you pick up the Addvance again (to be honest, seems like a good choice if you aren't really doing bottom turns etc). Or do you want something that surfs differently to have a different feel - more glide, for example.

If the former (develop skills), then go mid length and go for a funboard or a mini mal (not a big hybrid). Something closer to 7'6 I suggest, but probably no longer (so 7'2 - 7'6). If you go shorter, you aren't getting anything much different to your current board [note: obviously there are differences in how a 6'6 hybrid surfs vs a 7ft mini mal and a some will say they are chalk and cheese. But for the purposes of skill development, I don't think the differences are huge enough to justify buying a second board. Others may totally disagree!].

If the latter (a different experience), I don't feel anything under about 7ft6 will be sufficiently different to be worthwhile. It will be a bit different for sure, but getting a 7ft board (for example) is unlikely to get you into waves that the Addvance will not (keeping in mind how much volume the Addvance has - potentially just as much or more than most 7ft boards). A 7ft mini mal wont give you the endless glide of a proper LB. So go 8ft or above.

Or you could have a think about the issues you are having with the Addvance and really concentrate on picking up the skills eg pumping. However, it is hard to pick up pumping and turning and positioning and paddling etc all at the same time. A longer board gives you more margin for error with some of these things (eg positioning and paddling), allowing you to work on those other skills.

dtc, thanks for the feedback that was very helpful insight. The more I think about the more I'm certain it's just an easier board I want to try vs. a different feel, so you're right I will probably look in the 7'2 - 7'6 range.

Out of the boards I've shown, which do you think would be ideal? It seems the Ellington funboard, Simon Anderson 7'6 (or is this geared more for smaller waves?), Stewart 7'2, Strive 7'6 and 7'6 Mini Magic could all work. The egg would probably fall under your categorization of big hybrid.

Thanks man!

Big H wrote:You have to decide what you're looking for....glide at your weight is only going to come from a longer board....none of those that you have up there are going to give that glide feeling that you get on a longboard....that being said, I would say that all of those except the shorter mini magic are going to be easier to ride than the addvance just due to the extra stability from the length of the board....I don't know how you surf but I would guess that you can catch waves but are sometimes slow getting up, sometimes stand up out of position and thus killing the speed of the board making you miss the best part of the wave or getting into the wave at all.....sometimes you do get up alright but then make too sharp a bottom turn, or aren't going fast enough to make a bottom turn actually work....

Anyway, I'm no pro, not an instructor and am a relative newbie myself, but seeing as how I went through what you did not too long ago, I would recommend the first board, the Ellington Funboard....not too long so that you can start to get the feel of being more careful about your body position on takeoffs but not too penal that you can't have fun and mess up a little but still get away with it....short enough to be able to turn easily, long enough that you can rest your feet on the board if your fitness isn't to the point that you can keep your legs up and not dragging on your paddle outs....it's called a fun board for a reason, has a wide stable nose and tail, is thick and has less rocker than the last board you put up and will come pretty close to feeling like it has some glide when you're paddling in the sweet spot with your legs up and crossed out of the water.

Out of the ones I posted, only this one is still available? It looks pretty good to me, what do you think of the shape / rocker?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/spo/5426724202.html

FYI it's "The Solution" model from Strive Surfboards in Santa Cruz.

Thanks!

enjoy wrote:

Big H wrote:Out of the ones I posted, only this one is still available? It looks pretty good to me, what do you think of the shape / rocker?

The photos don't show the rocker.

waikikikichan wrote:The photos don't show the rocker.

You're right, I'll ask the seller for pics. Am pretty certain this is the model so this could be helpful:

http://boardworkssurf.com/s/solution/

Thanks waikiki

Looks good ( and the description says ) for bigger waves.

waikikikichan wrote:Looks good ( and the description says ) for bigger waves.

I know the description says that, but figured it was probably just the usual marketing talk for this board is so versatile it can handle anything. Do you think the rocker and pulled in nose make it too different from a mini-longboard?

If you want it , stop over thinking it, get out surfing it and enjoy. The board looks suitable for you, what you want and your skill level.

enjoy wrote:Do you think the rocker and pulled in nose make it too different from a mini-longboard?

I thought your looking for something to a bigger version of what your currently riding ? That board seems to be a Fun-Gun or Big Guy board NOT a mini-longboard or mini-tanker. If you want to Noseride and glide in small waves, getting a bigger wider nose ( although some people can easily ride the nose on that ). If you want a board to get into bigger waves, then this should suit.

waikikikichan wrote:

enjoy wrote:Do you think the rocker and pulled in nose make it too different from a mini-longboard?

I thought your looking for something to a bigger version of what your currently riding ? That board seems to be a Fun-Gun or Big Guy board NOT a mini-longboard or mini-tanker. If you want to Noseride and glide in small waves, getting a bigger wider nose ( although some people can easily ride the nose on that ). If you want a board to get into bigger waves, then this should suit.

Yeah I am, mistook the Strive board for a mini-longboard.

Thanks

enjoy wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:

enjoy wrote:Do you think the rocker and pulled in nose make it too different from a mini-longboard?

I thought your looking for something to a bigger version of what your currently riding ? That board seems to be a Fun-Gun or Big Guy board NOT a mini-longboard or mini-tanker. If you want to Noseride and glide in small waves, getting a bigger wider nose ( although some people can easily ride the nose on that ). If you want a board to get into bigger waves, then this should suit.

Yeah I am, mistook the Strive board for a mini-longboard.

Thanks

Though I am not looking to noseride and glide like a longboard in small waves, just want to get a slightly longer board that is easier to surf before I hope back onto my ADDvance, as right now I can surf the ADDvance but don't think I am maximizing my practice with it.