Is my board too small?

[theleveler]

I just started surfing the beginning of last year and went from a longboard to a fish and then to a shortboard with a swallow tail. I'm just now starting to get good enough on my board to maneuver about a 3-4 foot wave face (finally able to make it up to the lip and back down a couple times). I still have a long, long, way to go but I wonder if I'm losing speed on some of the bigger waves because my board might be a few inches too small...

It's an ANACAPA Tri-fish 6'0" x 9 and 1/4" x 2 and 3/8"

http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboard ... riFish.php

I weigh about 160-165lbs, am 5'10" and when I sit on the board in the water, I notice my elbows dip into the surface. Am I too heavy for this board? Could I have more speed down the line on a bigger board? Or am I fine, and should focus on my technique?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[surfaMIKE]

No its actually quite perfect for you. IMO a shortboard should be 1 or 2 inches taller than you. You need to work more on your technique. Try "gunning" the board to gain speed (when you move the board up and down constantly like a small bottom turn, but just do this alot and you'll gain speed).

You might also be standing too far back on the board, that basically hits the brakes

[crepuscular]

should be right for you size, and yes, bigger board generates more speed unless you know how to 'pump' the board for speed with a shortboard... once you master it you'll be flying through the waves

[surferdude_scarborough]

that board sounds just right for your size.if it helps my everyday shortboard is 5'11 and very thin. when im sitting out back on it im up to my chest in the water let along it touching my elbows. if im not paying attention and a wave comes past before its broken i sometimes pass right through it rather than floating over it. quite funny really. it depends where you are losing speed as to what you are doing wrong. if its that you are not getting enough speed to make it round sections then you need to learn to pump and position yourself in the right place before the section. if however you are losing speed on an open face and the wave slipping you by then you are going to far ahead of the pocket where there isnt enough power in the waves. this wouldnt be as noticeable on a fish or longboard beacuse they can deal with flat sections of waves better than a shortboard. you shold try and work on cutbacks and the like to keep in the pocket where the power is.

[theleveler]

I think I finally got it! Thanks for the advice on "pumping", or "gunning". Got to go out on Saturday and Sunday to catch some of the swell (socal). Pretty walled up, and closing VERY fast, but there were quite a few good corners to snag. I was consistently getting my usual short rides and dropping in and getting closed out on pretty quick. Then I caught this fantastic corner that just seemed to follow me. The lip was spraying right where my right hand was the whole way. Funny... in retrospect I kind of used it as a guide... like a hand rail that I slid my fingers across. I got to go up and down the curling face about 4 times before it began to close out in front of me. Split decision made me decide to try to run up the closing face. Heh.. wave ate my board but I got thrown up pretty high.

I've committed everything about that wave to memory and am probably going to be more selective in choosing the waves I go for in the near future.

Lot of blabbing I know, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys are right... looks like that board can work just fine for me as long as I can get it together and do things right more consistently!


What do you guys think would be the minimum size for me if I wanted a true shortboard... something along the lines of this Rusty board (although I'm definitely not ready to drop that much cash on an Aviso) http://www.avisosurf.com/Rusty6-2.html

Also if I were to get a board that shape it would probably be less forgiving of "less than perfect" conditions than my Anacapa, huh?

[Pornstar]

Well if you want a "real" shortboard you should think of going a couple of inches longer.
The Anacrapa board you are now riding has a wider template with more foam distributed all along the board.
If you ride a "regular" perfomance 6´0 board you would notice a lot of diference in the paddling-catching waves dept. and it will feel more squirrerly.

So if you plan on getting a regular shortboard that would feel and paddle as the one you have got now then definetely go 2 inches longer.

As to the question on how small can you go... well that depends on you and on what you want to achieve.

For example i am nowhere near your skill, i have gotten to the point that i can catch lots of waves and ride down the face trying a big end move at the end of the ride but my cutbacks and carves still suck and very often end in wipeouts and i ride a 6´3 flyer 2 as a regular board and a 5´8 Pod quad for the little crappy ones.
I could have gone smaller on both of these boards yet i feel that going smaller at this moment wouldnt make me perform better while the slightly bigger size helps me catch more waves and feel more stable for trying moves out.

i am planning on going smaller until i kill these 2 boards, in the meantime i have decided to stop blaming the board and focus on improving the rider.

Keep the stoke man and dont feel sorry for the long post, i appreciated your post it reminded me of a couple of nice waves i caught this weekend and of how happy i felt.