Surfing Waves

Okay, I'm a beginner surfer and am looking to buy my first board. And that's where I need your advice.
First a little about me: I'm 6'5, 215 lbs, in pretty good shape, and fairly athletic with good balance. I live in Lima, Peru where there are all kinds of waves in near proximity from beginner to advanced.
I've been renting a 9-foot longboard, and am pretty comfortable on it already. So, I've done a lot of reading on the internet and talking to guys at the beach, the instructor primarily. I was kind of thinking of getting an 8-foot funboard, which as I understand would give me a lot of the ease of a longboard but with some more maneuverability. The guy who was teaching me told me he could get me a slightly used 7'6" board for $400.
There are some good shapers here, and I can pretty much get a brand new board for $450-$500.
Given my height and weight, what are some of the concerns I should be considering when buying?
Also, would you consider the jump from 9' to 7'6" drastic? The last thing I want to do is get a board that's too small.
I'm sure there are lots of variables I'm leaving out, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

given your height and weight i would stick to something in the 9ft range for now. Buy second hand and $400 is too much for a secondhander you should beable to pick summin decent up for under $200 - although im not sure what the second hand market is like in peru

Thanks for the reply. The cheapest used board I can find so far in good condition is about $350. Anything cheaper and you're looking at something that's been pretty beat up.

As far as the 9 footer is concerned, my thinking was that as I improve, I'll be looking for something with more maneuverability, thus the 7'6"-8'. First, will that size make much difference from a 9'? Or does my size automatically confine me to longboards for life?
Alternatively, can I get a shaper to design a 7'6" - 8' board with a bit more flotation?

Any more comments would be appreciated.

hello mate
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a longboard is great if you have a car but if you dont you should get a funboard, its a steep walk back up to miraflores with a longboard and the bridge is A nightmare with a big board. , you should be able to find one for around 250$ second hand , Longboards are great but if you crave sharper turns you will probably be wanting to go shorter after surfing with a longboard all depends what budget you are on, how often you surf and if you are wanting to progress to shorter boards. If you surf everyday here on a funboard, after 4 months you will probably want to get a smaller board. But if you think you prefer the surfing style of longboards get one of them. The longboards and funboards hold their price well here so you can always sell them easily when you want to progress to shorter boards. Hope this has been useful. Any questions just ask

hello mate
forgot to mention my mate can rent u a liquidshredder longboard for cheaper than the guys at the beach , or if you want some people to surf with we go everymorning at 7 if you want to tag along,
ben

I have a car, so no problem there. I live and work up in La Molina to so I'm not sure if the 7am thing would be a frequent event for me because of the traffic. Most likely on the weekends. I think I've settled on buying a new longboard (9 foot--that's what I've been renting and I'm pretty comfortable on it). Prices seem to range from 500-600 US. I've settled for the longboard because of my size, basically (6'5", 215 pounds). I'm tempted by the idea of a funboard, but I'm just not sure I'll have enough floatability with it. Any thoughts on that? One other thing, which beach do you and your buds surf at? Cheers.

So here's what I ended up with and I'm very pleased. I had the chance to sit down with shaper Wayo Whilar and we came up with this longboard. 9'2" 23" 3". I have a strong feeling this is going to last me a long time. Thanks to those who responded and especially Wayo. u da man!

That's a sick board man! Congrats on the new purchase

Nice looking stick!

Thanks. But waiting a couple weeks for the board to cure is KILLING ME!!!! Ah well, as they say, "pleasure delayed is pleasure doubled." Cheers.

Tell me about it, Still waiting for my new longboard then I have to let it sit!

A seriously sweet-lookin' stick!

Or you could not wait for it to cure like I just did with my newest board, it's just that you'll have lots of little dings on top after the first sesh

I picked it up on the day they finished it. They told me to wait 15 days from then. Is that pretty much a standard time frame? Or should I wait longer?

Opinions on that vary from one day in a hot car, to a week, 2 weeks, or even 4-6 weeks. I think it depends also on the board and its glassing.

I'd listen to your shaper who knows how that board was glassed and the needed curing time.

NoobinPeru,
that is a beautiful board. It looks like it'll surf very well. Thanks for posting a photo. It'd be cool if you can post another photo of you with the board on the beach or in the water on your first adventure.

Your board is WAY BETTER than a fun board. You have to be more aggressive on funboards than on longboards to get the funboard to work well. Either that, or you need more powerful waves. Saw this with my wife when she was learning to surf. She got to a point with her funboard, but then was not progessing well. So, I took her funboard out twice to figure out how to help her. Realized she would be better off on a long board. Sent her out on mine and she was like a new person. I bought a longboard for her a few days later.