Surfing Waves

Hi everybody,

Just looking for some advice and personal experiences on next board down. I'm 6ft and 12 stone and generally get out around once a week, I'm currently using a 7'10 hybrid, been surfing 2 years or so and have this board around a year and a half, I feel that I'm at the stage to get something offering a bit more performance as I'm kind of stuck at the stage where I'm surfing green waves fine but cant really get fast enough to try any quick turns or anything and I struggle on the bigger days trying to duckdive etc. Ive been at this stage a longtime now and havent been able to progress so I'm hoping something short will help me along the way. I plan on holding onto the hybrid for a while anyway so if I struggle too much I can head out on that to keep the confidence up. So the reason I'm posting is because I asked the question a while back and I got a some replys suggesting a fattish shortboard around the 6'10 size so thats what I had in my head but when I contacted a shaper and told him my thinking he recommended against this and said to just knock a few inches of and drop down to a 7'4 or thereabouts. My guts telling me a 7'4 wont be much different to what I'm on at the moment and wont really cut it but I'd hate to go against the shapers advice and wind up dissappointed. I'm hoping to get something short enough to allow me to do proper turns and duck dive easier but not so short as to make the transition too hard. Was looking at some fish but i believe they would be a bad idea for bigger surf?.also considered a second hand webber pulse, 6'9, or something similar size and shape from shaper...any advice or personal experiences would be great, just to know what anyone else found worked. Thanks a million...
.....oh yea I have recently tried a couple of shorter boards for quick sessions on holidays, a 6'2 which was a nightmare and a 6'6 fish which I managed a couple of waves on. Thanks all!!

Hi BB i just get the feeling that it's not the board I went through your other post and I think you may be at that time where you recognise the need for speed to amp into turns but you don't know how to get the drive.
But just so I don't put that tangent unnecessarily post a picture of your hybrid. My thinking is that if you can't get the speed out of a 7' 10" ,the 7' 4'' is not an unreasonable suggestion with a different profile, you will probably struggle more on a 6' 10" unless it has more volume, it doesn't have to be width it can be thicker to give the volume. As you found out with the 6' 2" and what was the fish like?.

About lengths etc, the profile rails and side shape of the board determines a more of what the board can do in turns than length, so your hybrid picture would help us help you.
In the mean time from the posts of your progress, I think you might get a little more speed if you put some weight on your front foot as you come out of your bottom turn you might step forward slightly or just put the pressure on it, the wave will tell you whats workable.
The stage you are in (you've had the hybrid now for about twelve months) higher speed should be the priority.
Where too do you mostly surf? Because that too will determine the type of board that is most suitable.
Lets us know and good luck.

If you are going to keep your 7'10 hybrid, then I would go ahead and get a shorter board that you can duck dive and progress on. You can always grab your hybrid if the surf gets small, or the shortboard is to difficult to ride. Maybe go 6'10"-7'2 shortboard. Your other option of geting another hybrid 7'4" will be some what different, but does not sound like that is what you are looking for. Remember you have to put some time into being able to ride a short board, but its fun learning.

Good Luck!

Thanks a million for replies guys,
Jaffa the 6'2 wasn't very wide or thick, more like a shortboard with a full nose, but the 6'6 was a bit wider and thicker and much easier/floatier,. I think however I will be taking the good advice here and from shaper, I misunderstood the shaper a bit at the start, he's suggesting a board similar to the hybrid but with a narrower nose/shoulder and different concave profile so should allow more performance and easier duckdiving?I think 7'2 with these adjustments will be good and will allow me a step closer.. I'm currently still surfing beaches but desperate to start getting out on the reefs, purely just for wave quality, I'm watching reefs with nice peeling walls breaking in the same spot while I'm still surfing beaches with short rides with big close out sections, soon!.In the mean time I'm going to work hard on getting my speed up, been reading posts and watching vids and I think I need to work on my bottom turn to get my speed up, on big days I fly but on the mid days I think I need to exact my bottom turn and make it more fluid to come out and continue on quick, will post the new board when it happens, thanks again for the advice!

BB-GLACK wrote: I'm currently still surfing beaches but desperate to start getting out on the reefs, purely just for wave quality, I'm watching reefs with nice peeling walls breaking in the same spot while I'm still surfing beaches with short rides with big close out sections, soon!. advice!

The crowd screams "NOW".
Pick a day when the reefs aren't too daunting or crowded paddle out and try yourself, it is really hard to get any rhythm on short shorebreaky waves, you need to get a quick reaction time for those. If you can pick an uncrowded point type break for your stance a left or a right, with a little controlled power and see how you go.
Failing that look along a long sandy beach there may be an uncrowded bar that has a bit of a longer run try that.
One reason why Malibu and Noosa are so popular is that the wave shape and length is fairly constant and you can start to get to the timing of surfing and turns etc unfortunately the other three hundred thousand learners in the water make it an LA freeway experience and those who can drive, show no mercy.

Just an update, thanks Jaffa for the advice..another example here of how your mind can hold you back when trying to progress with surfing. I think I had in my head that I need a shorter board and cant get proper turns on my current board, I've been stuck without any real progress for a long time now but since posting and hearing the advice I went back with a different attitude and decided I have to be able to get it on the 7'10, the immediate difference was unreal, I've had around 6 sessions in a row now nailing it!, I've been just exaggerating everything I was doing, digging deeper, using my weight a lot more front to back when turning, leaning into it way more and the difference is crazy, its like an instant completely different level of surfing!! Great conditions this weekend and I was out in super clean shoulder/head high waves, getting dug in and back up to the lip over and over, sweet top turns too, front and backside, f!!ckin awesome all probably hugely exaggerated in my own head of course but a huge jump in the right direction anyway, haha I'm sure I'd be dragged down a notch if I saw footage but in my head I'm a hero . Instead of my old slow, curvey, zig zag lines I was flyin straight out of the first bottom turn back up to the lip to drop back down again, staying close to the pocket instead of straight out onto the fat shoulder section... Haha NOW I know ill be ready for my shorter board when it comes,..its funny now looking back to the last few months at how close I was, I just needed to give it that little bit more!!..Thanks again for the advice,,..sorry by the way I know this thread is gone a little off surf hardware!

It hasn't gone off thread, the hardware cannot work without the appropriate software!
A demonstration if you please, take one surf board or multiple surfboards of your choice, choose a surfspot and conditions that are suitable?
take the hardware to the shoreline one or however many leave them there now, the scientific part, OBSERVE, which board goes and does what you are wanting it to do.
Any of the modern range of boards can do just about everything that modern surfers wish them to do.
IT IS THE SURFERS WHO CAN OR CAN"T DO THE SURFING.

Surfing is so different to all other board sports in that you have to catch your wave and move with it all other board sport you are standing and you point yourself down slope , you move through gravity and use gained speed to move against gravity and the medium doesn't move.
Surfing you can use gravity or the waves stored energy to move on the wave and contrary to the wave and gravity.
Be kind to yourself, realise it is not as easy as you assume as an onlooker.
But you have realised the truth of it now.