making my first surfboard

[surf patrol]

Hi guys,

My surfing experience is 1 week surf lessons 4 hours/ day in Lanzarote, 4 days surf lessons 4 hours/ day in Costa Rica, and 1 week surf lessons 2 hours/ day in Biarritz. I could stand up on the board from the first day of surfing and can ride along left & right handers and carve a little and pump (only ever used foamies and mini mals (7'2 -> 7'6)).

So I'm going to start taking surfing seriously now as I want to break through from beginner to intermediate. My plan is to buy a cheap 2nd hand board, and make my own board. This is for both money reasons (its a lot cheaper) and because I want to learn how to make boards so I can do it for myself and my friends in the future (not professionally however). Plus I think it would be useful to be able to make/ repair boards myself.

Anyway, I've done a bit of research and feel that my 2 boards should be a square bottom funboard, and a retro fish.

I weight 160 lb and am 5'11 height and am 24 yrs old. Would it be best to buy a small fish (6'5-6'8) 2nd hand and make the funboard (6'8-7'0) or get a larger fish and make my own short board (6'6) to play with while i get better on the larger board?

Thanks for any advice!

[kitesurfer]

Retro fish imo should never be more than 6ft2. Remember the original design for a fish board was a knee board and 5ft6 i think. Big swallow tails will represent a challenge for a first time shaper and glasser so my advice would be to start simple. In fact if you can get a preshaped blank which will come 80%shaped and finish it off. This way you will have all the fun and challenge of shaping/glassing and will likely end up with a board that will probably work.

KS