Surfing Waves

Greetings everyone,

I'm a beginner-intermediate surfer that's been spending the last few months getting into the water after a fairly long hiatus from surfing. My first surfboard was a 9ft+ longboard. After riding this for a while and learning the basics, I decided that this board was too bulky and dropped down to a 6'10 shortboard. The current dimensions on this board are 6'10 x 19 3/4 " x 2 5/8". As for me I'm about 6ft tall and 190 pounds. I'm able to paddle out and catch waves on this board (usually surf waist the shoulder high), but I'm not convinced that this board is the right fit for me. I still have some problems standing up quickly when I catch a wave, and my first instinct is that I would be better off with something shorter and wider? Maybe even some type of fish surfboard? Any ideas on what type of board would be good for me? Usually surf around manhattan beach and huntington. Thanks!

Well fishes are a lot more unstable than a regular board. I'm sure the board is fine and what needs improvement is your wave reading ability and pop up.

gates773 wrote:current dimensions on this board are 6'10 x 19 3/4 " x 2 5/8".... I'm about 6ft tall and 190 pounds.... I still have some problems standing up quickly when I catch a wave... Maybe even some type of fish surfboard?

Sounds like you just need to stick at it and get a little faster to me. A fish won't help much, as they're designed to be loose (ie wobbly).
Your 6'10 isn't particularly wide or thick for someone at your level, so you might be a bit better off going a touch wider (21") and a touch thicker (2 3/4") with a wider outline (more rounded at the nose), but going shorter at this stage will just make life harder.

My advice is to stick with the 9ft board a bit longer it is not to bulky for you , getting your skills up beyond the basics is more needed. when you can really throw the longer board around and work the wave well then start down sizing, IMO with a 6'10" you are just going to frustrate yourself!

Why do you think shorter and wider will help? Just wondering your thought patterns to help offer advice - that said, I totally agree with the others, you should be going bigger rather than shorter.

Hey guys thanks for the help. The move to a shortboard was more of a personal preference to make some things easier for me such as bringing the board out, duck diving, less nosediving when catching a wave, some manuverability, etc... Figure going wider might make it more stable, but I've still been enjoying the shortboard.

Nosediving is not related to length, going shorter wont cure that issue. Duck diving is related more to volume than length; so a shorter board will help that but has other adverse consequences eg harder to paddle/catch waves etc.

I guess the bottom line is that everything in a board is a trade off. Longer = more stable and easier to paddle, but harder to manouvere and doesnt fit in the car. Wider = more stable and more volume, but greater volume = harder to duck dive. etc etc You (and all surfers) need to pick the board that has the most benefits and least amount of trade offs for your particular skill level.

For me surfing is about catching waves so I focus on a board that allows me to catch a lot of waves at my skill level (and fitness level) and pop up and ride those waves. The trade off is that I'm probably surfing a bigger board than I 'could' were I willing to catch less waves and have shorter surf sessions.

If you think your current board works well enough, stick with it; if you are struggling then a bit longer and probably certainly a bit wider will help significantly.