Surfing Waves

Hi there,

I am new to this forum and about to get my first surfboard and just wanted to ask some questions
I ve been surfing couple of times in bali and sydney (bondi) with 9ft or 8ft foam boards and found it pretty ok, since i am doing a lot of wakeboarding
I will be surfing more often now around sydney, NSW or australia in general and asked a surfshop for some advise...they suggested me to go for a mini mal around 7ft 2in!
Now I found those 2 boards for the price range I am looking for:

1. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/331084487592 ... 1423.l2649

2. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111236352643 ... 1423.l2649

where exact is the difference between those two, since the first one is a "fish" and the second one a minimal, although the length,width and thickness are pretty much the same...or is the first one more like a long fish pretty similar to a minimal?
Any advise from u guys will be much appreciated!

ah...and i m about 174cm and 55kg

cheers guys

Firstly, welcome.

Secondly, 174cm and 55kg? Are you a teenager? The reason I ask is that teens can pick things up quicker than us old guys and so board recommendations are slightly different; but on the other hand you want to make sure you get a board that lasts a few years as you get heavier.

In terms of the boards, both look ok beginners boards but the mini mal is much more suitable. A 'fish' has lots of meanings, but nowdays is generally just used to describe a board with a 'swallow tail' (if you look at the tail/end of the board, you can see it has two points like a swallows wings). However, the narrower/pointy nose will make it harder to catch waves, whereas the rounded larger nose of the mini mal is more stable. Hence the mini mal suggestion.

I would normally suggest going a bit longer, say around 7ft6 ish, to start off, and a touch wider. The longer the board the easier to paddle, both getting out to the wave and (more importantly) paddling into and catching the wave. A wider board is more stable and helps with the paddling (as the board is naturally more bouyant). A shorter board is more mavouverable but less stable and harder to paddle. So there is a trade off. You can learn on a shorter board but it will take longer and be harder.

Something like this would possibly be a little bit better, as its just a little bit wider (but is more expensive)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Surfboard-OL ... 4abdcbf34f

That said, all of the above boards are mass produced 'pop out' boards. Nothing wrong with the concept (in my opinion) but they are produced to a price, not to a quality. So there may be issues with quality of glassing or fins or whatever; on the other hand there may not. I dont know any of the manufacturers mentioned. The billow board, for example, is $430 package; given that a board bag is usually $100 on its own and a leg rope is $40 and the fins are about $30 to a wholesaler, its not much for a board. On the other hand, it does claim 6+6 glassing (which is good). It may be heavy, or it may be indestrucdible.

Being in Sydney there are a lot of boards available second hand that will also be suitable eg

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/7ft-8in-Mini ... 2586aa4578

(gumtree will probably have a lot as well)

So, in summary:
- go longer rather than shorter
- go wider rather than narrower
- a mini mal/mal shape, with the rounded nose, is better than something with a pointy nose
- shorter is harder to learn on
- if you get into surfing and get to the stage of looking at manouverability and performance, I doubt you will continue on any of these board; you will buy a new one. So get a board good for learning, not a board you think will suit your skill level in a few years
- dont ignore the second hand market

And that fully covers it as a comprehensive answer.
dtc has distilled hundreds of similar post into one prime piece of advice