Time to ride again

[Jmike20]

Well it's time to get back on the board. Haven't surfed in 10years but just found out I'm moving back to the beach and need a board don't think my 6' shortie will float me anymore since I'm not 15 anymore and 160 lbs. was looking at a 7ft 2 3/4 thick 20 1/8 wide Channel Islands mbb model and was wondering if its a good board and would suit my size?...I'm 6'3 210lbs now. Learned on a funboard and surfed it for about 5 years before I moved on to my 6' shortboard. Kinda looking for that big guy shortboard type. Anyone got any other suggestions also would help. Thanks.

[dtc]

The MBB is fairly high performance (well, so it markets itself as being high performance - never seen it in the flesh). Might not be the best board to start off with to get you back on your feet, so to speak. However, others might be able to give better info on the MBB itself (mathteacher??)

You may even want to start off on a minimal; although its only a guess as to whether you will pick things up again quickly. You might need one or two surfs and be back with the old style; or it might take longer.

Assuming you more or less click back into gear, I reckon what you really want is a board like this one

http://www.grantmillersurfboards.com.au/waterskate.aspx

but of course he is in Australia so not much use. I just linked to it because he has a good description of the kind of board I think is worthwhile.

So more of an 'hybrid' shape than a blown up short board - thick and wide. Reduced rocker.

What about
- 7S fish (is a 'fish' but really only because it has a swallow tail, otherwise its pretty much a hybrid)
- firewire addvance (<- this would be my pick, maybe a 6ft 10 or a 7ft2; if you have the $$)
- any other hybrid shape that is around 7ft or so...
- obviously a custom board

That is not to say a big shortboard isnt the go but it might be more of a second board than the first board back.

Actually, having typed all of the above, my suggestion would be to hire a board, or try a demo board, whether a minimal or a hybrid or a bigger shortboard, and see how you go. If you find it easy then a higher performance board might work; if hard and you are very rusty then there is no point forcing the issue. The hybrid style boards are well liked by many, its not a 'down step' from a shortboard.

edit: should have added - my 'philosophy' is that people should get boards suited to their abilities now/that they can reasonably reach within the next, say, 6-12 months. But this might mean you then need another board in 12 months if you want to push things further (but any board can be used to push performance). Anyway - others are more of the view that you get the board you want to end up on . I suspec there is an age thing - when you are young you can aim to achieve something in 2 years; when old you want to do it right now because in 2 years you might not be able to.

[Jmike20]

Thanks I will look into some hybrid boards also...totally not gonna rush right into a purchase so these ideas at least give me some more to think about.