to step down or step up!

[Billyz]

Hello everyone. Ive just joined this forum due to the great advise i see flying around.

I have a board query, but first a lottle about me. I grew up body boarding the cornish coast each year on holiday, learnt the waves and thoroughly enjoyed the sea. I rode a few boards and stood up easily as a child/teen. Im also a motocrosser and allways said when i cant ride anymore i would surf. 10 years out of the sea and 2 children on i finally got back down to devon and cornwall for four holidays this year.

First holiday i took a 6'10 fish and paddled into some woolacombe surf, popped up no proboem but sunk each time. I then borrowed a 9'6 south point epoxy log. It was 23x3" and i paddle right out the back on a 4ft beach break and surfed the first green wave all the way to the shore! I was super stocked and got the bug. I spent the rest of that week cruising around on the boheamath of a board. Catching green waves and begginung to trim along them. It was a really old epoxy and weighed a ton with a 2+1. I couldnt turn it atall!

I then borrowed a santa cruz 6'4 fish and struggled. Again i could paddle in and pop up but soon sanl and didnt gel with it.

The following trip to newquay i couldnt find a board i wanted, but came across a 7'6" minimal cheap and bought it for me and the wife with a view to it being her board. Its a cheapy epoxy 22"x2 7/8" by Natural Rythem with a thruster set up. That week i was catching 3-4 green waves and starting to trim and gain paddling ability and confidence at fistral.

This week i surfed 5 times at fistral from 3-5'. Strugging to paddle right out the back throught the waves at the staet of the week i now get right out and caught some nice steep greens. I learnt the bottom turn to the left and right and began to play up and down the wave with a few cutbacks and some tight turns. However, ive found my self stood right near the front of the board. Probably 2' in front and 3' behind me. It feels slow but rides the waves and when turning im sinking the rail right under the water.

Im 5'10" and 79kg without a suit. Regular footed and feel like i sirf this board from the front foot. The forst time i sirfed it i could turn it on a dime but now i cant.

So i feel i might need somethng shorter but i really dont have the knowldege to make a decision

Im.moving close to newquay ina month and want to maximize my fun in the water and if i buy another board it will be from a local shaper

[dtc]

What do you mean by standing right near the front? A board of that length you turn by putting weight over the fins, which might (will) require you to physically move your back foot backwards for the turn, not just stand in the spot you landed after popping up. Going shorter doesnt change this concept of weight over the fins, it just might mean your foot is a bit closer to the fins to start with.

If you want a shorter board then there are plenty to suggest; but from the sounds of it you have a technical hitch rather than a board hitch.