Surfing Waves

Hey guys, I'm currently surfing an 8'8" Andy Jacks Power Point. I can stand on it comfortably and i can sort of control it a bit. I've moved on and started catching greener steeper waves as well (which has led to my pearling quite often). I'm 5'11" and 185 lbs. I was thinking of getting an 8'1" Mctavish carver as it has more rocker, paddles close to my current board, but is easier to turn. Is that too small a progression for me? The guy at the surf shop thinks I should get a 7'6" shane stingray but in when i looked at the profile of the board on their website it said the board was for intermediate surfers and i'm clearly a beginner. Advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

an 8'1 shouldnt be much of an issue. The 7'6 would deffo prove more tricky being a foot shorter.

However it may be better to stick with what you have as perling has a lot to do with weight distribution i.e how you are taking off. Try to take off at a slight angle and position yourself slightly further back on the board. Of course if you are surfing very fast hollow waves/shoredumpers then you might want to find a friendlier beach.

Hope it helps

Just googled both.

If you are asking which of the two I would choose, definitely the stingray. The McTavish will be almost like your board, hence almost the same ride. If you are looking to progress the stingray is a step in the right direction. Also, I read the same info you did, but the biggest one they had on the website was 7ft, so a 7'6" should be a calmer version of an intermediate board. Hope that helps...

Thanks! Will demo the 7'6" as soon as I can. But i'll have to wait for my birthday till I get it so I'll still be using my 8'8" for a while.
As for the beach, I surf in manly and it's supposed to be learner friendly but it does get dumpy at times. specially at low tide. Does anyone know what manly is like in winter?

cheval_fou101 wrote: Does anyone know what manly is like in winter?

I'm manly in the winter

HAHA! for some reason, cold water has the oppostie effect on me.

cheval_fou101 wrote:Does anyone know what manly is like in winter?

A bit colder, a bit darker

Manly - as in Sydney's Northern beaches?
Winter will be better than summer (certainly better than this summer...)
No afternoon sea breeze, and longer period waves, so all good

As for the tide - most of the beaches round your way will be a bit dumpy at high tide, and faster/steeper at low tide, which will feel dumpy to a newbie. So you should maybe be looking around mid-tide for optimum conditions.

Yes! thanks. was worried that it would be above my ability. I'll brave the cold and dark as long as the waves won't kill me.

cheval_fou101 wrote:Hey guys, I'm currently surfing an 8'8" Andy Jacks Power Point. I can stand on it comfortably and i can sort of control it a bit.

sounds to me like you need to stick with the board you have... keep with it till you can count 15-20+ good waves in a 2 hour sesh. when you can control it well then and only then should you be thinking about buying a 2nd board. when you can do that you could drop down to something in the 7ft range... till then loads of time in the water.... paddle hard.. get your paddle fitness right up then dropping down should be (with some practice on a smaller board taking off) easy enough.

I borrowed my mates 7'10" for a couple of weeks then I bought my own 7'4" mini mal. I had that for 4 weeks before I bought a 6'6" Webber Fatburner (6'6" - 20 3/4 - 2 3/4). I was a bit worried each time that I had made too bigger drop in size but I found I had no problems after a couple of waves. I've been surfing every day, sometimes twice a day for the past couple of months. I find the webber isn't that much different to paddle, it's much easier to get out the back and the ride is obviously a lot more responsive which I think is improving my surfing faster than the mini mal did. Don't get me wrong the mini mal was great initially, I just found it harder to duck dive and harder to turn.
Hope this hasn't confused you too much!

thanks. I tried catching a few with a 7 foot hybrid and it was actually a bit easier than the 8 foot minimal that i demoed. The most dificult part was actually getting up quickly as ia am a bit hefty. I'm thinking that i will try for the 15 good wave mark then go down to the 7 footer. thanks again