Surfing Waves

Hi all,
Been surfing for a year on a 7'9" BIC minimal with a frequency of 1 surf trip (5 days) every 2 months. I surf in South Carolina or Florida (East Coast USA) which means crappy beach breaks 1-3ft in size, sometimes mushy and peeling, sometimes pitching, always medium-poor quality. 29 yrs old, 145lbs, 6ft tall, good physical shape, bad paddling endurance, excellent burst paddling power. I am looking to buy a second board. I am on a tight budget, but not in a hurry.

My current ability:
- Can get out to the back and surf green waves down the line.
- Can do a basic, slow bottom turn backside and front-side.
- Can trim up and down the board for speed changes and occasional pseudo hang five (no noseriding though).
- Can trim basic turns.
- Cannot carve.
- Can turtle.
- Cannot duckdive.

My goals:
- Start surfing rail to rail to gain speed.
- Do bottom turns into top turns, not just bottom turns down the line.
- Learn top turns and cutbacks.
- Be able to surf steeper waves.
- Learn duckdiving.

My questions:
1) Is my board holding me back, or can I really learn these things on my current board?
2) If the answer to the above is yes, what's the biggest size/shape board that will allow me to achieve my goals?
3) When doing 'volume calculators' on surfshop websites, even the beginner level advises me to get a board ~5'9" for my weight, and the board sizes ~6'3" are supposedly for someone weighing around 200lbs. What are the negative effects of having too much volume? Roughly where will I start having these negative effects?
4) The description of a fish sounds perfect -- lots of buoyancy, easy to catch waves in crappy conditions. These generally run very small though so I am not sure if these are a good idea. What are the downsides of getting a fish?
5) For a shortboard, how big can I go before the board will not be able to easily achieve my goals. What are the downsides to getting a very big/fat shortboard?
6) I have strong kicking in swimming and want to be able to use my kicking power when catching waves. What size board would be too big to kick?

Thanks in advance.

I'm going to give you two answers...

1. the easiest transition board, that will still be a bit of a challenge - a 6ft10 (or maybe 7ft) hybrid (or 'fish') board. These are wider than 'high performance boards', thicker rails, straighter outline but with narrower noses than mals. eg 7s superfish, firewire dominator, pufferfish and 200 others. Upside is easier transition but you will be able to do plenty of things and learn a lot, can still catch waves where you surf (might be a bit harder); downside is that the volume probably means difficult to duckdive at your weight. But really that is the only downside, other than if you want to end up shortboarding you will have to buy another board in a few years.

2. smaller board around 6ft6 or 6ft4 but a fish, so not a performance shortboard. Harder transition, query whether too hard given your limited surfing time. Probably cheaper than (1) because you can more easily find them 2nd hand. Possibly can duck dive. eg NSP fish (probably not the best choice, but as an example of sizing)

So really (as usual) you have the choice between easy (easier) transition which may be a temporary one (ie several years) before you move onto another board; or a harder (too hard?) transition

Personally I would definitely go for option 1. This is because

- you dont surf enough to want to spend a long time trying to have a big jump in skills - it may mean you spend 4 or 5 trips not catching many waves at all, which is a whole year's worth of surfing lost
- you surf mushy waves, the smaller board will make it even harder
- you will stuggle to improve given the period of time between surfs; and you never know if the conditions will be working anyway
- you are coming off a bic minimal, so you will find that a good mid length hybrid board will be a revelation without needing to go really short
- you can do an awful lot on a mid length
- except duck dive...

Ignore the surf shop calculators about volume and so forth. At 145lb most of those calculators are going to assume you are a teenager, to be honest. Your Bic has a volume of 58L; going down to even 45L is an almost 30% reduction in volume. So I wouldnt go below 40L at the outside. Volume isnt everything anyway - the change in board shape will have a much bigger impact.

have a read of this thread
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=21919

and particularly note dantastic's comment about 1/2 down

As to whether its you or the board - blame the board. After several years of surfing its absolutely necessary to get a new board. Then it becomes every year, then every 6 months...But, seriously, if you find yourself comfortable on your current board and want a new one, get one. Its only those people who surf a longboard once and then buy a 6ft shortboard that are getting it wrong. A sensibly chosen new board is always worthwhile

As to kicking on a shortboard - its a subject of debate. Most people dont do it or only do it right at the point of catching the wave; plenty of people reckon it creates more issues than it solves. If you google the issue there are plenty of 'discussions' for your elicitation