Surfing Waves

Hey im looking at buying a new second hand board of ebay.

i have 5-6 years of surfing experience, but only at 2-3 weeks a year, so 12-18 weeks surfing experience.

Recently when i was at the south west of france i was catching unbroken 2-3ft waves quite well with my 6"4 nsp fish.

i am 150 lb and 6"2, i was struggling to duck-dive it well enough to get completely under the wave, so i kept getting pushed back further to the shore.

I really want to get a proper short board which is around 6"0-6"4. what would you reccomend?

I could still be persuaded to purchace a longboard instead but the shortboards just look allot better/more fun.

Thankyou, Ollie.

Ollie I think you have the cart before the horse in your thinking!
I'll explain and you can see what you think!
The NSP is fine for your weight and height, I would have suggested a a beginner that you go longer but that doesn't matter ATM.

Duck diving is a skill to practice and practice , you certain will be able to do it with the current board refer to the first half of this sentence!

You can go shorter but for quite a while you will be having less fun as you will be catching less waves .

Boards do not possess any skill , they help you use the skill you have developed. You could get a lot more capable on your current board and then the switch to a performance board will be much easier.
Still it comes down to doing what you want how you want!
Tell us how you go!

thanks for the quick reply! il just keep practising on my current board then!

Hei dude!

I have similar weight (1.85m 75kg) and have a similar board. I have an 6.6 egg 42 liters vs 39 of your NSP.

Let me tell you, it is possible to duck dive it. But you need to have excellent timing. We won't get as deep as the pros with low volume shortboards, but still, we can get a bit under the wave and use its volume to shoot us the other side.

I see the wave will brake in my face at a distance, grab firmly the rails near the nose, press hard down until your arms are all extended underwater. Then the wave is very near, get my head down, at the same time push hard with your feet in the traction pad, you will do a sort of curve and end up in the other side, grabbing hard your rails, like a rocket through the other side. It not a proper duck dive but its better than getting hammered. This of course depends on the size of the whitewater coming at you.

Are you able to carve and do cutbacks with your nsp? Do you catch most waves and you feel you "could" do more aggressive turns? If yes, then you can start thinking on a lower volume board. I am myself thinking to get another one, one for the very small waves and another a bit lower volume for the bigger waves... remember a short board is not a fish and is narrower, maybe a big shortboard could do it...

thanks
gianni