Surfing Waves

Sorry if you guys have seen this type of thread millions of times.

Hello there, I have just had 5 surf lessons and I'm completely hooked and now I'm looking for a board, I had been surfing the largest board they had which I think was a 8 foot board (Don't quote me on that.), but near the end of the week i was on the shorter board which I found was much better and easier for me as I could turn more which makes sense.

I have looked around and I have seen the magic carpet board which looks very nice but it is out of my price range, I have seen many people saying that the best type of board for a Beginner is a longboard but they have never specified what a Beginner is (is that first time in the water or can just stand up?) I can stand up quite easily and can stay standing up with quite a high level of success. I can sometimes catch a green wave if I'm lucky but i have mostly been surfing the white water but I would like to start paddling out back and getting the bigger waves but I'm a little bit scared, but that's another matter, I'm going to be having my other 5 lessons in august this year if that helps.

If any of you guys/girls can help me at all that would be great!

Also any tips on getting my deep water confidence up‽

P.S.
I'm about 5'6/7 11/12 stone, quite fit but nothing like an athlete.

Congrats on getting hooked!! You like myself are still a beginner so once you accept that everything else becomes easier something 8ft will be about right, don't buy brand new for your first board, your first board is to do all your learning on and will get beat up along the way especially when you're surfing close to the shore! Buy secondhand, get a big old board that let's you catch loads of waves, the more waves the more grins and the quicker you'll learn! Trust me.

Getting out of your depth is a confidence thing and also a gradual one. Get used to just lying on your board and paddling around, if you can do that somewhere you won't get knocked off the board every 5 seconds by a wave great!! Occasionally I found just ditching the board and swimming was a great idea, good to remind yourself it's actually no reason to panic when you come off, so go have a swim every time you're out and see it's no biggie!

Be safe! - it really depends on how comfortable you are in the ocean, learn to be a good waterman and don't go out any further than you can swim back in without a board. I've had a leash break in pounding surf, I was tired but within my limits. Learn your limits, always keep something in reserve.

Learn your break, know where the rips and channels are, surf with others or near others, don't push yourself when you're alone! And most of all.. Above ALL else

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jester wrote:Congrats on getting hooked!! You like myself are still a beginner so once you accept that everything else becomes easier something 8ft will be about right, don't buy brand new for your first board, your first board is to do all your learning on and will get beat up along the way especially when you're surfing close to the shore! Buy secondhand, get a big old board that let's you catch loads of waves, the more waves the more grins and the quicker you'll learn! Trust me.

Getting out of your depth is a confidence thing and also a gradual one. Get used to just lying on your board and paddling around, if you can do that somewhere you won't get knocked off the board every 5 seconds by a wave great!! Occasionally I found just ditching the board and swimming was a great idea, good to remind yourself it's actually no reason to panic when you come off, so go have a swim every time you're out and see it's no biggie!

Be safe! - it really depends on how comfortable you are in the ocean, learn to be a good waterman and don't go out any further than you can swim back in without a board. I've had a leash break in pounding surf, I was tired but within my limits. Learn your limits, always keep something in reserve.

Learn your break, know where the rips and channels are, surf with others or near others, don't push yourself when you're alone! And most of all.. Above ALL else

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you have any recomendations of exact boards?

When I first started I was nervous about going out back or very far from the beach for that matter and for good reason....my arms turned to wet spaghetti after a few hundred meters...get your paddle strength and endurance up, be able to swim in from as far as you go out (can practice on flat days by paddling out to the back and then swimming in while towing your board by the leash....wouldn't do it in a swell unless you want a meet & greet in the back of the head going through the surf zones)....convince yourself that you have reason to be comfortable in the water.....

BTW you're a beginner....nothing wrong with that, so am I....plenty to learn besides being able to stand up in whitewater and on the odd green ankle slapper....I took the hook hard and it just keep sinking in deeper....IMO the bigger the board the better....buy secondhand and sell it off after you're done with it; likely you'll just about break even and you can reinvest in a smaller board if that is the way that you want to surf....the OGs here will tell you to get your skills up on a bigger board and they are absolutely correct....read the threads stickied to the top of the Surfing Lessons forum...one that I read when I first started was the Newbies guide for Newbies:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11999
So much of what he said rang true to my own experiences, questions, issues and concerns....get your skills on a bigger board then go smaller; you'll develop much faster, relatively speaking....

Big H wrote:my arms turned to wet spaghetti after a few hundred meters..

You're doing well, mine only last about twenty feet then I have to sit up and pretend I'm looking for a wave

Sorry no specific boards as I haven't tried them all but I hear nsp are well made and very beginner worthy. I've used a Bic, other people hate them, to be honest if you learn properly it won't make much of a difference at beginner level, what you do need to get right is enough float and stable enough. The most important part of the board is YOU!!

Have a scout around and post pics up on here of the boards you think are good and everyone can chip in with their advice then

Jester wrote:Have a scout around and post pics up on here of the boards you think are good and everyone can chip in with their advice then

Hi Jester,
Thanks for helping me I had a look around and i found this one https://goo.gl/JwYY8S second hand for £100/€139.09, I was wondering if this was a good price?
I think it my be a bit to short though.

To be honest that to me looks perfect (Huge Caveat - I'm a recent beginner too) it comes with it's own bag and I think is just the right length for you, it's a foot and 9" longer than you are tall so perfect I'd say! Just check it over and when you're done check it all over again, you don't want any cracks or damaged fin boxes but if that one's like mine it'll have the screw through fins.

Everyone will give you stick on here for buying a French pen but it does the job and is a huge amount of fun.

Can you get a better board than a Bic? - Yes.
Can you learn a little faster by going 8ft or more? - Yes
But I believe you could manage the 7'3 just fine. There are guys on here with way more experience than me on here so listen up if they say something different. I don't see why not though.

The board in front is 6'10. The one behind is a 9'6". You can see it is nearly twice the area of the smaller board. Go big, bigger than 8' even...consider full size 9'+ mals. You won't outgrow it and you will learn faster. Just look at the differences.

That 6'10 looks really nice Big H! Love the colour how many litres is it do you know?

Surfs(I'm gonna assume you're a guy unless you say otherwise) how many times are you planning on going surfing a month once you get your new board?

Big H is right of course about being easier to learn on something 8' + but then you are only 5'6 and if your instructors were happy to put you on a board shorter than 8' you can't be far off.

Maximising your wave count is what it's all about at the start. You need as much time as possible standing up so as to learn, whatever makes that easier will make you progress faster and like Big H says, if you buy a biggie you can always sell it after for nearly the price you paid for it secondhand assuming you don't trash it!

Jester wrote:That 6'10 looks really nice Big H! Love the colour how many litres is it do you know?

It's 39L plus the extra float being a surf tech. FWIW I'm a strapping 185cm and 84kg. Solid board, paddles like a champ...good float without being too thick...not so good in chop but strong and can take a beating which checked most of the boxes for me.

Weirdly enough although I work in litres I haven't figured out metric at all, still resolutely imperial over here so I'm just gonna take a wild stab and say it's near 6'something and 13stone??!

I haven't a clue.

Spot on Jester , you're not Jester a pretty face.