Surfing Waves

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum although I've been stalking the forum for a while . I started surfing in July and I surf once a week (2-4hrs depend on my grumpy girlfriend). I use a 8' wavestorm board. Our beach breaks usually 1-3ft. I can catch most of the small waves. I keep getting nose dive or flip off the board if the wave is breaking too fast. One more problem I have is I can easily slip off the board while paddling (I can balance it with my 2 feet wrap the rail of the tail, but my feet would touch the water and it's not effective paddling). It doesnot happen if I wear wetsuit though, only when I wear rashguard. I'm practicing turning and angling the board while catching wave. Any tip would be appreciated.

I'm thinking about buying a 6’10" x 21 5/8" x 2 5/8" ($420) or 7'2" x 21 3/4" x 2 5/8" ($440) epoxy funboard for my first transition. According to the guide, 6'10 should be ok for me but according to the suggestions I read here 7'2 or 7'6 would be the choice. So i'm a little confused. I'm 24, 5'7 148lbs male. Is this gap too high? is $420-440 ok for the price?

Thanks all in advance

While the wavestorm may not be the best board in the world, the problems you are having aren't related to the board, it's you skills that are lacking. The paddling problem is probably that you are paddling wrong, when you paddle, the board shouldn't rock back and forth. It should stay flat and stable while your arms stretch out and pull back. The nose dive and flipping off the board is only because you don't know how to surf yet. So getting a new board isn't going to solve your problem however if you are serious about surfing then a new board might be in order. You might stick with the wavestorm till you get the skills needed. But if you get a new board, getting one shorter than 8 feet will only add to the difficulty of learning to surf.

Thanks oldmansurfer! Just one more question. I damaged the wavestorm's rail when I put it on the roof of my car. I'll post some picture when I get home. Is it ok for the board to have ding on the rail size of strap's width? It still floats fine with me on it though. I'll probably stick with it till I master all the basic techniques as you suggest.

Can you post a picture of it? Most likely the damage won't matter too much

If you haven't waxed the deck, maybe that's why you're slipping without a wetsuit. No need to wax up a lot like a normal hard board. Just put a bar of wax on the thin edge and make some hash marks, like Wolverine claw marks. Some where your chests lays and where you back foot should be.

Here is the dings. There are several smaller dings like that along the rail.
I've never used wax before. What wax should I use? I know there is base coat and top coat.

A little bit of exploration of the dings will help, the blue part only has surface creases no worries there.
get your finger nail and scratch at the damage on the white part of the board, if you only get paint particles then the damage is only cosmetic, if you scratch up fibre particles then it could be more substantial.
Solar epoxy resin will fix it as long as you haven't severely compressed the foam.
If the foam was severely compressed the the blue part may well have been separated with a fracture line in the harder plastic base.
I Imagine the damage was caused by tying the board on too tightly .
I would suggest broad straps rather than rope or elastic straps, most people are capable of pulling tie ons too tight on soft board, even regular boards can be damaged by over tightening.

A few more tips, you probably won't need a base coat as the "non" slip surface will take the wax easily, just match the wax type to you water temperature and wax as suggested by Waikikikichan.
You need to spend more time on this board before your progress to another board.
You need to get your grumpy girlfriend surfing or look for a trade in to one who does.
Strangely the grumpier she gets the more likely one of two scenarios will happen;
You will capitulate and stop surfing
or you will continue surfing to avoid grumpiness and a new relationship will be required..
Uncle Jaffa's advice for the potentially lovelorn surfer to be
Quite few of the forumites have taken option 2, the former forumites who have taken option 1 have never been heard from again.

jaffa1949 wrote:Strangely the grumpier she gets the more likely one of two scenarios will happen;
You will capitulate and stop surfing
or you will continue surfing to avoid grumpiness and a new relationship will be required..
Uncle Jaffa's advice for the potentially lovelorn surfer to be

Hahahahahahaha......almost got it right except for that new relationship part....maybe a new one for her but the surfer is deeply involved in said relationship already....

Go surfing as early in the day as you can, no more than 90 min to 2hrs, come home and spend the rest of the day making up for it. If you are lucky, she might not even have finished a lazy breakfast. If you have young kids it's more perilous

For the wax, as Jaffa says, wax is created to work best in certain water temps. Base wax is usually just a wax with a high temp rating (won't melt) and the top wax is one with the right rating for your water. But skip the base coat, just find the right one.

He could be unlucky and have both a wavestorm and a home storm
Hope he only has the wave storm

jaffa1949 wrote:You need to get your grumpy girlfriend surfing or look for a trade in to one who does.
Strangely the grumpier she gets the more likely one of two scenarios will happen;
You will capitulate and stop surfing
or you will continue surfing to avoid grumpiness and a new relationship will be required..
Uncle Jaffa's advice for the potentially lovelorn surfer to be
Quite few of the forumites have taken option 2, the former forumites who have taken option 1 have never been heard from again.

Hahaha. Good advice uncle Jaffa! But she actually cares for me because I got my skin all burned when I got overexcited and surfed for 5hrs+ . I think I will keep them both I managed to get her to play boogie board but she doesn't know how to swim so she only play with the white water

Go surfing as early in the day as you can, no more than 90 min to 2hrs, come home and spend the rest of the day making up for it. If you are lucky, she might not even have finished a lazy breakfast.

I wish it is that easy. She wants to walk at the beach so I have to take her with me everytime I go Lucky me I get a Friday off every 2 weeks and she DOESNOT so I can surf more on the day

Anyway, thanks all for helping out, I will try it this weekend