Surfing Waves

Hi everyone,

As promised in my introductory thread, I've come looking for board advice. I first learned to surf in the summer in Spain, and have surfed a couple of times since coming home in Ireland. I've just returned from a week at a surf camp in Fuerteventura in the Canaries and am looking to buy my first board.

I spoke to my surfing instructor on the last day and asked him about buying a board - I was told I had to buy one if I want to continue surfing. He said I should be looking for a 6'0 in and around the 30/32.5l volume range, maybe pushing it up to 35l but he focused more on 32.5 or so. He said to check a volume calculator online to make sure and he seems to be spot on, as long as I'm slightly optimistic about my abilities (ie; putting myself at the top end of 'novice' or the bottom end of 'weekend warrior').

I'm 19, around 12-12.5 stone (75-80kg), around 5'11 in height. I don't get to surf a huge amount at the minute, but in September I'm hoping to move to San Sebastián for a year where I will get to surf as often as I want. I'm looking at going away this summer as well to work, and my preference would be somewhere I could surf as well.

My instructor told me to go to a shop when I want to buy a board to ask for advice and they will guide me. I'm asking here first though about new v second hand boards, as I want impartial advice that isn't going to be skewed by the desire to sell a €500 board over a €200 board. Am I better off going for a brand new one? And if so, getting one made by a shaper here is around €450, which is cheaper than a lot of the boards I have seen on my quick searches online, so surely I would be better just getting one shaped? At the minute, getting to surf for me would cost around about €120 plus food for travel/rental/accommodation for two days, with the board and wetsuit rental costing around half of that. So by going three times in the next three or four months, I would spend around €150-180 on rental alone, whereas with a board I would obviously have an upfront cost, but would be saving myself money in the long run as I would buy a board eventually.

So yeah, essentially I'm asking, is there any benefit to brand new?

Thanks,

Emerald

mmmm. I'm 80kg and, as an inconsistent surfer, would struggle below 40L without adding a lot of outside surfing fitness work plus a few years of experience. As a beginner inconsistent surfer, I can't imagine why your instructor suggested 33L. That's probably a reasonable board once you have surfed for a few years.

The online calculators are a bit all over the place - if you use the Firewire one http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/volum ... -selector/ it will tell you something around 60L, which seems much more sensible (keep in mind that some makers don't make big mals or mini mals or funboards, so their volume calculator always ends up suggesting volume that happens to coincide with a board they make...)

However, your instructor did see you surf, which I haven't. What were you surfing during your surf camp? How did you find that board - easy, hard, about right?

Most people will suggest getting at least a mini mal (7ft6 or so, give or take) for now and surf that (or even a 9ft and surf that). If you do go somewhere that allows you to surf a lot, then you will know when you are ready to buy a shorter board (if you want to buy a shorter board) and can get it at the time.

However, others will say 'go short now and just work on it'.

I'm in the former camp

As to new or second hand, there is no real benefit in getting a new board if you are looking at a 'starter' board (mini mal) which you then will use to get your skills before transitioning to a shorter board. That said, there are some good quality not too expensive new boards around that will suit - the Torq funboard/mini mal comes to mind. But at the end of the day if the price is much the same as a custom, then get a custom.

Yeah I was shocked when he said 6'0, when he elaborated on it he said that it used to be the case that you had to get something like a mini-mal and work your way down, but that these days with higher volume shorter boards, you could buy one of them and work away. With the volume, he originally didn't specify, just saying 'a lot of volume', but when I mentioned 50 or 60 he said no.

I started on an 8, got moved down to a 7, the smallest they had, after half an hour. Not too sure on the dimensions but it obviously had a decent amount of volume. I found it easy to deal with, on the smaller days with no real waves I was walking along the board pretending it was a long board and trying to get my toes over the front in the whitewater. The main criticism that I was given was that I tried to turn too fast rather than gradually, and to put in the gym time before I came back so as not to wreck myself on the breaks with long paddles. I was in the so called "intermediate" group, so basically learning turns and cutback (I'll point out at this stage that I was nowhere near cutback standard, although I'm fairly confident with another week of practice that I wouldn't have been far away).


Yeah I was thinking that the second hand would probably be the same, the problem was that there were very few Mini-mals coming up that I could find, and all of them were at prices not far off shop brand new prices!


Thanks again,

Emerald

If you don't surf a lot, get a bigger board. It will be easier to paddle, catch waves and stand up. Generally, most surfers start on boards way too small and this means not having as much fun as you could or should.
Good luck!

Its certainly true that you can get shorter boards with a lot of volume - the very popular hypto krypto is 43L at 6ft4. However, volume isn't everything, otherwise we would all surf 2ft boards with 50L. Compressing a high volume into a small package has a lot of advantages, which is why its popular; but go too far and you end up with a very buoyant board that slips all over the water.

Also, longer boards have other benefits - for example, if you pop up on a 6ft board then your feet need to be in the right spot. By the 'right spot' I mean you might have 1 inch leeway - miss that and you fall off immediately. On a 9ft board you probably have 12 inches leeway - even if you get it very wrong, you can still stand and then adjust. So this is very useful for a beginner. Longer boards are also inherently more stable - more surface area on the water = more stability. Another useful feature. They are also marginally easier to paddle, even if the volume is the same (hull length). So you have a board that is (slightly) easier to paddle and gives you a greater chance of standing up and surfing.

So don't get too hung up on volume. Its one measurement, but its no more or less important than the numerous other things which go into making up a surfboard (dimensions, rails, fins, fin placement, rocker, outline, foil, tail shape, nose shape etc etc).

If you have only surfed whitewater, its completely different to unbroken waves - don't use whitewater experience to guide you. I would also caution that gym work wont make you a paddler (same as a lot of gym work wont make you a runner or a rower), and even a lot of swimming work only reduces rather than solves the problem.

Personally I would still look for something mini mal like - if you want to go down as far as 7ft then go for it, but I still think closer to 7ft6. Torq and Bic are two good learner (but still pretty good) makes (I know they are available from the UK).

If you prefer a hybrid board (wide and thick but a pointier nose/more rounded outline - mals have straight/parallel sides, hybrids are more rounded) then there are a few around that might be suitable - I would still stick around the 7ft mark. Boards like the Firewire Addvance, the 7S boards. I've put a couple of boards that you can look up online; but not to say these are the only boards you should look at. Just look at the style, then find a similar board - there are plenty. I still suggest the mini mal/funboard, but these hybrids can be ok.

The only benefit of going short at the start is that you don't have to buy another board in the future. However, by going short you may take much longer to get up any skills. Secondly, you don't have to buy another board (lots of people surf mid lengths forever) and, thirdly, no matter what board you buy you will want to buy another board in the future anyway. Just because. Everyone buys a second board. And a 7th board.

So while a longer board might seem a more conservative choice, in the long run its probably a faster way to develop your skills and it doesn't cost you any more money

Epic post from Dtc with some great advice.

No don't worry, I'm out of the whitewater haha, I wouldn't even be considering buying a board if I was still stuck in the whitewater. I was just giving an example of feeling comfortable on that particular day when getting to the lineup wasn't worth the effort (big, constant closeouts and a strong current) and I didn't have time to go to the reef.

Ok, this goes more towards what I was reading and thinking of before getting the previous advice. So I'll push up the search by another 12-18" and keep searching the 'buy and sell' pages on Facebook etc.

Thanks very much for the advice, it was really helpful, as Benjl said, a serious post!

benjl wrote:Epic post from Dtc with some great advice.

You mean 'long'...I get paid by the word