Surfing Waves

Hi everyone, I need advice on buying my first surfboard. I'm 5'2" female and weigh between 100-110lbs.

I've done around 7 lessons in the past 3 months mostly on 9' foam boards. Last week I was able to surf everyday for 7 days. I started again with a 9' foam board. I found it easy so I tried out an 8'6 NSP the next day, then a 7'6 NSP for the remaining 5 days. I also gave a 5'10 fish a try for 30 minutes and was able to catch waves and stand up but unable to maintain my balance.

As for the wave conditions, I'm not very good at describing it, but most of the people around have 1 shortboard and 1 longboard. Most people are walking the nose on the longboards and once the waves get bigger they bring out their shortboards.

I'd like to be able to progress onto a shortboard one day, not necessarily any time soon. Probably like everyone else would like to own a shortboard and a longboard. But for now I can't decide if I should first buy a funboard so I can slowly progress to a shortboard or if I should buy a longboard and stick to renting funboards.

Thanks in advance!

How did the 8'6" and 7'6" NSP's work out for you?

I found both easy to use. Paddling is harder, but I'm able to catch waves consistently and I can turn and go down the line. That's pretty much all I can do

At 5'2, a proper 9ft longboard might be more of a hindrance than a help... a 5'10 fish on the other hand is much too short. Fortunately there's quite a lot between those two

At your size and level, I'd be recommending something like a 7'4 mini-mal. Stick with a proper mal shape at the moment, rather than a pointier funboard shape, but something in the low 7' range and 3" thick will be plenty big enough for you.

I bought my wife the 7'10" NSP Funboard. She is about the same height and weight as you. She normally likes to ride a 9'0", but we got it to ride the beach breaks here in Japan.

As for the ride of the 8'6", I would recommend you try the 8'2"NSP Longboard. The outline is more straight than the 8'6" and flatter rocker than the 7'6". I like the feel of the 8'2" compared to the 8'6".

Thanks Drowningbitbybit! A mini-mal in the low 7' range was what I was leaning to. I did have a coach those 7 days so I could have someone observe me and give me feedback. When I asked if I should switch back to the 9' (my arms were killing me) he told me to stick with the 7'6 I was using since I was doing fine on it and it would help me progress.

I'm just torn between a mini-mal and a longboard because I want to progress towards a shortboard (slowly but surely) but at the same time I would also like to learn how to noseride on a 9' one day. I'll probably own both one day, but at this point I'd like to get whichever is most beneficial for my learning and progress at this point.


Thanks Waikikikichan! I wish I could give those boards a try, unfortunately we don't really have such a wide selection from where I am. It was just the 8'6 NSP, 7'6 NSP, 5'10 fish (1-2 of each), and a bunch of foam boards. I'll be in Sydney for 2 days next week and I'll see what I can try over there


Now that I'm semi-decided to get a mini-mal my next question is where should I get it from? From what I gathered from lurking around I know buying 2nd hand is most suggested. However, I don't really have that many 2nd hand options. I can have a board locally handshaped for around $475. Would that be a good idea? I also travel a lot to Honolulu and Sydney. Haven't checked in Sydney but having a board shaped in HNL would be $900 up from where I checked last.
Should I splurge on my first board already so I won't need to upgrade in the future? Or should I stick with the cheapest option available?

Go for a minimal, don't spend more than $500 on your first board since you might be replacing it in a year, the only difference between brand names and local shapers is just logos, plus like the whole community says here, support your local shaper and buy from them, I'm not sure if your shaper does epoxy or you have access to buying one but my first tip is have your first board coated in epoxy, it reduces chances of dings, don't go too long on the minimal or you'll have issues transporting it in a car and whatnot.

Hi Margie

Where do you live? I dont know HNL, but in Sydney you can fairly easily pick up a second hand mini mal from gumtree plus there are a bunch of mass produced new epoxy boards for under $400.

I will caution a little bit on splurging only for this reason - at your age and weight etc, I suspect you will end up generally surfing boards under 7ft or over 8ft ie short boards or longboards. Midlengths are great for fat old blokes like me, because anything too much under 7ft and its all too hard. So I have a custom mid length.

But chances are you will use this board to progress shorter and then stay shorter; you may also have a longboard in your quiver and ride that - but wont ride anything in between

Thanks for the input everyone. You've all made it easier to come to a final decision. I'll be getting a locally hand-shaped 7'4 mini-mal coated in epoxy for $440 I spoke to the shaper who asked me for details that I've mentioned here i.e. height, weight, and what kind of surf I intend on using the board for. I decided on medium to large since with the options for boards available to me, I can easily rent a longer board for when the waves are small.

The shaper did ask me other question of which I didn't really have any answer for since I've only tried NSPs and foam boards. He asked about the rocker, fin setup, and if there's any board shape I would like to copy. Any input on this? I read a post here regarding fin setup and what was suggested was a thruster setup.


dtc, I am from the Philippines and am looking for a board to be used here. However, I've surfed more in Manly than I have in the Philippines I checked out gumtree and wow there are so many options! I'll be getting one from a local hand shaper for now though because I considered the additional cost of baggage fees. I'll keep it in mind though for the future (years later) for when I plan on getting my first shortboard.

margiemallow wrote:The shaper did ask me other question of which I didn't really have any answer for since I've only tried NSPs and foam boards. He asked about the rocker, fin setup, and if there's any board shape I would like to copy. Any input on this? I read a post here regarding fin setup and what was suggested was a thruster setup.

I'd've thought that the shaper should be guiding you on that?
If you've described your level, and what and where you're going to surf, your shaper really ought to know better than you.

For what it's worth... I'd recommend a fairly relaxed rocker for ease of paddling, but not a flat rocker (because that would make it your small wave board, and you're planning on using a longboard on those days). Fin set-up... yes, a thruster. Up to you whether you put in an adjustable middle fin. A 7'4 is right in the middle ground - as a shortboarder, I wouldn't dream of putting an adjustable fin box in a 7'4, but I imagine the longboarders here wouldn't dream of not putting in an adjustable middle fin. As it's a rounded mini-mal, rather than a pointier shape, a fin-box suitable for a larger fin might be a good idea (...take over longboarding guys, I'm out of my depth). As for shape - it's a mini-mal! It's not that tricky!

The main benefit of an adjustable fin box (which makes the middle fin adjustable) is to be able to move the fin a bit to get slightly different results without changing the actual fin (eg you can move it back to increase stability, which otherwise might require a physically bigger fin in a fixed thruster position). Also, you can try surfing a single fin alone, which some people enjoy.

I have a 7ft4 and its a thruster set up (not adjustable fin); as DBB says its right in the middle ground between having one and not. Its really a personal preference, if you arent sure then maybe stick with a thruster. You can still play around with fins to your hearts content (size, shape and all the rest).

For margie - $440 (USD?) seems a pretty reasonable price and, yes, transporting a board back from Sydney is a bit of a job.

For what its worth, my 7ft4 board is here viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15393&start=280#p163848

and more relevantly it is 7'4 x 22 1/2 x 2 7/8. However, margie, I think thats probably a bit too wide and thick for you (since I'm 80kg/180lbs. Or maybe a tad more ). I would probably go with 21 1/2 wide and 2 5/8 thick or possibly even 2 1/12 thick (its a bit hard to tell - it depends on how much the board 'thins out' from the thickest part eg the tail might be quite thin or it might still be fairly thick).

My board is probably a great shape for you, that concave on the nose is meant to allow nose riding (for slightly, um, less larger sized riders)

otherwise I agree with DBB re rocker and also that the shaper should be able to give you his/her recommendations as to all of these things - dont take our word as gospel, just as background information that might help you discuss with the shaper

(finally - if the terminology is new, start here https://surfing-waves.com/surfboard.htm .

I got one of these zombie fishes from powerlinez surf shop in a 7'0 with 50L volume, paddles awesome and still turns easy

https://www.powerlinez.com/collections/fish-surfboards/products/elementsurf-zombie-fish-7-0-blue-tint?variant=14131725959

http://elementsurf.com.au/