Surfing Waves

I recently moved to the east coast. I have been skateboarding for many moons. I am a functional movement specialist by trade, as in I teach people how to properly move their bodies through full range go motion. I would consider myself to have great balance and coordination. I however, am new to surfing. I am looking to buy a used board, but I am unsure of what to size to get.

I have done some research. I am 5'11", 160lbs, 30 years old.

I am looking for something that I can keep for awhile. I think a foam board would be a good learning board, but I would out grow it soon. I've read shortboards or performance boards would be too difficult to learn on and to look for a fun board, or mini mal. Right now, I found a board thats 6'6", 19" and 2 3/8". Theres another board thats 6'10", 21", 2 3/4".

What are the thoughts on those sized boards? Both priced around $200.

wahya wrote:I am looking for something that I can keep for awhile. I think a foam board would be a good learning board, but I would out grow it soon. I've read shortboards or performance boards would be too difficult to learn on and to look for a fun board, or mini mal. Right now, I found a board thats 6'6", 19" and 2 3/8". Theres another board thats 6'10", 21", 2 3/4".

What are the thoughts on those sized boards? Both priced around $200.

Well, the 6'6 board is a shortboard and its probably under 30L. Even some advanced surfers wouldnt surf this board.

The 6'10 is close to a shortboard and is fairly narrow for a beginner board. Its unlikely to be suitable but without knowing the exact shape I cant tell whether its very unsuitable or just unlikely to be suitable

If you have done some research, you will know that the big issue with learning to surf is not after you stand up on the board. Its all the stuff before standing up on the board - getting out to the wave, paddling for the wave, picking the wave, popping up properly and with good stability, not nosediving etc. The shorter you go, the harder all of that is. Once you stand and have a stable stance, if you have good balance, you can usually ride along the face relatively easily. So your current skills start being useful for the last 5% of the activity. Its sort of like being a really good go kart driver and being taken to a race car in parts and told 'there you go, try and win the next race'. If you cant put the car together, then your driving skills are of no benefit.

What is your paddling fitness like? How much experience do you have in the ocean? Can you pick which wave will shut out and which will be a nice wall? Do you know how fast to paddle, where to position yourself, when to start paddling and popping up etc

I wouldnt recommend either of those boards to a beginner. At the very least you want a mini mal shape. I know you want a board you wont 'outgrow' and pretty much 98% of beginners say the same thing. So I will say my standard response:

- you wont outgrow any board as fast as you think you will (cheap foam boards aside, i agree those are just starter boards)
- if you do outgrow your board, sell it and use that money to buy your new board
- if you want to surf, you need to understand that it is an incremental learning activity and requires incremental equipment changes. If you dont want to change your equipment, then either be prepared to be very frustrated and a slow learner or dont take up surfing

I'll caveat this comment by saying - go and rent a 7ft6 mini mal and surf it for 2hrs and see how many unbroken (not white water) waves you catch. If you catch 5 and ride them down the line, I'll change my tune (slightly).

Feldenkrais instructor? Just revealing my hippie history Anyway Have you tried to surf yet? I suggest you try out a board like what you are thinking of and see how much trouble you have. Otherwise go much bigger and you won't likely outgrow it soon. I actually learned to surf on a 6'10", 18", 2.25" but come to find out that is very unusual these days. It is apparently a very steep learning curve if you go short. For me it wasn't such a big deal but I had been riding waves bodysurfing and body boarding and knee boarding prior to surfing so the board felt big to me. For you however it will be different and while it may be that you have exceptional balance and coordination but you will have to learn about waves and currents and numerous ancillary skills like paddling, lining up a peak, getting out through the surf, when to paddle for a wave and when to stand and many more. You can do a lot of things on a bigger board and I am not sure why everyone thinks they will rapidly outgrow their board but it seems common for beginners to blame the board for their inability to surf.

Thank you so much for the insight. Here is the picture of the board that is 6'10" - 21" - 2.75"

I'll search for a larger boards as well.

Those were very enlightening questions to how little I know!

Nope.
Too pointy, too narrow at the front, too much rocker.

Not impossible to learn on, but surfing is an awful lot more fun when you can catch the wave to start with.

I'll look for another board and post. A larger board, not too pointy, or too narrow at the front. Thank you

This board is listed at 7'2". I sent the owner a message requesting the dimensions. It's going for $250. I might be able to negotiate a better deal. Look a little more appropriate? Thanks again for everyones help!

How many times have you actually paddled, caught a wave, and stood up on a surfboard ?
How many times with instructor ?
How many times by yourself ?

As Oldman says, you can learn on a shorter board but without his existing ocean skills and without surfing very frequently (he lives in Hawaii), it will take a lot longer than starting on a bigger board.

If you are surfing regularly, are persistent and like a challenge, then start on a 7ft something board. It wont be impossible, it will just be harder.

How much harder? Who knows - but a lot of people really struggle for the first 50 hours or so of surfing (as in, don't catch a wave to the point of standing for more than a second or so). Then the next 50 hours is consolidating those skills at a very basic level. Then you start actually focusing and improving. This is with a longboard. So think how often you will be surfing - if its twice per week at 2hrs a session, you already potentially have 6 months of work ahead of you. You want the board that makes this initial stage progress as fast as possible; or you could end up taking 9 or 12 months.

Maybe! Everyone is different. Some people pick up things quickly and some are slower. My numbers are plucked out of the air to some extent (based on anecdotal evidence).

The general rule of thumb to maximise the chance of progress is - start on a 9ft or so longboard. Surf that until you can catch waves most of the time and stand up and ride them down the line. This might take 2 months or it might take 9 months. Then sell your board and buy something in the 7ft range (or keep it and just buy a new board). Repeat. Then you can go a bit shorter or a bit narrower or pointier or whatever it is that is of interest to you.

(as an aside, those good surfers you see floating around on the waves and making it look easy - they probably started when they were 10 and surfed 20 hours a week for 10 years while teenagers. They are not representative of your reality.)

FWIW I skated for my entire youth (15 years or so)...street and vert, am really fit, was a dive instructor with 1000+h underwater logged, was on the swim team in HS, studied marine biology and oceanography and at my weight (86kg)....in spite of my fitness, inherent and developed ability, ease in the water and theoretical and practical ocean knowledge it took me 150hours more or less to surf a board like the 7'2" frontside down the line in a frozen poo stance maybe one out of five attempts................long boarding at 150hours I could ride front and back side in the same stiff stance about 5-8 times in an hour and a half session....rest of the time was spent missing waves and losing paddle battles or blowing it somewhere in the pop up process. Getting paddle fit enough to paddle to position and be able to hold it then catch a wave is a process....learning where that position is a process, learning the feels for different shaped waves on different days at different tide levels, wind directions and velocities and swell heights is a process....figuring out how to read then be able to adjust to waves breaking as they come in and expanding your range so that you are able to paddle to where you need to be before the wave gets there is a process....learning to catch a wave once you've figured out all the above but now have three to 15 other people trying to catch the same wave every time you paddle for one and understanding/abiding by the written and unwritten rules of the lineup is a process...........It just takes time; a big board will shave and save some time and frustration. My first board was a 9'3" x 23 x 3" flat rockered squash tail log of a longboard. In retrospect it was perfect.

I found a board thats longer. Thank you for everyones patience with me, while I make a wise decision for my first board. The dimensions of this board are: 9'0"- 22 3/4" - 2 1/2". Let me know how this one looks! It's going for $200

The others who have commented are more knowledgeable than me, but I'll give you my 2c....

....that's thin for a longboard; would be considered a performance type longboard with the rocker it has, the dimensions and from what I can see it has a fair amount of foil (tapering to the ends and edges) which all add up to a board harder to paddle due to less bouyancy (under 70L most likely) and more rocker than a board that would be more suitable for a beginner which would be that length but flatter overall (that's rocker), thicker in the middle (3") all the way to the rails and a tail that wasn't so pulled in (narrow, though that one pictured is ok) so that you get a little more push from the wave and have a little more under your back foot to keep you up on small slow waves.

Besides that, it looks like the underside of the nose took a shot and the stringer (wood piece running down the middle) sponged/soaked up some water before getting patched which will make that thinner than average longboard even weaker than it is.


Others have posted better longboards from Craigslist at similar prices....your board is out there, just keep looking.

okay. I found a board with a little more thickness to it. I had to go up in price for it ($300), but maybe I can negotiate.

The dimensions are: 9'0" - 22" - 3"

I'm waiting for a reply on the dimensions, but it is a little shorter at 7'6". I thought the shape looked right, but it looks a little thin.

The 9 foot board just sold, so scratch that one. I did however, up my budget a little and found this.

"Longrider Surfboard, 8'6"L x 22 3/8"W x 3"T. Custom shaped by Steve Morris.
Excellent condition, no dings, $395. Future fins included."

Don't see many swallow tails on an 8ft6. And those deck pads are quite odd.

Anyway; I think you still need something bigger. Aim for over 9ft with a more rounded nose (like the nose on the yellow board)

Okay. I'll keep searching. Thank you.

How about this board.

9' - 22.5" - 2.75"

This is an epoxy longboard at 9' - sent a message for other dimensions.

Okay, so the Epoxy board is 9' - 23-1/8" - 3-1/4"

I've heard Epoxy boards aren't as good though...