Surfing Waves

Hello!

I'm from Orange County and I've been surfing for a year. I surf about 4 -5 days a week. I've been riding my fun board 7'6"x22"x2 7/8". I can catch waves and go down the line, trimming, turning. Now I want to move down to short board. I tried my friend's shortboard the other day and it was fun. The board size is about 6'2"x19"x2.5". I was able to stand up 4 times on the waves but paddling was so hard.

I'm thinking of getting a transition board to make it easier. I saw a board LOST Mayhem 6'8"x20"x2.75" on CL. I think it's a hybrid of short and fish board (picture below, blue one). Volume is about 40l. with that width and thickness it'll be easier for me to paddle but i dont know if i can duck dive on it since the volume is big.
I also saw another board by McCrystal 6'4"x19"x2.5" (picture below).

About me, I am 5'7" 155lbs 25 years old, relatively fit. Do you think should i go for the Lost for just go straight for the McCrystal? Or if you have any board that you would recommend

Thank you so much
Lost


McCrystal
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thatmeanlook wrote:I saw a board LOST Mayhem 6'8"x20"x2.75" on CL. I think it's a hybrid of short and fish board. Volume is about 40l. with that width and thickness it'll be easier for me to paddle but i dont know if i can duck dive on it since the volume is big.
I also saw another board by McCrystal 6'4"x19"x2.5".

Just because the board has a SWALLOW tail, doesn't mean it's a Fish. Maybe it's more a big guy shortboard or step up, but no where near a Fish. That narrow nose looks duck dive-able, but how is your duck diving technique right now ? What size have you duck dived ? How easy was it to duck dive your friend's 6'2" ? If you haven't yet, 6'8" will still be hard.

I wouldn't worry about duck diving. You said you had a hard time paddling the 6'2". Going up 2 inches to 6'4" , will still be hard. If the board is easy to duck dive, yet hard to paddle, then you'll be tired before you make it out to the break and too tire to catch the wave.

40l you should be able to duck dive a little bit (at least) - not under big bomb sets but through smallish white water and punch it through wave faces

You will definitely notice the difference between your 7'6 and a 6'8 in terms of positioning amongst other things

Clearly, as you are aware, a drop to a 6'10 or 6'8 is the better solution (and that particular 6'4 is pretty narrow and thin). Is there a reason why you want to go straight to a shortboards rather than transition down slowly, then buy another board? just sell the transition board to fund the next one. A bit of a hassle, but will take less time and effort than you will waste trying to get the shorter board to work

I can't really see the lost board too clear but be careful....that paint goes right to where boards frequently snap.....secondhand board market is littered with snapped and creased boards; any paint on top of glass is suspect and reason to really have a close look and question the owner. A lot of times the repair is good enough that you can't see the facts unless you wipe the paint off with thinner.....threaten that if you want an answer from the guy (If I wiped the paint off what am I going to find underneath? Do you mind if I check?) Gauge his reaction to figure your next move. That line is also in the area you would find your nose when paddling in trim; that might be the reason the board has that kind of paint as well - a more elaborate version of a sticker or fingernail line in the wax (both of which I've done and both of which I've since found to be detrimental - exactly in line with advice that WKK posted here about not using a ball of wax on the board to position your body/reference point to board positioning - as there is no one perfect place on the board for all paddles....300m paddle back into position will be different than where you lay for a late takeoff under the lip will be different from taking off outside two hours later when the tide has come up but that's a different story.... ).

Anyway, I'd go for a 6'8" board but not that one; look for something with a fuller nose, more of a fun shape, would be my recommendation......boards like that are designed for someone like where you are at the moment. Here's a pic of a Primal board that was up on the local secondhand page that I think would fit your needs.

Big H wrote:I can't really see the lost board too clear but be careful....that paint goes right to where boards frequently snap.....secondhand board market is littered with snapped and creased boards; any paint on top of glass is suspect and reason to really have a close look and question the owner. A lot of times the repair is good enough that you can't see the facts unless you wipe the paint off with thinner.....threaten that if you want an answer from the guy (If I wiped the paint off what am I going to find underneath? Do you mind if I check?) Gauge his reaction to figure your next move. That line is also in the area you would find your nose when paddling in trim; that might be the reason the board has that kind of paint as well - a more elaborate version of a sticker or fingernail line in the wax (both of which I've done and both of which I've since found to be detrimental - exactly in line with advice that WKK posted here about not using a ball of wax on the board to position your body/reference point to board positioning - as there is no one perfect place on the board for all paddles....300m paddle back into position will be different than where you lay for a late takeoff under the lip will be different from taking off outside two hours later when the tide has come up but that's a different story.... ).

Anyway, I'd go for a 6'8" board but not that one; look for something with a fuller nose, more of a fun shape, would be my recommendation......boards like that are designed for someone like where you are at the moment. Here's a pic of a Primal board that was up on the local secondhand page that I think would fit your needs.

Thank you so much for your detail reply! I didn't even think about what is covered under the paint. You're right. I'll look for something similar to your recommendation.

dtc wrote:40l you should be able to duck dive a little bit (at least) - not under big bomb sets but through smallish white water and punch it through wave faces

You will definitely notice the difference between your 7'6 and a 6'8 in terms of positioning amongst other things

Clearly, as you are aware, a drop to a 6'10 or 6'8 is the better solution (and that particular 6'4 is pretty narrow and thin). Is there a reason why you want to go straight to a shortboards rather than transition down slowly, then buy another board? just sell the transition board to fund the next one. A bit of a hassle, but will take less time and effort than you will waste trying to get the shorter board to work

Yeah I am debating between getting a transition board or just go straight to a short one. My short boarder friend told me if i surf 4-5 days/week i can get used to a short board in a month or 2. But you're right i think getting a transition board will benefit more.

waikikikichan wrote:Just because the board has a SWALLOW tail, doesn't mean it's a Fish. Maybe it's more a big guy shortboard or step up, but no where near a Fish. That narrow nose looks duck dive-able, but how is your duck diving technique right now ? What size have you duck dived ? How easy was it to duck dive your friend's 6'2" ? If you haven't yet, 6'8" will still be hard.

I wouldn't worry about duck diving. You said you had a hard time paddling the 6'2". Going up 2 inches to 6'4" , will still be hard. If the board is easy to duck dive, yet hard to paddle, then you'll be tired before you make it out to the break and too tire to catch the wave.

It was my 1st time trying duck diving, on a 6'2", need a lot more practice. my duck diving was no where near good haha

Thank you all so much for taking time to give me advice! Now i have a better idea of what to get.

If you are consistently surfing 4-5 times per week every week all weeks of the year, then

- you can 'afford' to spend 20 sessions not really getting very far, because thats only 4 weeks of effort (whereas if you are only surfing once per week, its 6 months wasted)

- just the frequency will help you pick up skills more quickly

As such, you could drop down to a shorter board than 6'10 - you wont magically have better skills at the start, but it wont take you as long (time wise) to get those skills. However, there isnt really any downside to getting a transition board (even if its a wide thicker 6'6 or 6'8 rather than 6'10); more foam is everyone's friend. Short boards are great for turning but you need to develop a lot of skills to be able to use them properly (correct turn technique, good pop up, know how to pump etc); you can certainly develop those skills with a 'transition board' and it will take you less time to do it (because you will catch more waves, not get as tired, will have more speed to allow for turns even if you arent pumping etc)

dtc wrote:If you are consistently surfing 4-5 times per week every week all weeks of the year, then

- you can 'afford' to spend 20 sessions not really getting very far, because thats only 4 weeks of effort (whereas if you are only surfing once per week, its 6 months wasted)

- just the frequency will help you pick up skills more quickly

As such, you could drop down to a shorter board than 6'10 - you wont magically have better skills at the start, but it wont take you as long (time wise) to get those skills. However, there isnt really any downside to getting a transition board (even if its a wide thicker 6'6 or 6'8 rather than 6'10); more foam is everyone's friend. Short boards are great for turning but you need to develop a lot of skills to be able to use them properly (correct turn technique, good pop up, know how to pump etc); you can certainly develop those skills with a 'transition board' and it will take you less time to do it (because you will catch more waves, not get as tired, will have more speed to allow for turns even if you arent pumping etc)

This is the stage I'm in and have been in for about a year......able to sort out where to be and am able to catch waves pretty easily.....I'm now and have been learning what the H***L to do once you've gotten the wave, how to react to what the wave tells you, linking manuvers so that one flows into the next....once something is learned I can translate it to pretty much all the boards I ride.....BUT, it is a lot harder learning something on one of my smaller boards than it is on a larger one......SO, using a board that has a little more length and volume now will shorten the learning curve, let you learn things without being to penal, will allow you to learn things like linking moves with a little assistance from the length and float so that you don't lose the wave and can stay on the face learning....next time is a little smoother, etc until you have it down smooth enough to use a shorter, lower volumed board and are able to muscle memory the move as if you learned it on the smaller board.....anyway, that's my story but I'm an old late learning geezer, so take it with a grain of salt.....

Long story short, IMO don't jump down too far too fast, get one in the middle first and you will actually progress faster.