Surfing Waves

Hi,

On my beach we have often small not that powerful waves. I am looking for a board that can catch many of these small waves (often only 2 feet or less with a short 7s swell period or less). Also I am quite a beginner still. Therefore I am looking at longboards or maybe even a small surfing sup.

Now I am wondering if there is a diminishing return with respect to volume?

For example I am 79kg. Will a board with a volume significantly above 79l still help me catch more small waves? Or does it max out when the board has sufficient volume to keep me from sinking and will therefore a small surf sup with for example 120l volume or even more not help any more?

Cheers,
Lieuwe

Forget the volume thing, SUPs are not a surfboard solution, you can go for more length towards a longboard length with bit of meat ( volume there) but. SUP is over egging the pudding. Unless you wish to SUP then do it.
The best option is to go for a longboard about 3ft over your height, and develop your skill and then come shorter.
Weak 7s period waves lack power so flotation not sinking is the answer.
See if you can try a good longboard around 8 to 9ft and see what you think!

Surfboard rule number 1: everything is a trade off.

A huge SUP sized board will catch smaller waves more easily than a smaller board, but they are heavy, very hard to turn, much harder to get out etc.

So while there are benefits to a bigger board, agree with Jaffa that the downsides to a bigger board are much greater than the upsides

There is no real link between your kg and L of a board - most good surfers at 80kg who surf a shortboard will surf a 35L board or thereabouts. Those boards sink when the surfer sits on them, but certainly float when the wave is caught (but need more powerful waves)

You do need a bigger board, but whether that board is 65L or 85L wont make a huge difference. Follow Jaffa's advice

What type/size board are you currently using that makes it hard for you as a beginner to catch small waves ?

How are you going to get your elbows ( yet alone finger tips ) deep into the water during paddling if your SUP is 29" ( or more ) wide ?

Thanks for all the quick and useful replies.

I am currently using for small waves a 9ft, 33inch 150ltr Surf Sup (borrowed). It has quite some rocker, catches a lot of waves and I managed to turn it reasonably quick (in my beginners view ) yesterday when the waves were stronger for a change.

I also own a 7.4feet, 22 1/2, 51ltr fun board (see picture). I can sometimes just catch a small wave (haven't had the opportunity to try it in bigger waves yet), but even before I come on the flat part the board start to sink. I am sure a significant part of this is because of skills, but as the waves are often small it will be hard to improve these skills with this board only.

Therefore I am thinking of getting something in the middle. I don't have too much choices over here were I live but I can get a few NSP sups and surfboards models. One option I am considering is a 9.6 or 9.2 coco mat longboard.

Alternatively I could wait until I go to Bali in a couple of months, but as I go for only 5 days I want to spend as much time surfing and as little time shopping (I heard it can easily take a couple of days shopping to find a good board in Bali) and also I am doubtfully that the waves in Bali will tell me a lot about the use of a longboard in my own small waves at home.

Sorry got quite a long reply. Anyway the advice you all give is quite clear - go for a longboard not a sup. So only leaves the interesting choice of finding the right longboard

KennyN wrote:I also own a 7.4feet, 22 1/2, 51ltr fun board (see picture). I can sometimes just catch a small wave (haven't had the opportunity to try it in bigger waves yet), but even before I come on the flat part the board start to sink. I am sure a significant part of this is because of skills, but as the waves are often small it will be hard to improve these skills with this board only.

Therefore I am thinking of getting something in the middle. I don't have too much choices over here were I live but I can get a few NSP sups and surfboards models. One option I am considering is a 9.6 or 9.2 coco mat longboard.

You are sinking because a board needs to be planing across the top of the water to support your weight. On small waves that just cant happen unless you have a very big board/SUP. I've seen calculations that beginner SUPs for flat water should be a volume of 2X your weight in kg. Once on a wave, that can drop - but, in any event, a surfboard wont be anywhere near that size. Thus you need some speed

One thing to think about is where your board is weighted eg if you are starting to sink from the tail (tail goes down first) then you are too far back and need to move your weight toward the centre of the board (this might involve actually moving your feet). Your weight on the board will change all the time, front and back etc.

Another thing is whether you are going across the face of the wave (down the line) or straight toward the beach. If straight, then as soon as you are out of the push of the waves, your board will start to sink. So if you can go across the face, staying with the force of the wave, then you will get longer rides (obviously this requires a bottom turn of some kind, which is a skill development activity)

As to boards - either of those NSPs will be totally fine. Probably the longer one is better given your surfing conditions. For Bali, there are lots of boards around but remember transport and so on issues.

edit: just wanted to add a link to waikikichan's blog http://alohaki.jugem.jp/?eid=610 you will see that they are surfing pretty small waves but are doing quite a lot on those waves. Probably most of the people are a bit lighter than you, but just to show that a good sized surfboard can make up for smaller waves. Also, the blog is worth a read anyway