Surfing Waves

Ive been surfing an NSP 6'4 fish. Width: 20 7/8, Thickness: 2/19, Volume: 39L. Im 5'5 and around 53kg. And I'm wanting to downgrade board size as i find it easy to ride and want to learn to do turns easier. I find it hard to duck dive with it, which i believe is due to the volume of the board which is making it hard to get to the back when surfing. What boards size would you recommend me to buy?

Proportionally, the board you currently surf is like a mini mal for me (6'1" 92kg). If you find the board easy to ride there should be no issue with turning it right!?!

There are a world of boards out there. Where to start? You could try some of your friend's boards for a reference point, or could demo some boards that are available for such from a shop. You could buy used like I do and experiment with different shapes and sizes, buying and selling until you find out what works for you. You could go to a local shaper and let him determine what you need at your stage of development. Or you could just take a shot in the dark and get a Lost or CI with less size and volume that you ride now.

There is absolutely no way any of us could tell you anything more based on what you've shared. Good luck.

Nina34kot12 wrote:Ive been surfing an NSP 6'4 fish. Width: 20 7/8, Thickness: 2/19, Volume: 39L. Im 5'5 and around 53kg. And I'm wanting to downgrade board size as i find it easy to ride and want to learn to do turns easier.

You find the board easy to ride, but you want to do turns easier? Ok that board is slightly more advanced than your skills, are you riding across the face yet or still just turning in white water? Paddling out I can understand the problem, but duck diving is a skill and difficult if you are light.
Perhaps a better understanding of where and how to paddle out might be the answer. Paddling less volume will mean less ability to catch waves and less paddle power to get further out between waves. Learn that rips are your friend to get out the back, learn the timing of each. Different day in the surf. Follow the path of least resistance

I'd say stay with the board you have, in your case less is not more!

FWIW, many of us surf waves that are overhead on boards that can't possibly be duck dived. Duck diving is not the beginning and the end; I agre you should be able to turn the board you have well before you think about a smaller board.....if you can't turn now, you'll just be worse at a smaller size.

i always surf at the back on unbroken waves, don't ever surf in the white wash anymore. But when the waves are large i find it hard with my board to get at the back, it can be nearly impossible at times, as waves keep on coming and I'm stuck, and with the board I've got i can't seem to sink it to a duck dive, as i may not be heavy enough, therefore i get taken with the wave. Im riding across the face of the wave and I'm now trying to do a front side carve but I'm unable to manoeuvre it fast enough.

I am 5'2" at 55 kg. and also own the same 6'4" NSP Fish. As for duck diving, the 6'4" length and it being a molded epoxy / EPS, make it about the max I can duck dive. But it can be done with proper technique. Could you explain how YOU duck dive ? NSP does/use to make a 6'0" Fish, but going down in size just to duck dive is NOT the answer. It will create other problems.
As for TURNING, there's a little trick for this model. Depending on the age of the board, some had the older MT ( bolt thru the deck ) fins. If you have that system, remove the center fin. If you have the newer FCS fin system, try installing the twin-stabi MR-TX fins. It has larger front fins and a smaller trailer fin. It really helped it loosening up the tail.

You also purchase adapters that let you use FCS fins with the NSP bolt thru deck fins:

http://www.realwatersports.com/nsp-mini ... r-set-of-3

I used them on a SouthPoint longboard to run smaller fins that loosened the board up.