Surfing Waves

Hey guys,
Not much of a Surfer, done it a few times in the central pacific, would like to wet my feet on the north west coast in Tofino though. Bit of a catch. Live on a sailboat looking to have a secondary dingy to row myself to shore. Don't actually want to buy a SUP, got a 100 yard/100 metre dash to shore everyday in calm waters. Anyone paddled a short(ish) board? Seems to be all I can find used. I skate/snowboarded for many of years. Have fairly good balance but a pretty limited budget. Is there a specific shape or length I'd be looking at for Hybrid purposes?
Any input appreciated,
Thanks,
J

what are you actually looking for - a board to paddle to shore? Or a board to surf on? Obviously a surfboard can do either, but you will get wet even if just paddling. The bigger the board the easier the paddle, but 100m you can paddle whatever (if you get tired, just rest part way along).

Looking for a board to surf on. But it would be cool if I could use it to paddle into shore (preferably standing up). Might be a tad further depending on where I can anchor (up to 500m). I mean I think I've got this. But I've only ever surfed a long board so I'm not really sure about the difference in stability. I'm on the used market this is my inventory: http://www.usedvictoria.com/classifieds ... surfboards

As with all which surfboard requests, height weight enter into it.
You don't want a SUP but you want to Paddle to shore Standing UP

You want to surf????? Forget short if you want an easier learning curve in surfing and paddles to shore. Since you are accustomed to a long board, stay in that range.
Even if you choose a SUP in the end, forget short board sizes, again you need to be strongly skill to ride short SUPs.

Read through our advice as to how readily any sort of landboarder can swap to surfing, it is spread throughout the surfboard advice section.

I used to live in the Caribbean for a long time....lots of people lived on their boats there, especially around the waterfront restaurants I worked in. Watching them I gathered this much ;

The only thing that stops boaties from swimming to shore is that they:
A - Don't want the clothes that they are wearing to get wet.
B - They don't want the things they are carrying to get wet.
C - They are carrying more than they could swim with.
D - They need to bring someone with them who shares the same concerns and/or can't swim.

If you don't care about any of those, any board will do. If you want to surf, get an appropriate board for your skill level and the waves you want to ride. If you want to paddle standing up, be prepared to fall a lot no matter what size SUP you get - count on getting wet. If you want a dinghy, I would say to get a dinghy that can do dinghy things and keep you dry in the process and then get another board or three for having fun .

You won't be able to stand on a surf board in flat water - they just aren't big enough (hence SUPs).

A surf ski or basic sit on kayak might be more useful in the transport you and your stuff sense

Ha, If I lived in the Caribbean this would be a non issue. Water's a tad colder around these parts. Don't mind taking the odd dip but swimming long distances is not an option. Bummer, no paddling a long board? Think I'll grab a surf board anyway. Maybe a SUP, got a friend here that rents them, can probably pick up one for cheap. They're lame but great commuters. I have a dingy but every time I go sailing I've gotta haul it up haul in the motor etc. or drag it behind me. Kills my speed. Thanks for the advice.

SUP might work. A beginners SUP would be perfect as far as stable and likely to keep you dry. I take people out on my beginners SUPs and they most often don't fall down even if they have never surfed or anything like that but a boat wake will make many of them fall and if they are distracted then also may fall. So it's not as stable as a dingy but nearly so.... so imagine riding standing all the time in your dingy that would be similar to an SUP on flat water. The ones made for surfing are often less stable and more difficult to ride.

JMad wrote:. Bummer, no paddling a long board? Think I'll grab a surf board anyway. Maybe a SUP, got a friend here that rents them, can probably pick up one for cheap.

For sure you can paddle a longboard, but the front of your body will be in the water for maybe an inch or so; even if you got a very big board that floated you above that, you will get splashed and arms will obviously get wet and so forth. If you dont mind that, it will be fine.

For a stable SUP you are probably looking at something 12ft+ and 26inches wide (??) - I have not much idea about SUPs but from my basic knowledge you need something at least that big

I dunno....I've stayed at a couple of resorts that had big beginner SUPs and I fell down constantly. Flipped the surfski a few times too

he is talking about flat water. If you are trying to paddle in waves it's not as easy although I didn't have a problem with that others do. Now if you are trying to catch waves that is where I think they should change the name to FDP (fall down paddle)............ for a while then not so much

Done a fair bit of paddle boarding. Probably more stable then my dingy. Flipped over that trying to get on my boat after my birthday. Lesson learned don't drink and dingy. Thankfully I didn't have the motor on it.