Surfing Waves

Hey everyone! I have been surfing for about a year now on my 9'6 longboard and have gotten pretty good on it. (pretty good as in i can control my board and walk up to the nose occasionally and don't completely suck as bad as i used to haha) I live in florida ,and have just recently moved to the beach so in the past month Ive been surfing everyday, and with hurricane season coming up id like to give shortboarding a try... my problem is I'm 6'3, 220 lbs and 18. I'm a very athletic guy and was on the swim team all throughout high school, i just don't know if i can even attempt shortboarding because I'm a very large person and I'm not sure if there is a shortboard out there that can float me but also preform the way I'd like it to. What I'm looking to get out of a shortboard is decent speed and maneuverability, but also good stability. Any advice on measurements, brands or shapes that i should be keeping my eye out for? Thanks. (I'm also open to a fish fyi)

elidre36 wrote:. What I'm looking to get out of a shortboard is decent speed and maneuverability, but also good stability

Stability is the opposite of maneuverability, unfortunately. So you cant be super maneuverable and also stable; but of course you can be somewhere in the middle or further toward one end of the spectrum or the other - it can be a fine line.

the shorter the board, the more that the speed is generated by the rider rather than the board - which is fine if you have the skills to generate speed. Otherwise you will be going slow and possibly just sinking. So bigger boards - more stable, faster for less skilled riders but a bit less maneuverable. Shorter boards - unstable, faster for skilled riders, more maneuverable (if you dont fall off). Longer boards = more time to pop up, greater allowance for errors in timing and foot placement. Shorter boards - need to be much faster and more exact.

But you definitely can shortboard. Just looking at volume, a good level surfer at your weight can surf 35L no problems (but this is a good surfer). An intermediate is probably looking at 45-50L, and there are plenty of boards of that size around https://surfsimply.com/surf-coaching/vo ... ht-ratios/

But I dont think you should be looking at going from 9'6 to shortboard. You really should be looking at going to a 7'6 fun board (or probably an 8ft), then a 6'10 ish hybrid/egg and then looking at shorter boards. To jump any faster and you will spend a lot of time missing waves, falling off, frustrated, wasting your time and developing very slowly.

So I would look at getting a 7'6 fun board/mini mal; but if you believe you will keep surfing every day and feel optimistic and are prepared fr several weeks/months of frustration and significantly reduced wave count, then perhaps a 6'10 - 7'2 hybrid or (perhaps a better choice) egg board could work. This will be a harder transition but you are young and surfing every day, you will just have to put in the persistence and optimism. For example, a Torq 7'2 mod fish; or you could look at a 7S superfish or a big hypto krypto or a firewire seAxe or loss crowd killer. I'm sure there are plenty of local shapers who make egg boards as well and your second hand market should be pretty active.

really advise against trying a board under 6'10 at this stage (and strongly suggest you go for mid 7ft+, but you seem to want to try something shorter right now).

size doesn't matter. It's what you can do with it that matters

..........

Search “ Jimbo Pellegrine “

Legend.....


https://beachgrit.com/2016/04/update-ju ... ly-insane/

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27553

Jimbo is a sad story. He could surf pretty well on relatively short boards considering his massive size but then did his knee in dancing at a nightclub and then tore his arm off driving drunk. He used to be a Lost surfboards distributor not sure what he is up to today but guaranteed not surfing shorter boards