Surfing Waves

Hello all!! I'm Kylie, new to both surfing and this forum and hoping to absorb the wrath of knowledge I've read in the existing posts.

Essentially I'm struggling with the age old question of what size do I buy for my first board. I've been researching until my eyes are crossed and just can't seem to land on the right advice. I'm based in Auckland, NZ and have picked up surfing based mostly out in the West Coast (Muriwai Beach etc) only on small days of about 1-2m. I'm a shorty of about 150cm and stocky, about 65kg. Relatively fit but 00% need to work on my paddle game (used my partners 7' 6" and couldn't catch much of anything without a supportive push onto the wave!) and the internet tells me to look for a board between 43-48L volume but nothing much about what size because obviously there's a thousand factors to take into consideration.. I'm in desperate need of advice of those in the know! Would a 6' 2" be ridiculously too difficult for me to learn and progress on? Do I need to start with a foamy? So many questions!

Forget about VOLUME. Go with a board at least 3 feet over your head.

If you couldn't catch anything by yourself on a 7'6, then forget about a 6'2. There is a gulf between them. Don't fall for the marketing hype 'paddles like a longboard' or any of the other justifications for buying a board that is too small, like 'it won't fit in my car/house/garage etc. Something 7'6 ish or more would suit. Don't worry it won't 'hold you back' at any stage.

This is a much better ‘volume’ chart to use

https://surfsimply.com/volume-to-weight-calculator/

As a level 1 surfer, you will see that suggests around 70L, but ar waikikichan says, look first at length. So 8-8’6, which will usually be (FWIW) around 60-65L.

You won’t miraculously gain paddle fitness or other skills overnight or just because you surf 2 or 3 times a week for a few months

As to soft or hard - up to you. A lot of beginners like softboards but you definitely don’t need to learn on one. In NZ I don’t think you can get a wavestorm, so the price differential between a second hand longboard and a softboard won’t be too great.