Surfing Waves

The subject line sounds crazy but bare with me on this one. Around three months ago I took surfing up properly and bought my first board which is a 9 foot classic longboard which I really like (I think it is, very confused with all the terms). I love the style of longboarding and wish I had no desire for a new board, though I think I've just figured out why I've struggled in sessions and been nosediving it.

I live in Bali and for anyone that knows it, I surf at Legian Beach which is almost always fast and powerful waves. Taken from a surf article: "High tide at Legian can serve up some of the most power-packed beachbreaks in the world. Always bigger than Kuta." The whole time I've been surfing, it has generally been 4-6 foot waves, today being 6-9 foot so I think I'll be on the whitewater

I do want to say though that I feel like I'm coming along great in my surf, I've got to the point where turning the board feels quite smooth. It's not as if I'm getting beaten down and want to quit surfing, its very much the opposite. The condition of the surf spot might sound exaggerated above, as we have had some great days. Last week we had one day where all the local pros dropped their small boards for foamies, to enjoy longboarding conditions.

This post may be getting too long so I'll summarise everything:

32 years old male, 6" 1' tall, 85Kg (will be back down to 78-80kg soon, which is my normal weight). Surf 3 - 4 times a week.
Have a 9" longboard but the beach I surf at is fast and powerful waves (usually 4-6 foot). I'm hoping to get a board that really suits these waves and will last me a long time. At first I thought a long fish would be great but I may of got completely confused and have now been looking at fun boards, more particular an egg board.

How does an egg shaped board around 7"6 with 45-50l sound? I'm very lucky as I have someone close who wants to gift me a board up to £500 so I've been looking at Chris Christenson boards that are readily accessible here. Though how easy it to break something like this as a beginner? Should I look at something cheaper?

My longboard definitely won't be getting replaced out and I'll be using it as much as I can i.e. when a small day comes along or a big day, to go hit the whitewater.

I'm hoping someone can help me as I only seem to get the advice "beginners should only use a longboard or just buy a small board man, its what I learnt on."

Hey man, glad to hear you;re enjoying the stoke. Assuming your 9' longboard is fiberglass, it might not be as big of a leap to drop down to a midlength. But i would probably stay above 50L if you can. You might wanna try a midlength with a pintail or some other narrow tail. That would help the board fit into steeper waves. Wide tails create more lift and speed, which can be more difficult to control in faster/steeper waves, like the ones you described above. Ideally i would try to borrow a midlength pintail first, if that's an option.

Christenson's are usually considered more of a high-end board. It might be more spec'd out with things that you might not notice as much early on. So it might not be worth the extra dime if youre concerned about damaging/devaluing the board.
Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply man, it's given me a good insight into boards and there's more to it than just length and volume. I researched more about tails etc and think I've found something that may really suit me.



This is over the 50l volume and has a rounded pintail, or is it a thumbtail? Your completely right about the Christenson's, they all seem to have a 5 fin setup and seem to be directed towards advanced surfers. I think I'm going the custom route and have been in contact with a local shaper who knows the beach I surf at very well. I was very curious about fins because the board above only allows a single fin, though I see a lot with three, four or five. Also how much of an impact will fins have at my level? This guy is giving me a really good price including fins, so the fins can't be the best quality and I heard others pay more for them than their actual board.

I forgot to mention that my current longboard is fibreglass and definitely loving the stoke Thanks again.

If the local shaper knows the wave just make sure you’re honest about your skills and determination and let them pick the fin(s) and fin setup. They know vastly more than you.

Mattyc wrote: This guy is giving me a really good price including fins, so the fins can't be the best quality.....

What is wrong with the "stock" fins he will be including with his custom shaped board ? If they are stock FCS or Futures Fins, then they will be fine. Will more expensive fins make you surf better ?

oldmansurfer wrote:If the local shaper knows the wave just make sure you’re honest about your skills and determination and let them pick the fin(s) and fin setup. They know vastly more than you.

Most defo, I'm going to have a good chat with him soon. Thanks for the advice, I am getting quite confused with all the different setups and a little bit worried of a language barrier but I'm sure he knows what's best for me.

waikikikichan wrote:

Mattyc wrote: This guy is giving me a really good price including fins, so the fins can't be the best quality.....

What is wrong with the "stock" fins he will be including with his custom shaped board ? If they are stock FCS or Futures Fins, then they will be fine. Will more expensive fins make you surf better ?

I'm sure they're fine, as I bought my longboard with the stock fin from this guy. They're definitely not stock FCS or Futures Fins as there is no branding. I also had the inclination that the fins were going to make more of a difference on this board, so that's the question I was asking "Will more expensive fins make me surf better?" though I was more concerned on how many I should have.

Mattyc wrote: though I was more concerned on how many I should have.

How many fins do you think you should have at your level of surfing ?

Have you owned/ridden a Single, a Thruster, a Twin, a Quad ?

Have you owned/ridden a Squash tail, a Rounded Pin tail, a Thumb tail, a Swallow tail.

What's more important, the Arrow or the Indian ?

Duke Kahanamoku said " Ride the wave, not the board. " ( be it the board is a 5 fin or no fin at all )

But my advice would be to get a 2+1 ( although there's sort of a movement to call it a 1+2 ) That way you can also use it as a single, thruster and as twin-stabi. ( Don't get a 4+1, that's not needed at the moment )

The solution to the problem of nosediving isn't usually to buy a new board, but rather, work out why you are nosediving.

In my experience with relatively new surfers, it's because they don't have enough paddle power to get into the waves early, so they only manage to catch them as it's pitching over. Combined with this, often they haven't really honed their ability to be in the right place at the right time.

Longboards take more effort and time to overcome their initial inertia from a standing start, so you need to start paddling a little earlier to get the board up to planing speed. You then need to converge onto the take off spot when you are planing nicely, and it should be a breeze to get into the wave. If you're still getting annihilated, paddle a little further out and try to catch the next wave earlier when it's not so steep, using the above technique.

The solution to not having enough paddling power is not to move to a board which requires even more paddling power.