Surfing Waves

Hey Everyone, just been lurking for a bit on this forum but this is my first post...

Anyways, I got my girlfriend into surfing and right now she rides a crappy 9 foot surftech soft top which she can now pop-up easily on white water.

She's a little freaked out to go out into the actual waves right now (we surf in La Jolla Shores, San Diego) since the last time she did, she ended up pearling and the board smacked her in the face.

So the 9 foot surftech soft top is a bit heavy (I ride a 8'4 Ben Aipa Epoxy and it is probably 3 times lighter) and it's kind of hard for her to carry that through the surf.

I was wondering how short of a longboard she can go while still riding it like a longboard (trimming, gaining speed by walking up and down the board instead of rail to rail).

Any tips from a female longboarders would be great.

Thanks!

Tony -

not knowing an awfull lot about longboarding i have seen a few people riding these mini noserider types.

However the best longboarder i have ever seen was a female - Bar None. So impressed was i and the fact she was easy on the eye i asked her what the board was. It was a 9'2 murphy and she said she had real probs lugging it around. Suppos its what you get used to. Ironically i was given a 9'2 murphy about a week later and hated it - then again longboarding aint my thing

IMo a longboard is long! 9ft+

You can get a custom/glassed or surftec that'll be lighter, she wont need one especialy thick or wide.

Yeah... But short, light chicks can ride samller boards like longboards. 8'6" or even 8'0".

But anything under 9'0" isn't technically a longboard.

-doug
Compsand.com - The Composite Surfboard Cooperative!

Is she able to paddle your board? I think you can better determine what she can paddle if she tries something smaller. When I was learning to surf I jumped from a 9'0" longboard to a 7'6" funboard. I was still able to catch whitewater but I felt that I had more control of the board. A smaller board would definitely be easier for her to handle in the water (and carry on land as well). I suppose if I had to choose I would rather get knocked on the head by an epoxy 7'6" than any longboard (9'0"+).

chronocal wrote:Hey Everyone, just been lurking for a bit on this forum but this is my first post...

Anyways, I got my girlfriend into surfing and right now she rides a crappy 9 foot surftech soft top which she can now pop-up easily on white water.

She's a little freaked out to go out into the actual waves right now (we surf in La Jolla Shores, San Diego) since the last time she did, she ended up pearling and the board smacked her in the face.

So the 9 foot surftech soft top is a bit heavy (I ride a 8'4 Ben Aipa Epoxy and it is probably 3 times lighter) and it's kind of hard for her to carry that through the surf.

I was wondering how short of a longboard she can go while still riding it like a longboard (trimming, gaining speed by walking up and down the board instead of rail to rail).

Any tips from a female longboarders would be great.

Thanks!

Tony -

The Surftech Softop is actually a fairly high-end board. Maybe you're thinking of the Surftech Blacktip, or another of their foam models?

In any event, while she could probably easily go down in board size to her own size, she should probably stick with softops (or full foam boards) until she develops more experience. A standard board will hurt far more when it smacks her in the face.

A little slow on the answer ......she wrote that more than 7 years ago