Surfing Waves

With Christmas coming thought I would get the 11 year old daughter a new board . She already has a 5 foot 5 softie recomended to us by a surf shop on the new south wales north coast which is totally the wrong board . cant get up on it , too unstable , way too small in volume . She has done surf lessons and handled the 12 foot softies there with ease but she only weighs 30 kg so there is no way she could carry that to the beach . I have a 6 foot 7 7s fish which she can handle well and ride well in the white water .

Any suggestions . I thought maybe the 6 foot 8 NSP Betty hoop but if the board is pink she wont be caught dead on it . Go figure colour was never that important when I was a kid ( that I can remember anyway )

Any suggestions greatly appreciated

Hi again Tassie have a look at the NSP fun boards on the Global Surf Industry not the Surf Betty range but just the 6'8" in their normal fun board range , ther is a goodish model there no pink, forget the softies if she is really keen she will grow out of a softie of any size very quickly and I would imagine that if she is shying off pink then she doesn't want to be seen as less than in the surf.
Also try this link http://www.surfindustries.com/surfboard ... boards.php for a look.
Better still take her with you when you go to the surf shop. Check out the Red Herring stores in Tassie there are a few. Good luck and you've got time to plan it before Christmas. HOHOHO

Tassie is in the "Good Daddy," category. Hope you find the perfect board!

Thanks for the tips Jaffa followed your advice and took her to the local surf shop " looking at skateboards for her brother " . The salesman took me straight to the 5 ft 5 softies . Redirected him away from the softies and he took me directly to the surfbettys . Redirected again and found the 6 ft 8 NSP boards . Daughter loved the yellow deck so could be on a winner . Have you heard much about the buy 8 pm boards on e- bay they read as the same epoxy construction as the NSP boards but come in at half the price .
Have you surfed around Tassie bit Jaffa you seem to know your way around . We do have a local Red Herring store my wife would have to be one of their best customers .

Thanks Billie

HI Tassie , I'd be very leery of anything 8pmish, they, if you go to their site, import lots of things to sell on line but the surfing product I've seen coming out of Asia at that price is usually not so good. I also suspect that the boards they sell are just ghost shapes from a factory without continual input from a reasonable shaper.
Global surf industries have their shapes based from good shapers and have continual quality control and so are a lot better and I believe you can get some redress if things are not right. Not all epoxy is equal and/ or well done

Then if you buy at a local store and they sell the board I suggested ( it too comes out of Asia) you are doing two things, maintaining a local business with a bit of a sale on then you are building a relationship for your daughter as her surfing progresses and if your wife shops there as well you may get little bonuses.
I live in a small country town at the bottom of NSW everyone tries to buy locally as it keeps the money in the town + it is in a local's interest to keep people happy as they will come back. Margins are so tight now every bit helps the local store.

Surfed Tassie a bit Clifton and South Arm area and Bruny Island at Cloudy bay, rates as one of my most spooked out sessions
Much warmer up here in southern NSW
Cheers

Obviously the e-bay boards are a case of if it appears to good to be true it normally is .. Your right of course about supporting other small businesses we are all in the same situation .
as to the cold water I am hanging out for a day in the water with no full length wetsuit but unfortunately with the warmer water comes bigger crowds . Just had a surf on the local beach nice little waves , whole beach to myself , beautiful clear water it doesnt get any better . Well maybe a couple of topless sunbathers on the beach now and then would be nice but cant have everything

Careful, be very careful, those Taswegian pink pointers are dangerous

Got the board and after 2 days she is able to catch 1 to 2 footers and ride them all the way to the beach and loving it so it has been a success .I ended up getting a" buy 8 pm" 7 foot long , 21 inch wide , 3 inches thick board , volume about 40 liters at a guess , 3 reasons for selecting this board over the others
( 1 ) cost - I figured being a first board it would get trashed pretty quick . So far not disappointing me in 2 uses the board has been dropped off the surfboard rack dinging the nose and had a fin broken off being ridden onto the sand . At a cost of $220 I figure if she gets 12 months out of it I will be happy . The board hasnt got the best quality finish but as a beginners board it does the job .
The leg rope / traction pad / board cover actually cost more then the board

( 2 ) looks - the board looks pretty cool with a green monster pattern on the deck which is ( believe me ) all important to 11 year olds . If it didn't look cool it would sit in the shed while the paddle board / boogie board / ripstick / scooter , got a workout

(3) volume to me this was the most important factor . These boards are quite thick which gives floatation which gives her plenty of confidence . She already has the back foot back on the traction pad steering the board . Give her 12 months she will be riding one of my short boards putting me to shame . Kids make surfing look so easy .

Second choice for me were the NSP boards unfortunately the graphics weren't exciting enough for the kids even though they obviously are better quality boards obviously at a dearer price . if I was purchasing a board to last I would grab one of these .

Thanks for the advice Jaffa It was very helpful .

Another topic has anyone purchased the NSP longboards , how do they compare with the other brands eg. McTavish . Reading your longboard posts has motivated me to look at getting my first longboard for the smaller days which we are having a real run of lately .



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It passed the first criteria, the kids think it's cool test. At eleven that is important.
Good Buy!!!!

Have a look at the entire Global Surf Industry range not just the NSP boards because the NSPs are the basic standard longboard and depending on how capable you are on your current board you may find the NSP a little less performance oriented than you might like.
The Walden Modern could be the go or the Takayama in SurfTech are worth considering. If custom is a consideration PM me I also know some good ( really good) custom shapers who will ship to the sub antarctic base of Penguin.
What the hell PM me any way can give you lots of specifics to consider

BTW in reply to your other post had a great Darby and Joan Christmas, one son in Austria and the other working away so just prawns and wine and whiskey and the good food of Christmas swell may be imminent but so will the hordes.
Cheers and have a great one surfing with your family
( Uncle Jaffa)

Once again thanks for the advice Jaffa . The local surf shop has some 7 ft 10 NSP boards for hire so might give them a try see how much fun they are though I was thinking more along the 9 ft plus mark .We have a gentle little 1-3 ft break over the reef out the front of Penguin where a couple of SUPs surf a bit so that's where I am hoping to use the longboard . Never before used a longboard , never had to perform a turtle roll so could be interesting . Snapped the end on my favourite 7 s fish board yesterday so might have the longboard sooner then planned .

Sorry unable to PM as yet I gather it is because I am still a reasonably new member to the forum , or it could just be that I am computer illiterate .