Surfing Waves

Hey Guys, new to the Forum.

To get right to it, the question is whether or not I should jump straight to a short board (or a large (for me) short board).

I realize this question is asked ALL the time. Let me explain myself.... I grew up in Monterey California with Skimboarding, body/boogie boarding, body surfing, and a bit of long board as a child. I also have been wakeboarding, snowboarding, skating, racing motorcycles and mountain bikes for most of my life (starting around 3-6 years old depending on which of the aforementioned. It is also note worthy to mention I raced mountain bikes as a professional (not professionally, as in making a living), and competed several winters snowboarding, with most of my concentration on park, not pipe.).... In other words I am very active, and adept to catching on quickly. Now I did mention longboarding, however this was minimal and It turned me away from surfing as a kid because of the "lack of control" that seemed to have been instilled in my head. This does not mean I felt out of control, it just felt slow, with and not sporty, or quick handling, as I have been accustom to my whole life.

Anyways, went away for a bit to areas with NO water (mostly Texas and Arizona) with the military, and now I am back in the CA ocean near Santa Maria/Lompoc area.

I still have several 3mm wetsuits, and a few 8mm's (thanks to scuba diving), and I am only missing a board. I am on quite a tight budget, so I would prefer NOT to purchase several boards and take the common learning approach.

Now, With your guys experience, should I skip right to the short?

I am looking forward to hearing your guys opinions and suggestions, as well as future conversations on these boards!

Sincerely,
Justin

I would suggest you take a very long shortboard or a fungun. What is going to happen when you surf depends on several things and out of them the most important is your mental frame of mind specifically how determined are you? On this forum you will hear almost everyone reccomend starting on a longboard. This is because regardless of snowboarding skateboarding or whatever other skills you have surfing is just different. You need to paddle to catch the wave and you need to be able to read the wave and the wave is constantly changing and you need to react to the wave. If you want to ride shortboards and you are willing to spend three years before you are where you want to be then start on a shortboard. I learned on a 6"10 but I was just going from kneeboarding to standing and the transition was smooth but still it took me a couple years to get to where I was kneeboarding. If you want an easier time get an inbetween board, a fungun, which is longer than a shortboard but shorter than a longboard and designed like a shortboard so you learn to ride it more similarly to a shortboard. Exactly what size you should get is always the question and that depends on your size and wieght

90% of learning to surf is about how to paddle, get out back, be in the right spot, and how to catch a wave, and other sporting experience makes exactly 0% difference to that. Even if you were to get a "beginners" board, you wouldn't be changing it any time soon... learning to surf takes time.

However, if you're fit and reasonably water-confident, then you can start on a 'short-ish' board. You shouldn't try and start on a high-performance shortboard straight away, you'll just make things frustrating for yourself. But as OMS says, you could go for a hybrid-type board to start with.

I would suggest that you hire a learner board for a couple of sessions and see where you really are before you think about buying a board.

I also say go for a big guy shortboard, fish, pod, alternative, hybrid around/over 20" wide. You might even like a Mini-Simmons around 5'8" x 22. Check out Tyler Warren on his 4'11" bar of soap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZOBzF4FPvo

Skimboarding - harder skills to balance and time than surfing
Body/boogie boarding - some upper body paddling and knowledge of the wave. Did you ever tried to stand up on it ? That's how Kelly Slater started "surfing".
Body surfing - a lot of paddling and even more knowledge of the motion of the ocean.

Wakeboarding - I knew some pro wakeboarders that couldn't surf well
Snowboarding - the foot movement/pressure is opposite of surfing ( unless you have those powder surf boards ). Snowboarders go on rail to slow down, surfers go on rail to speed up.
Skating - not much upper body
Racing motorcycles and mountain bikes - A lot of the pro surfers in Hawaii race MX and some mountain bike.

" I am very active, and adept to catching on quickly " - So the very very first time you went to a batting cage, did you have them turn up the pitching speed to max fast pitch at 80-84 mph ? Or did you start with the slow pitch 40-52 mph ?

"I still have several 3mm wetsuits, and a few 8mm's (thanks to scuba diving)" - If they don't hurt your shoulders during paddling, they might be okay to use.

"I am on quite a tight budget, so I would prefer NOT to purchase several boards" - You hear that a lot only to find the person couldn't catch waves and ended up having to buy another board after realizing their mistake.

" (prefer NOT to) take the common learning approach" - Use the same approach/mindset as you did to become a pro mountain biker. If the uncommon approach works, than go for it.

Got a question for you, I too want to get into motocross. I have ridden on dirt trails on my hardtail MTB but not anything like jumping logs and stuff. I don't want to look silly riding a CRF125 4-stroke. My brother has a 87' Honda CR500 2-stroke. What do you think of learning on that ?

waikikikichan wrote:Got a question for you, I too want to get into motocross. I have ridden on dirt trails on my hardtail MTB but not anything like jumping logs and stuff. I don't want to look silly riding a CRF125 4-stroke. My brother has a 87' Honda CR500 2-stroke. What do you think of learning on that ?

Dbbb - no seriously, my brother does have a 87' CR500 sitting there doing nothing on the side of the house. Why pay $2799 for a CRF125 that I probably get bored on, when I can just learn on the CR500 for free.

waikikikichan wrote:Dbbb - no seriously, my brother does have a 87' CR500 sitting there doing nothing on the side of the house. Why pay $2799 for a CRF125 that I probably get bored on, when I can just learn on the CR500 for free.

Well, as we always end up saying... just give it a try and see how it goes

drowningbitbybit wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:Dbbb - no seriously, my brother does have a 87' CR500 sitting there doing nothing on the side of the house. Why pay $2799 for a CRF125 that I probably get bored on, when I can just learn on the CR500 for free.

Well, as we always end up saying... just give it a try and see how it goes

dbb, I just clicked on your facebook and I envy your job. I wonder how many boobs have you seen.

BaNZ wrote:

drowningbitbybit wrote:Well, as we always end up saying... just give it a try and see how it goes

dbb, I just clicked on your facebook and I envy your job. I wonder how many boobs have you seen.

Career changes - that's another thing I'll say "just give it a try and see how it goes" about! Better than a real job!