Surfing Waves

Hey guys,

I've been surfing for about 2 years but only once a month until recently when I moved to Sydney. since then I have been surfing 3 times a week and my surfing has progressed rapidly. I currently surf a 7,0 sideways bullet which is designed as a more manoeuvrable minimal. It's 21 wide 2 5/8 and 45L.

I am happily catching waves and turning but feel that it is now holding me back a little. I would like to go a little shorter but don't want to do too drastic of a drop. Then again, I don't want to go not enough of a drop and then outgrow it too quickly.

A friend is offering to sell me a 6,6 Superfish 2 future felx for 220 which is 40L of volume but is an epoxy which will be more floaty than a PU which I currently surf. Should I go shorter liek a 6,3 or do you think a 5L and 6inch drop is suitable. Keep in mind that I could probably resell this board for close to the same value 6months down track.

Cheers,

Lachlan

How is it holding you back? Most of the time lately I've been surfing a 7'6 mini mal in surf upto around double overhead. As well as being an effective crowd control device if required, it also means I get a massive wave count and most of my waves are much longer than those on shortboards. Extra time on my feet = extra skills developed. If the surf is less than perfect I can make sections and rocket down the line where a shortboard rider would be stuck behind the foam. Big carves and cutbacks feel great, and the board can do anything I can do.

In short, my mini mal guarantees a great surf almost always. I generally only take a shortboard out now if there's big uncrowded perfection, or I expect to be spending a lot of time in the impact zone.

Can you borrow your friends board and try it out? That might help you to figure out if that is ok or not. Personally I don't think going to a fish from a minimal is going to help your performance much but if you can try it maybe that will help you decide.

Hey guys!

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought a 6,6 superfish 3 that is 29.5L volume. It felt so light when I picked it up that I was worried I might have bitten off more than I could chew. However, the board went fantastic. The epoxy design helped it feel as stable as my 7,0 foot 45l but the shorter length allowed me to duckdive it easier to get out in biggerish waves (for me) 4ft* and it felt very manoeuvrable.

I thought I'd have to spend a few sessions adjusting but it cliked isntantly.

To answer your initial questions. My 7,0 was very hard to duckdive so I couldn't really get it out comfortably in surf much over 3 ft. My turns also just felt slightly wide and drawn out. Obviously this has to do with my skill but I felt today on the 6,6 that my turns felt sharper or more knifey. Don't really know how to describe it.

Overall, very happy!

39L volume sorry