Surfing Waves

I've been surfing for a while and I have a mini mal, and to keep it simple, I was just wondering what a standard mini mal is capable of? What size waves can they ride in? Can they perform cutbacks or floaters or snaps? I just want to know how far I can push it before having to move to a smaller board.

All boards can perform cutbacks turns and the whole repertoire of manoeuvres, it is the rider that need to develop the skills.
If you haven‘t the skills then going shorter will not do it for you! That just make catching waves harder, ,less waves = less progress.

Think about board change when you can ride the face both ways, left and right, can bottom turn and cut back backhand and forehand . Can do top and bottom turns, Snaps are amplified turn with grunt, master turns by increasing increments, all this will take some time and persistence



This is the beginning of a good snap to cutback top turn on a 9ft 6inch board in Portugal, made possible by the rider not the board!
All on his backhand!

:17 Backside Off the Lip
:53 Roundhouse Cutback
1:13 Tail 360
2:24 Superman Air

So yes, it is possible to do many maneuvers on a Mini-Mal. Huh ? Oh wait, my bad, Nelson Ahina is riding a 9'0" LONGBOARD.

So anything that can be done on a longboard can also be done on a mini mal? I just thought it had a lot more to do with the shape. If my 7'6 mini mal is gonna allow me to do cutbacks and other intermediate maneuvers then that's great because it means I can enjoy it for the foreseeable future while still being able to progress, which is exactly what I want, I'm in no rush to get on a shortboard. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't on a board that was going to be a dead end, because I've seen so many people suggest that about mini mals

A question that needs to be asked; Why are you wanting to go to a short board?
What do you want your surfing to be like?
Anywhere in particular you want to surf?

Well like I said, I'm really in no rush to get on a shortboard, I just want to have fun, but also wanna know that I'm progressing, meaning I want to learn cutbacks, floaters, etc. I don't have any huge goals for surfing, but when I start something I always wanna know that I'm working towards being the best I can be at it. As for where, the waves near me tend to be anything from 1ft to 6ft, 8ft on worse weather days.

Good aims, all achievable on long to short, often as you push your skills to improve your gain surf fitness and knowledge and an idea of what your best type of board is. everything that makes it easy to progress is great, going short is a choice doing it too early can be a hinderance and has turned some people off!.
Your call, but make your journey a fun one!

Yeah of course, I don't see myself getting on a shortboard for a good while yet, happy to stick on a longer board as long as it will allow room to progress. Been looking at trying out a longboard just because they look like so much fun, but they're crazy expensive and I can't fit it on my car lol. So you don't think I'll outgrow the 7'6 anytime soon?

Wave counts are the single most important metric to optimize in initial years of surfing, I've found. Longer boards directly help with wave counts. I usually ride a midlength and always wonder why I don't get a longer board to compete with the longboarders.

The size of waves and maneuvers a board is capable of depends much more on who is riding the board than anything else. Each board design has pluses and minuses but the minuses can be overcome with skill and knowledge and the pluses mean nothing without the skill to use the board. Very often surfers feel their board is holding them back yet most of the time it’s just they themself who is holding them back.

ConcreteVitamin wrote:Wave counts are the single most important metric to optimize in initial years of surfing, I've found. Longer boards directly help with wave counts. I usually ride a midlength and always wonder why I don't get a longer board to compete with the longboarders.

Yeah I'd love to get a longboard, but they're expensive and would never fit on my car, so that's not really a possibility unfortunately

oldmansurfer wrote:The size of waves and maneuvers a board is capable of depends much more on who is riding the board than anything else. Each board design has pluses and minuses but the minuses can be overcome with skill and knowledge and the pluses mean nothing without the skill to use the board. Very often surfers feel their board is holding them back yet most of the time it’s just they themself who is holding them back.

That's good to know then. The main reason for my question was just because I'd seen countless other people on this site claiming that mini mals are pointless because they can't do anything, so I just wanted to see what other people's thoughts were. I mostly just wanted confirmation that I could keep my current board around for a while and still keep progressing on it. I don't wanna move to another board, I'm emotionally attached to this one haha, thanks for the reply

Aimeeeliza01 wrote: The main reason for my question was just because I'd seen countless other people on this site claiming that mini mals are pointless because they can't do anything,

It is true, Mini Mals can't do anything ..... on their own. Consider a baseball bat, or a bow and arrow, or a golf club, or a bowling ball. Even consider a paint brush or a computer. None have any potential on their own WITHOUT the user.

Maybe Mini-mals don't get their due/respect because they're usually the first board purchase after a beginner "believes" he/she is ready to progress from their big bulky longboard. It tends to be a "In-Between" board.

A good surfer can ride any board. Get your skills up and learn the ocean so that it doesn't matter what you ride.

For a different perspective - There is nothing wrong with having a few different boards to have fun with at the beach. You may decide you might want to try something different depending on the size and shape of the wave.

I ride a mini-mal, and I can surf it in pretty much all conditions. but it isn't the best board in all conditions.