Surfing Waves

hehe get ready dbbb:

"I'm another new surfer who's really good at everything except surfing, and I'm gonna buy a really short board to learn on....."


Nah, but seriously, I'm just lookin at picking up a shorter board for bigger days that I can't get the longboard through the whitewash, so please help...

for those who have multiple boards, how do the boards "off the shelf" out of surf shops around the 6'6" range sound for a 6'2 guy around 75kg (don't know the lbs conversion).

I've spent a bit of time on a 6'0 board and it's just too short for me, but is 6'6 around the right length?

Admins, feel free to move this to hardware if i've posted in the wrong place


and sorry in advance dbbb
another stupid question

You know the answer...



Okay, I'll try and be more constructive....

On bigger days when you cant get through the whitewash... thats you, not the board. A smaller board will help you duckdive (but I bet you cant duckdive yet) but will be very difficult to paddle, so in the end it wont help at all. You'll still be stuck in the whitewash, but on a smaller board

At your height and weight, you need something with significant volume (and not just length) so you should be looking at 7+ foot, 3" thick, and 22" wide. If the surfboard doesnt float you, it's really difficult to learn on. So a 6'6 will still be way too small - it'll be more or less as difficult as the 6'.

Frankly, you dont need that board right now - you need to practise on your learner-friendly board until you know how to decide what the right board is for you!

thanks for the mandatory

I hear you about the personal limitations, and I agree I do need more practice (a lot more) but seriously, it's not just me. I already own a 7'8 and can sort of (fleetingly) duckdive it, but after borrowing the 6'0 duckdiving was not an issue.

My real problem is that I can't successfully duckdive my 7'8 which is 3" thick to any great depth, so I'm battered to a pulp by the time I crawl out past the whitewater on bigger days.

On the 6'0 I could catch waves fine, but I just felt I was too tall for the board (I'm sure it's mostly my inexperience), since on popup my knees were just sliding off/around the footpad and I usually ended up with a knee in the water slowing me down at just the wrong moment.

If you were my height, and reasonably competent, would you consider a 6'6 a reasonable size?

jman6194 wrote:If you were my height, and reasonably competent, would you consider a 6'6 a reasonable size?

I am your height, and I am reasonably competent, and I have got a 6'6

(hmm, years surfing and still merely 'competent'. Stupid sport)

But frankly it took quite a long time to get there comfortably. And I dont mean being able to stand up, or catch waves, but to feel naturally comfortable on a small board. There's too many variables in a board to be able to say you'd be okay or you'd never surf it - length, width, shape, thickness, fins, bla ba bla. But being determined to go for 6'6, just because its shorter, is the wrong way to go about it.

If I were you, and you're determined to get stuck in on a shortboard, then you should be compromising with something like a 6'10, at least 2 1/2 inches thick, and 21" wide. Thats a BIG shortboard, but you're a big guy.

You'll make much faster progress, and have more fun on that than a skinny 6'6. And you'll be able to duckdive it too - after a LOT of practise (...I also have a 6'10 shortboard)

i weigh about 70-kg and im 6'1 and i ride a 6'4 if i have to paddle far, and if the waves break close in, i ride my 6'0.

if you go out often you would be fine. but you shouldnt be battling whitewash, look for the channel.

Yeh, I know about channels, but unfortunately the beaches I surf are just that: beach breaks. so what little channels there are, are usually a long way away from the sandbars that are rideable.

Thanks for the suggestions, and the bigger 6'10 sounds like an option. Will let you know how it goes.