transitioning to a shortboard

[IronLion]

I have been surfing a 7' 4" WRV Funboard for the past couple of months. Its nice and thick and wide, so its pretty easy to keep my balance. I really have had no problem catching waves and its a really good size, especially since I am 5' 6". This morning there was a guy selling a 6' Al Merrick board for a $100 even. It was in great condition, and so I figured I would buy it since I still have my fun board and I can transition slowly and at my own pace. The only problem is I live in virginia beach and so the waves arent that great out here that often. I went out this morning and everything was choppy and blown out, but there was still some decent 3 - 4 ft waves coming. Well, I couldnt catch one wave. I basically got tumbled around for an hour and half til I grabbed my funboard and then catching waves were cake. What is the secret to short boards? The Al Merrick is pretty narrow and not very thick, but there are so many guys out there catching waves on these boards no problem that way 30 pounds more it seems. I really would like some advice to atleast get me started in the right direction. Thanks

[trifish]

^^ I was in your boat recently. I dropped from a 8 foot funshape to a 6''3 fish/shorty. Things I solved by myself that might help you out..... I found out that your weight distribution is key. Every wave I paddled for was going underneath me at first. On my larger board i could be lazy and take off on waves without worrying about my weight being on the nose to much, while on my shortboard I have to be over the nose to the point where im thinking im going to pearl for it to get into the wave. What helped me was leaning far out over the nose and arching my back some so the nose doesnt dip into the water. A few other things I noticed was how responsive the shortboard is. Alot different feel then the larger board. My first time i managed to stand up and ride a wave i slightly leaned to the right and the board turned sharp and fast sending me flying off. My biggest quirk was that I felt like i was paddling twice as hard and not going anywhere on the shorty. Takes alot of getting used to and im still not comfy on mine yet. It will take more energy to get to the lineup and more energy to catch a watch, but its a trade off for having something faster with more control.

[pkbum]

^^ I was in your boat recently. I dropped from a 8 foot funshape to a 6''3 fish/shorty. Things I solved by myself that might help you out..... I found out that your weight distribution is key. Every wave I paddled for was going underneath me at first. On my larger board i could be lazy and take off on waves without worrying about my weight being on the nose to much, while on my shortboard I have to be over the nose to the point where im thinking im going to pearl for it to get into the wave. What helped me was leaning far out over the nose and arching my back some so the nose doesnt dip into the water. A few other things I noticed was how responsive the shortboard is. Alot different feel then the larger board. My first time i managed to stand up and ride a wave i slightly leaned to the right and the board turned sharp and fast sending me flying off. My biggest quirk was that I felt like i was paddling twice as hard and not going anywhere on the shorty. Takes alot of getting used to and im still not comfy on mine yet. It will take more energy to get to the lineup and more energy to catch a watch, but its a trade off for having something faster with more control.

yep pretty much sums it up.

[isaluteyou]

What is the secret to short boards?

Experience

[esonscar]

I agree with all comments here so far ....

[alimac2411]

As above ...experience & patience, it takes a while! When you're catching a wave on the shortboard try and position yourself closer to the breaking section of the wave. Mostly you'll be catching waves a lot later than you were on the larger board. I'm taking it that your shortboard has a decent amount of rocker so you can now make those steeper drops. As always though it's just practice, practice, practice, you'll get there!

[twerked]

if it's the crumbly, mushy stuff, but still holding open lines, just try paddling into the wave using a breaking section. the boost from the whitewater will make it easier to catch the wave. other than that, you really gotta paddle hard and arch the back. a kick with the legs sometimes can give you just that little bit of speed that you need as well

[Thibb]

On my larger board i could be lazy and take off on waves without worrying about my weight being on the nose to much, while on my shortboard I have to be over the nose to the point where im thinking im going to pearl for it to get into the wave. What helped me was leaning far out over the nose and arching my back some so the nose doesnt dip into the water.

Same here. It takes a lot more effort to catch a wave on a smaller board, I noticed. One thing that helped me was paddling further into the waves. On the bigger boards you can get up a lot earlier and the wave tends to just pull you along. The smaller boards actually need to be paddled down the face of the wave for a bit before you can get up. This of course also means you have less time to get up so everything needs to go faster...

[esonscar]

^ yup, good point - you have to paddle down the face of the wave.
The feel of when to stand up will come in time - just make sure you paddle long enough to catch it.

On tubie waves you need a strong confident angled take off too. Getting tricky now !