Learning on a Shortboard for a Bodyboarder

[mart8235]

given your size have you considered a fatboy flyer or bigboy flyer,(between 6'10'' and 7'4'') its basically a shortboard with more volume and a swallow tail, this is meant to get the larger gent up and going easier, i'm about the same size as you (maybe a bit bigger) but thats what i'm looking at buying next as a step down from a minimal.
I'd recomend staying away from the bic's though, keep it custom.

[imperio59]

Yea well I found a local shaper today, he had a secondhand BIC board 7'4 that looked like it had been chewed up by a shark for 200€, no thanks... He said custom minimals 7'4 he sells for 495€... I'm going back to the first store and buying something around 7'4 that they have (dunno what brand, we'll see), since it seems like the best deal to me (480€ for board+leash+bad+grip pad+fins+free wax).

The waves were good today too, 6 feet and up at times, I was doing 360's on my bodyboard! And it's supposed to get even bigger this weekend, I can't wait.

[imperio59]

Ok, well I bought an NSP 7'6 from the first shop (new). It was either the 7'6 or the 7'2 that he had, but the 7'2 seemed like I wasn't gonna have too much fun with it... He cut me a decent deal for it and threw in leash, grid pad, fins, and the thingy to put 2 surfboards on top of the car (I really needed that thing for such a big board and my small car, lol!). He also takes them back for resale secondhand if I want to upgrade later on (sweet!).

I'm going out tomorrow to try it out, hopefully today's sunburn (forgot my lotion! ) will calm down enough so I can go without too much pain. It's just on my face/hands/back of the legs, so it's not too bad. I love my longsleeve rashguard . I'm already stoked and I haven't even ridden the board yet Will keep you guys posted on how I shred the waves tomorrow! (yea right! :p )

[scsurf]

Sweet, good job. look forward to hearing your progression.

[imperio59]

Haha, my legs are so sunburnt from yesterday I'm not sure I'm gonna go out today. Maybe later in the afternoon with tons of cream on. We'll see, otherwise it will have to wait 'till tomorrow.

[imperio59]

Went out for an hour and a half, waves weren't that great/big but okay overall. I suck at paddling, that or I kept getting caught in a rip, or both, but regardless it was hard positionning myself and taking waves..
I must've caught 5 or 6 total out of the entire hour and a half (I was on the wrong spot the first 30 minutes so an hour really). I almost stood up maybe once...
It was exhausting but it was fun anyways, I'm gonna try it again maybe tomorrow or tuesday. I didn't want my sunburns to get re-burnt so I kept it short-ish (plenty of suncream this time). I can see I need to pop up faster once I take a wave. That was my main trouble, that and lack of decent arm mucles to paddle adequatly and catch waves