Beginner looking for advice!

[adequatejaymz]

Hi all,

Basically I've been skateboarding now for about 14 years, its great and all but i want a new challenge, surfing seems like the logical choice! I'm just looking for a little advice before I go out and invest in stuff that may be totally wrong for me!

I've been surfing twice before, once when I was about 14, so don't really recall that, and once on a friends board in a friends wetsuit about a week ago. I was really cocky, I had the stupid "I can skate so I'm gonna be amazing" attitude... figured that was a dumb attitude to have fairly quickly! None the less I had an awesome time with it, and would really want to get started properly by the spring/summer time!

So... I'm a 6ft 3 11 stone (ish) 24 year old guy.
I really just want to get an idea of; the best type and size of board for me, and if there's anything I should know when looking into wet suits!
I'd also be interested to know if anyone knows of any half decent places where i could get lessons on the south coast of England.

Any help is well appreciated, gonna have a look through some of the other threads, too!

[drowningbitbybit]

Have a look around - there's loads of threads on what boards to get.

But to summarise... bigger is better. A longboard is a lot easier to start on than a shortboard, and you'll have much more fun and progress much more quickly. At 6'3, even if you're only 11st (good grief man, eat some kebabs), 9ft+ is the way forward.

A longboard is likely to suit the south coast of the UK too - it's not the worlds most powerful or consistent spot

About the first spot you could realistically get lessons would be Bournemouth (there are spots further east, but they're so inconsistent that I wouldn't want to book a lesson in advance for those) and then loads of spots as you head west. Devon and Cornwall are the mecca of southern england surfing so look that way.

[adequatejaymz]

Thanks man, yeah I've had a look around and 'bigger is better' seems to be common opinion!

I'll look into Bournemouth, Someone at work mentioned there as well!

I've spent a bit of time skating in Cornwall, surfing is huge there, not sure why I hadn't thought of that before, worth a week away surely! =D

I'll get on the kebabs! Although I probably weigh more than 11st, don't own a set of scales or a decent sense of weight. Ha =D

Thanks for the help pal!