Surfing Waves

I want to transition to a shortboard so I can duck dive to get out past the white water.
Am I being realistic?
I always surf within a 10 mile area. There is a nice spot with a point break that is usually crowded with surfers better than me. So, I usually stay in the uncrowded beach break area with my longboard. The cross currents are really strong and I've so far been unable to get out past the white water with my board. For now to be fair to the better surfers at the point break spot I'll wait until I'm a better surfer so I don't get in their way.

I can borrow either of two hybrid quad fish anytime I want.
One is 6' 6" x 21.5 x 2.65 (2 5/8 thick)
The other is 6' 2" x 20.75 x 2.5. They are both the same style board with full, floaty rails. The 6' 2" board is 14.5 inches wide at 12 inches from the nose, and 16.5" wide at 12 inches up from the tail.

I weigh 155 lbs, but add a full wetsuit to that, and I'm 5'11" tall. I feel I've done just about all the white water longboarding I want to do, but now I want to challenge myself and learn to shortboard.

Will I be able to duck dive either of those two wide quad hybrid fish that I can borrow? Should I try to find a Flyer style groveler that would be of an appropriate size to learn to shortboard? If a Flyer style, what size? I'm thinking that a mini-Mal or an egg between 7 and 8 feet would still be too big to be able to get out past the beachbreak white water. I want to be able to get out past the heavy whitewater to some unbroken waves to learn to shortboard. I know, I know it's hard to transition from long to short, but I want to learn at my local beach break where it isn't too crowded. I know it is surfable out there, because I watch experienced surfers further out on their shortboards. I just can't get out there with some big log that I have to turtle roll.

Seeing as how, from what I just read, you have yet to ride an unbroken wave on your longboard I would recomend to continue using that until you have learned to catch ride and turn on an unbroken wave with your current board.
If you are going to do it anyway I would say using the 6'6" fish is going to be your best bet. Duck diving it should be easy once you get the technique down. Best of luck to you.

If you have yet to ride a green wave then why even concern yourself with duckdiving - Yeah duckdiving is the best way to make it outback but its not the only way and at you stage its not important you need wave catching experience everything else will come naturally.

Not being rude or judgmental but it sounds like you are blaming the equipment which for now dont seem to be nowt wrong with it. I dont longboard and yeah a bigger board is harder to get out but shortboarding it has its dissadvantages and time after time proven to be a bad starter board in most instances - NEVER assume that just bevause someone learnt on a shortboard they are somehow more gifted. It dont work like that.

Hey i could be spouting complete crap - just my 2C

Good luck either way

It's not quite accurate that I have never surfed an unbroken wave. It's just that the predominant conditions are such that there is an extremely powerful side current combined with some really strong white water. Sometimes I can let the cross current take me a long way until finally there is a channel allowing a rip to take me out. The surfers on shortboards just paddle and duck dive to get out more easily while I have to get carried a quarter mile down the beach in the current to a rip.
Yes, I have ridden and can turn OK on unbroken waves, and yes, the times I have been able to borrow even the 6'2" quad fish I have been able to get up, even though it was in big white water conditions.
My personality type is that I just don't get discouraged, ever.
I am determined to get better on the short board.

I know that some folks take a very gradual series of steps going a few inches shorter at a time, while others just take the plunge and go for it, transitioning from long to short in one step.
I don't blame equipment. I just keep trying to improve, that's all.

Like all things you are the only one that can make that call. If you feel you are better on a shortboard then go for it - the point i was making is that if you are struggling on a longboard a shortboard is unlikely to improve that more than likely compound the problem.

By the way where the hell are you surfing that has such a n evil sidecurrent. Sorry after reading your description i have this vision of pounding waves with mutant currents

Do what you think will work then stick to it

isaluteyou wrote:By the way where the hell are you surfing that has such a n evil sidecurrent. Sorry after reading your description i have this vision of pounding waves with mutant currents

Do what you think will work then stick to it

I'd name the spot, but then everyone would want to come ride my current.
Right now, I have it all to myself.

Sounds like you havnt got the hang of getting out back with a longboard. No reason why you'd do better duckdiving.

With a longboard its all about timing and pace - and selecting where to get out.

The mutant currant shouldnt affect you any more than the shortboarders, infact you should get out back quicker than them if its possible.

That's OK.
I'll use the 9 foot longboard when I prefer it for the conditions. I'll borrow that 6'2" floaty wide quad board from time to time. That board seems to paddle easier than the slightly wider 6'6" board even though they are otherwise basically the identical design. The slightly narrower of the boards I can borrow (20.75 inch) seems be easier when it comes to paddling with a deep stroke, so I can paddle just a little faster. A really wide board like my longboard requires my paddling stroke to be a little less deep in the water because I can't wrap my arms around the rails as well.
Maybe there's something else going on, but I seem to be able to paddle that 6'2" board about as fast as I can paddle my longboard (I think?).

Please don't worry about me becoming discouraged. I just don't get discouraged. Failure is the best motivator. Not long ago I taught myself to unicycle, and that's all about failure until you get it. A unicycle is the ultimate short vehicle to pedal. You might say it's the "shortboard" of the pedal powered world.

oldwashaway wrote:Please don't worry about me becoming discouraged. I just don't get discouraged. Failure is the best motivator. Not long ago I taught myself to unicycle, and that's all about failure until you get it.

Nice quote.

If you have access to the 6'6 and 6'2 I don't see why you shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to try them both out. Whether or not you can duck dive with either board, both should be easier to manage in white water than a longboard if you can't paddle over the white water with your longboard now.

On the smaller boards you won't be able to paddle as fast but you might be able to get more arm in the water due to the narrower width.

Whatever the case, surfing different boards (and different breaks) provides different surfing experience which is key in the learning process. Although you may not consciously notice, the more varied your experience is the more you learn to adjust to different situations.

Good luck in your surfing progression!

Thanks for the encouragement.
The water temp. a few days ago was 42 F and I was using that 6'6" board. I got a few decent rides (not great, but at least I was up and turning a little) but I actually liked that 6'2" one better the previous time. Sure, I was terrible on that, too, but again it was easier to manage. If that cold water didn't discourage me I think I'll be just fine.

For now, do a turtel duck, or a turtel roll, also called an eskimo roll, there is an article on this site, but if you are sereise about going shorter, go for a minimal first, but for now, learn to turtel roll and you'll be fine in up to 6 foot conditions, I always turtel roll with my funboard, it might take you farther down than duckdiving a 6.2 but it sure helps alot, chek the site for turtel roll and you will be fine.

You need some coaching from someone that surfs better than you. I've got a pal I worked with about 15 years ago. He is a mistro. About every 6 to 8 times I go out, he'll come along to correct bad habits and show me how to do things I'm encountering as I improve. Barring a friend like that, you can ask some of the old guys out in the surf. I've done that before and have received some really good advice from people that I did not know.

billie_morini wrote:You need some coaching from someone that surfs better than you. I've got a pal I worked with about 15 years ago. He is a mistro. About every 6 to 8 times I go out, he'll come along to correct bad habits and show me how to do things I'm encountering as I improve. Barring a friend like that, you can ask some of the old guys out in the surf. I've done that before and have received some really good advice from people that I did not know.

I'm working on finding someone to surf with. Other than my 2 kids who have less experience than me, I don't have any friends who surf. Out at my local break (which is a 3 hour drive away from where I live but I own a campsite back in the woods there) I'm trying to put in my time, be seen a lot and be accepted by the other regulars, learn from the more experienced surfers, and because the lineup is usually crowded at the point break with good surfers, learn by observation from shore, hoping that I can get some time surfing on these waves when it's not too crowded for a beginner to paddle out into the group.

I do my learning down the beach in the white water. At this particular beach break when the surf is small - waist high - I easily surf on unbroken green waves on my longboard. But when the surf is big, this is when I can't get out. Sure, there are other longboarders and funboarders there as well in white water at the beach break, but the only surfers who successfully manage to paddle out at this location are the ones on shortboards who duck dive. It's among these guys, or on an uncrowded day (if ever) at the point break when the surf isn't too big for myself, I'm hoping to earn my place and join these surfers, too. I'm in my 50's and so far it's the guys in this age group that seem to be the most friendly and talkative. The young rippers just don't have the time, but luckily these younger surfers are either busy at work or school on the weekdays and surf primarily on weekends, leaving the weekdays for the folks more my age who, because of their careers, have the ability to take a few days off work to surf. That's where I fit in.

I may never rip and do airs, but at least before I die of old age, I want to able to shortboard when the conditions warrant and to longboard when the conditions favor the big logs.
Actually there are some gray hared rippers out there.

billie_morini wrote:You need some coaching from someone that surfs better than you. I've got a pal I worked with about 15 years ago. He is a mistro. About every 6 to 8 times I go out, he'll come along to correct bad habits and show me how to do things I'm encountering as I improve. Barring a friend like that, you can ask some of the old guys out in the surf. I've done that before and have received some really good advice from people that I did not know.

I took this advice seriously. I just got back from Kauai where I took some serious concentrated private instruction from a surf coach named Russell Lewis.
This guy is a master! He's certainly an excellent surfer, but more than that, with decades of experience coaching surfers from Australia to Kauai he is a great teacher. Now I just have to get back into my cold water at the Pacific Northwest with my wetsuit to put his pointers into practice.
Thank you, Russell !

Howdy, I was reading your post and a lot of the replys. I am a newbie on a 9'2" Long board with my local break being So. Fl. Within my short time of surfing it seems anytime we have waves here it is beach break wind swells. There strong,choppy and close together. I was so tired of fighting to get out on my long board that I almost quit. I too wanted to go to a short board and everyone keeps telling me no no no. The answer was I took a lesson from Kali "The big Kahuna" he is one of 6 master instructors in the USA. What he tought me was how when and where to paddle thru white water. That was just last week. I've surfed twice since the lesson and can tell you it made all the difference in the world. Now getting out on my long board is easy, you just have to be patient, observant and pick and choose when and where to enter the surf. If you have access to a great instructor spend a few bucks on a lesson. It will improve your surfing for the rest of your days. The other thing is training, I've been training like an animal to incress my endurance, after 7 weeks it's just now kicking in. Finally surfing is all about fun and trying new things, I too wish to move to a short board asap. I've tried a friends and wow are they easy to paddle. So my suggestion is if you have access to other boards give them a try. To me thats what surfing is all about freedom to try new things. I don't believe that one way of doing things can be the best for everyone. Who knows you just may have a knack for the short boards. I'm looking to try a 7'0" retro fish. Just have to find a mate who has one I can borrow. Best of luck to you and I hope you will get out on the short boards and when you do please send me a message and let me know how you made out.
Waterdog62