Surfing Waves

Hi,

I'm planning on buying a board, but have no idea what's good, and what I should look for. I live and surf in San Diego area, knows how to stand up on whitewash and sometimes manage to catch an open wave. However, I'll be surfing quite a lot in the future, so I need a board that's beginner friendly, but also has potential to grow with.

Any tips, anyone? Anything would be appritiated!

Thanks in advance,
Karl

mini-mal for sure. Or if you plan to surf a lot, I mean a lot which means 3-4 times each week, then you can go with a shortboard and progress from there.

Good luck and keep the stoke up.

craigslist.com

learn on used boards....after you are riding the open face on waves and have more control than less, see a local shaper and work with him to a board that will help you progress to the next level.

Keep th stoke!!

Dont buy anything new or from a shaper yet.
Go with either craiglist ebay or your local surf shop used boards.

If i lived in Cali i would already had bought a complete quiver of good condition used boards with the money i have spent trying to find the correct board for me. Since here in Mexico there aint much of a used board market.

Buy used test surf it , and in the worst case scenario you´ll sell it for quite as much as you bought it.

I am also kind of learning in south San Diego,and my friends recommend a large fish. There is a qualification tho, I have been skateboarding and snowboarding and wakeboarding since I was in grade school. You have to ask a few questions. The first is whether you have a decent understanding of tides, currents and waves. Have you bodyboarded, swam, bodysurfed, etc on the local beaches enough to understand how a wave can pick you up? If not, rent a board from a local surf shop a few times to get the basics down. NEVER go alone. People may recommend used boards but i spent months in san diego trying to find a used board and for the most part they have been so used and abused they will not be worth the money you pay for them. If you have experience in other board sports you might want to consider a large fish board. If not, a longboard or egg will be better. The problem with eggs is that they are quickly outgrown as you get better. This i where you have to be honest with yourself. Can you ride a skateboard well and do u pick up these types of sports quickly? If so, a fish is fine, if not, go with a funboard (egg) or a longboard because you will actually be able to get up. Remember, longboards will ride like a coffee table as will funboards (eggs). They are easy to stand on and hard to manuever. If you simply want to stand on the board and cruise then these are perfect, will perform well in any sort of conditions from small waves to large. A fish will be great if you already ride other boardsports and are pretty good. I would not recomend either a shortboard or a foam board. Shortboards are too hard to earn on and foam boards are quickly outgrown. If you do choose to buy used take a friend that knows what they are doing b/c most san diego boards have been abused beyond belief.