Surfing Waves

hey guys this is my first post here, was just after some advice, best give you the details first.

im 75kg, 12 stone, and have a 6"6 adams board, looks like a shortboard im not sure. ive been surfing for a month now and am picking up the basics fairly quick, ive done years of snowboarding and skating but this seems to be a whole new thing for me.
im getting out to the reasonable sized waves in newquay, about 4-8ft and dont mind throwing myself at them, best way to learn i feel. now in a good 5 hour session i might catch maybe 3-5 waves proper but find i can only stand up after the wave has broken, when i try to stand on the top of the wave i either slow right down and it passes over me or i have to grip for dear life until the white wash evens out and i can stand then.
i have read a lot of tips and i feel like im positioned correct, i practise the motion of getting to my feet when im at home and its easy, but whern im out on the wave, things just dont work and i cant seem to catch much. the wave seems to be picking me up right and the waves i get right i seem to be in the correct place, its just i cant seem to get up on the board fast enough to head down the wave or for my feet to be in the right position to control it. any tips will be really helpful and im sorry for posting this. cheers. murph.

Your board is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too small. Simple as that.

5 hours and you only get 5 waves? how come? when you say "when i try to stand on the top of the wave i either slow right down and it passes over me..." do you mean the wave goes on without you as you popup, leaving you behind it?
i think it sounds like you need to position yourself in the water better, your either setting off too close to where the wave breaks and the wave is too steep to pop up, or you are too far out and the wave isn't steep enough to get the board going. or maybe your paddling needs to be better, so you can try popping up earlier. if you are sure your positioning is ok, then you just need to keep at it - your popup will naturally get faster.
a month isn't a long time at all, and i'd say your better off with waves around the 3 foot mark to learn on - the waves will be slower giving you more time to popup.

edit: the above is probably better advice then mine.

drowningbitbybit wrote:Your board is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too small. Simple as that.

Agreed. You've made the classic mistake that so many people do. Board is too small, it will take much much longer to learn on a short board, oh and 4-8ft waves are about double to triple overhead, are you sure these are the waves you are going out in? Perhaps you mean 2-4ft?

KS

I have been surfing 18 months and just moved down from a minimal to a 6' 8". From my experience its all watertime with the right board. As your experience grows on the right board you generate more and more time to do the right thing on the wave. When I moved down to the shortboard all the timing seems to have disappeared into thin air and it feels like a few steps backwards. So I can only imagine that starting out on a shortboard must be extremely difficult and demoralising - 5 waves in 5 hours shows perseverance if nothing else!

I would get a longer board and practice in 3 to 4 foot waves - work on your timing and everything else will follow and you will get to a point where everything just clicks and its then you can look to downsize if that's what you want to do.

surfnoob wrote:I have been surfing 18 months and just moved down from a minimal to a 6' 8". From my experience its all watertime with the right board. When I moved down to the shortboard all the timing seems to have disappeared into thin air and it feels like a few steps backwards. So I can only imagine that starting out on a shortboard must be extremely difficult and demoralising

Agreed, i surfed longboards for 3 years before deciding to move to shortboards, and it still took a few months of riding a mini-mal and have recently moved down to a 6'8 shortboard, and looking to get a 6'4 fish. with each change in board and size it takes some getting used to, starting on a 6'6 is a very steep learning curve.

The waves in blighty can be quite slow at times and often lack power due to the continental shelf so a board with more foam will make it easier to catch some of those waves and improve your wave count, wider boards will also be more stable to stand on and are more forgiving once your up.

maybe rent a mini-mal from one of the shops there in newquay for a while, or alternatively....ive got a 7'6 mini-mal up for sale!