Surfing Waves

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!

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.

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!