Surfing Waves

Hi, I've been using a 7'8" Rusty, with thruster fins. The board is pretty much a beater, its water tight, but has lots of small pressure dents, repairs, and the top of the board feels kinda hollow where my thumb grabs on the rail. I've been progressing, but thought I would be able to catch some more waves with a board with some more float, and more of a longboard shape. I thought I found a great board (pic included, and I put more wax on it a little higher up as well.), but I took it out yesterday and felt completely unskilled. My new board is a pure fun 8'2"x22"x3.125" longboard shape.

So basically I took my new board to Malibu (my first time there), and it felt way more stable when sitting, and significantly more buoyant. ..but when I would pop up I could barely ride anything, it felt like the board just wanted to tip and throw me off. This was really strange because on my rusty board, I just popped up and could ride it and turn really easy, even the first day I tried that board.

I'm confused now. I could definitely tell that it would be possible to catch waves somewhat easier with this board, but I felt so clumsy after standing up which was exactly the opposite of what expected. The board looks nice and the shaper seems like a good longboard shaper so I don't know what to think. The fins on my new board is 2+1.

The waves don't seem like they will be big enough for decent surf until Wednesday so I thought I would ask for any advice. I know it was my first day with the board but like I said, I rode waves and felt surpirisingly confident on my other board right away.

Well for one that pad is way too far forward, second a longboard is a more graceful dude then the quick rail to rail transitions that are used for shortboard or even the rusty you had which probably had tapered rails and more performance oriented shapes.

looks like I'll have to take the pad off then. I can't remember where my feet were in position to the pad, I was wearing reef boots so I couldn't really tell by feel. I figured the pad was a bit wacky after seeing that the middle back strip was a thick strip of foam (stuck up like 1/2" higher than the pads next to it) so if my foot landed on that it would screw up my balance since I would be standing on a raised strip right in the middle. No idea why that was like that. Hopefully there will be more and slightly bigger waves so I can try to get a feel for this board, it was only $100 and I was hoping it would be a nice addition to my collection.

btw, Malibu is just as bad as everyone says it is, I read about the lack of etiquette on many different surfing sites, and everybody was really just dropping in without thinking twice, it was pretty ridiculous. It was nice seeing a few much older guys surfing, I swear two of them looked over 80 years old and were still having a blast.

Check out the fin position - move the centre fin back. The further back the more stable (but the harder to turn); but as a test move it back a good few inches and see if it makes a difference. If it does, you can experiment with moving it forward until you get the combination right.

Its possible that the board is 'too floaty', that is when you stand up you are not sinking the board into the water enough and so the rails arent catching, rather you are skating/sliding along the top of the water. Unlikely unless you are very light (under, say, 60kg or so?) but its quite a thick board so its a possibility - there is no solution to this other than to put on more weight...

I'm probably right around 75kg, so I should be heavy enough for this board. I will take your advice and experiment with the fin, it looks like I can move at least a few inches back. Thanks for the tip.