Surfing Waves

Hey guys, I recently moved to CA from Missouri and immediately tried surfing. It looks hard and its even harder than it looks. I'm a big dude, I'm 6'2" and 280 pounds. I rented a 8.5' foam top (the biggest the shop had) and could not pop up without pushing it under, let alone find the sweet spot to just sit on it out in the water, it just sinks. Just wondering what length I should just go ahead and purchase at this point. I saw there's boards as long as 12 feet and I'm sure there's bigger ones I don't know about, but being brand new to surfing I don't want to get one so big its not practical for the waves you get in places like Pismo. Regardless of my size I actually have good balance from years of skateboarding (not that skating and surfing are similar enough for comparison in difficulty) and I'm sure I'm popping up quick enough with proper foot placement. Just can't seem to make it work and I think its the board. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I think you need to aim for something 9ft+, 23 inches wide or wider and more than 3 inches thick. You can get softtops that are this big, but you can also get 'proper' boards. Two that spring to mind are the Walden mega magic (fairly expensive) and the BIC supermagnum. But there will be plenty of others - those two are just ones that are 'notoriously' large.

Width and especially thickness are probably more important than going longer - a 9ft board thats 3 inches thick will float you much more than a 10ft board that is 2.5 inches thick. So aim for 9ft - 9ft'6 and then focus on thickness and width, rather than going longer. You arent super tall and if you start getting a 10 or 12ft board you are moving into SUP territory and will start creating other issues

Guys who are 180lb can surf 5ft5 boards which sink up to their chests when sat on - boards that sink when you sit on them are perfectly fine and normal (once you have some experience).

I suspect the sinking when popping up issue is that you are catching white water (which is perfectly fine) and pushing yourself up from the board entirely, whereas on unbroken waves the board drops down the wave as you pop up ie you arent pushing up your entire weight, because the board is falling away. That doesnt help you right now - you need something big to start off - but to give you some 'peace of mind' that once you start catching proper unbroken waves, you can get away with a smaller board. If you want to - there are major benefits to a bigger board.

Another factor might be that you are putting way too much weight on your hands as you pop up and your hands are too far forward - so you are pushing the nose under. It should be a short explosive movement with your hands at chest or lower level. Even at 280lbs, if you put your hands on the middle of a 9ft board and push down, you probably wont be able to sink the board. But put your hands closer to the nose and its pretty easy.

Finally, the faster you go on the wave the more lift the board creates and the smaller the board can be to support a given weight. If you are going slowly (in white water, for example), then the board isnt creating any lift and will sink. So, again - you need a big board but, once you are catching waves, you can (if you want) move to a smaller board. I doubt you will ever be surfing a 6ft high performance board, but a 7ft something will be viable. At some stage in the future. Like in 2-3 years!

Off the shelf stuff is going to be tough for all the reasons DTC said....I think he's underestimating a little as well; I started on a 9'3" x 23 x 3" board at 210lbs when I started and I needed every bit of that float....I couldn't knee paddle that, the board would sink so I can imagine 70+lbs on that same board would not be big enough for starting out.
Outside of a smaller, narrower SUP, I think it will be hard to find an appropriate size either in rental collections or buying used. I would approach someone other than a skinny teenager at a surf shop/surf school and ask them what they have available. You aren't the only large guy to want to learn to surf; one of the shops or schools must have that "special" board in the back of their storeroom for bigger learners.

Jimbo Pellegrine......385lbs surfing a Lost Big Boy @ 7' x 24" x 3 3/4" at Padang Padang.....

I'm 180lbs and learned on a 8'6" x 22" x 3" longboard. It was a great board that I was able to progress from white water to green waves. It was my go to board for most conditions from knee high to head high surf the last couple years. I surf Pismo Beach and a few other spots nearby. In the summer the waves are small, only knee to waist high. The good waves that we've had lately will start to fade in a few months. You need to have a board that works when the waves are small too. Don't worry about having too much board when you are learning.

You are more than 50% larger than I am, so you can handle/need a 50% larger board. Big guys need special equipment, once you get over 200+lbs you have to look at specially designed "big guy" boards or like Big H said even a small SUP board for 280lbs. My 8'6" longboard would be more like a funboard or egg for someone of your size, not the best choice to learn on.

The board in the craigslist ad below looks perfect for 250+lb beginner.
https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/spo/5969311532.html

Big H wrote:Jimbo Pellegrine......385lbs surfing a Lost Big Boy @ 7' x 24" x 3 3/4" at Padang Padang.....

Highly skilled surfer before he put on the poundage so not the problem of a weighted learner! Jaffa 200lb but now prefers 9ft 22" x 3"

A lot of stands on Waikiki beach use the NSP 10'2" longboard. It's 24" wide x 3 1/2" thick. Check surf schools around you that are updating their rental fleet.

jaffa1949 wrote:Highly skilled surfer before he put on the poundage so not the problem of a weighted learner! Jaffa 200lb but now prefers 9ft 22" x 3"

Yes.......but it's still fun to watch a 400lb guy get barrelled on DOH Padang2.

At 200lbs a board like 9x23x3 is something I felt I need all the float of, so you probbaly should go wider and thicker than that. The Bic 9.4 should suit you well, lots of float and built lie a tank. It is quite heavy though.

When I started surfing I was around 260-265(6'2). I learned on a 10ft longboard(Becker Sano), it was thick, heavy and had plenty of float. Dims were probably around 10 x 24 x 3 1/4(or 1/2). Something around that range should work good for you, like others have suggested, I would steer clear of anything below 9'6 unless it's real "meaty"