Surfing Waves

Hello all, long time no see.

After much practice, I would say that I'm nearing readiness to get a new board (keeping the 9'3 log, of course)
I am in south florida where the waves are usually terrible. People ride shorter boards and usually get a bottom turn and cutback and then the ride is over.

I am 190 lbs and I think I need a little rocker and volume, however I don't really want to transition to an 8 foot log (unless you can compel me otherwise).

I have a 6'8 fish that I bought 6 years ago used, however I have bad memories from trying to learn on it
Should I try this board again, or go for a 8' fish (61L) vs 7'6 Fish (52L)?

I would love to hear your advice.

You own it already right?


Try it and figure it from there.

I've never heard of a fish over 6ft long

I think an 8 foot fish would be an easy adaptation from the board you currently have. You might take the 6'8" fish out a few times and see if you can figure it out with 6 more years of experience. It will require different tactics

After 3 years of surfing. I went from a 9'0 to a 6'3 and gave up on my 6'3 straight away. Planning to sell it as I don't think I'll ever be able to surf that.

Blackvans1234 wrote:1) After much practice, I would say that I'm nearing readiness to get a new board.
2) I am 190 lbs and I think I need a little rocker and volume,
3) I don't really want to transition to an 8 foot log (unless you can compel me otherwise).
4) I have a 6'8 fish that I bought 6 years ago used, however I have bad memories from trying to learn on it

1) What makes you say you are "nearing readiness" ? Can you bottom turn and turn up and turn down both frontside and backside ? Is riding the 9'3" boring ?
2) What makes you think you need more "rocker" ? Are you digging the nose of the 9'3" ?
What makes you think you need more "volume" ? you already have a lot of volume in the 9'3". Going shorter will lessen the volume not increase.
3) Why don't you want to step down to a 8'0" ? Financial reasons ? Coolness factor ?
4) What or who led you to learn on a 6'8" ? What did you learn about starting on a too small board ?

You own a 6'8" fish, the obvious answer is to try it!!!!

I am on a 7' foam board right no, and tried a 6'8" hybrid fish board for a session. It was hard at first, just balancing while paddling and also pushing down on the board to pop up felt a lot different as well. Luckily I only had that board that day and couldn't switch back, by the end of the session I was getting a lot better and got some green rides. I am pretty sure if that was my only board I could make do with it and get used to it, but on my bigger foam board I have more confidence right now in more challenging conditions.

What that day told me was that I could handle that as my next board, but probably a 7' mini-mal would be better for me. The transition from foam board to hard is a step in itself, so no need for me to push it too much. I am lighter than you as well (5'9" 170 lbs.)

pmcaero wrote:I've never heard of a fish over 6ft long

And a swallow tail thruster isn't a fish-hybrid. It's a swallow tail thruster.

A fish, à la Steve Lis:

Originally designed to knee-board, incidentally.

But back to the topic at hand, a nice little 6' fish (at your weight) is plenty chunky and flies down the line. You don't even really need to bottom turn! I surfed one in the North East almost exclusively and loved it.

There is a shaper in Florida called Eerie Peeple who makes a mean fish. http://eriesurfboards.com/