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Move Shorter
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:15 pmby captain
I am a beginner (surf camp & a few additional times) and have only used longboards in the past. However, I want to move towards a shortboard. While I know that I'm not ready for a shortboard, I want to at least start moving in that direction. I find the longboard cumbersome and exhausting, and I would prefer to have more maneuverability.
I can stand-up fairly easily on a longboard, and am 5'7" and 145 lbs.
I live on the Texas coast, so conditions are usually mushy and always inconsistent.
I talked to a local shaper this weekend, who suggested that I go to a big guy shortboard rather than a fun board. He thought that I would be able to keep learning, while having the ability to duck dive. Does anyone have any thoughts about whether this is a good idea?
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 6:58 pmby rich r
Sounds like solid advice. Always trust a vouched-for shaper. They know things.
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:07 pmby isaluteyou
yeah that sounds lik a good idea any idea what size board the shaper had in mind?
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 7:39 pmby captain
He suggested something between 7' and 8'.
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 9:58 pmby dondiemand
captain wrote:He suggested something between 7' and 8'.
sounds like a semi-gun, not a shortboard
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:48 pmby captain
Assuming that I take this shaper's suggestion and go with a big guy shortboard, what length would you suggest?
It didn't appear to be shaped like a semi-gun, as it was thicker and wider. However, as you can tell from above, I don't have much experience.
Posted:
Tue Sep 05, 2006 11:06 pmby btard
big guy tri 19.5 or wider, 2.5 or thicker, squash
Posted:
Wed Sep 06, 2006 8:13 pmby GowerCharger
its probably the "jumbo" type board, a lot of shapers do them now, which is good for me cos im 6'3 and 15 stones. could be ok for a beginner but i would recommend you look for one with a bit more volume in the nose, towards the funboard/dolphin end of the scale, that will help your paddling and make more of a difference than the slight loss in duckdiveabilty. You should be able to duckdive fine with a bit of practice anyway.
Posted:
Wed Sep 06, 2006 11:02 pmby captain
Thank you all for your advice.
Posted:
Thu Sep 07, 2006 1:43 pmby rich r
Yeah - the 7 foot range is sort of topping out on the hybrid shortboard sizes and entering the funboard range, but I've seen 'em that big.
It'd probably look for the low end of the 7's, like a 7-2 or 7-4. depends on the thickness and width you go with. My 6-8 Mayhem is 19 1/2 and 2 7/16 thick and it's a pretty good all-around shortboard.
You could probably get away with similar dimensions in the 7-4 range.