Improve my surfing

[dakine]

Hey guys,

I've been surfing on a fish 6'3 for about 2 years (I'm 6feet) and I can catch waves around the 2ft size and duck dive small waves. However as soon as it gets big (3-4ft) I'm hopeless. My duck dive is not good enough and I often get caught in big waves and get smashed. Also my pop up is too slow and I end up at the top of the wave and get smashed. Finally my balance is not that good, when I try to pop up quickly I often loose balance and fall forward or backward.
Any tips on how to improve my surfing skills? I'm also thinking of buying a new board, what should I get? shortboard or another fish?
I really want to take it to the next step but it's hard when it gets big and good surfers catch all the waves I feel like I'm not making any progress. Any tips are welcome

Cheers

[garbarrage]

how often do you surf? sounds like you just need practice and to get away from the crowds a bit.
next time its 3-4ft find a peak to yourself somewhere even if it isn't as good as the one everyone else is on, you just need a drop and a turn and to catch loads of them... hopefully you'll be able to get loads more practice taking off on bigger waves this way and next time you go out in a crowd be able to compete a bit better.

as for boards, fish aren't really designed for big waves (harder to duckdive etc), 6'8 thruster or fatboy shortboard might be a bit better in those head high plus waves.

[dakine]

thanks mate, I usually go once a week I know it's not nearly enough... the problem is that where I live it always gets crowded even in poor conditions so it's hard to make some progress when the guys take all the waves... Thanks for the help

[garbarrage]

think you'll find that the best surfers usually surf the best peak on the beach... nearly always possible to find a peak that isn't as good with no one on it. trouble is surfers tend to have a sheep mentality when it comes to peaks so you usually won't have it to yourself for long if you are catching. but at least you might get a couple before the herd arrives.