First time surfing shortboard

[Deepwaterdesigns]

so stoked right now,
just the other day we had an unexpected NW swell roll in to our local beach, now ive been surfing for a few years but had always stuck to what i know, mostly longboards and funboards, nothing shorter than about 7'6. but i found myself standing there with some nice 3 footers rolling in and the only board my friend had with him was a 6'8 single fin shortboard, real old school style. not wanting to miss out on the unexpected swell i decided to give it a try and paddle out. after getting to grips with the lower volume and more difficult paddling i paddled into a wave, i caught it, popped up and rode it perfectly on a board a foot shorter and alot thinner than anything i was used to.
i was so suprised that i could handle something i thought would be so much more difficult, i guess i'd never gone shorter because i didnt want to miss out on a fun session by trying a more difficult board, but man am i glad i did. now im putting my funboard up for sale and looking at a smaller board.
if you havent tried going shorter because you think it will be too difficult, wont be as much of a fun session or any other reason, i deffinately reccomend you give it a try, you might be surprised.

[donhoe]

[isaluteyou]

those retro style single fins are a lot of fun. Sounds like you should think about getting yourself a shorter board to mix it up a little happy days.

[surfingwithsmile]

yea but those retro style single fins are a hell of alot more floaty than regular thrusters
my guess is that the board was probably around 2 1/2 thick and 20 inch wide with full rails
thats usually how those boards go
ive ridden one and as far as difference goes
it paddles like a fish but because its lengthier than fishes they feel like a narrower board
just keep that in mind if you were to go down in size like isaluteyou recommends

[IB_Surfer]

Get the dimmensions from your friend, it might seem small because of what you are used to but I bet surfingwithsmile is right, it probably had more volume than you think. If so, you might want to try a fish next...

[lorcar]

nice to read this, because I recently had a similar experience. Bought a second hand CI Flyer in Tuflite, 6'4'' x 19 1/2, 2 1/2, coming from a 7'4'' minimal.
I was frightened to say the least, but both the Flyer model and the Tuflite material offer great buoyancy and paddling was not difficult at all. But the real surprise came when catching waves, 1000000000% easier than with the minimal, as you have to paddle less and you can kick to help yuourself.
So I do agree the fear of going short is greatly overrated

[Deepwaterdesigns]

for sure lorcar,
i completely agree, ive riden th 6'8 single fin a few times now and really getting the hang of the board and havent touched my mini mal at all lately. ive decided to put it up for sale and looking at getting myself a nice 6'4 fish with similar volume to the 6'8. thanks for the advice mathteacher and surfingwithsmile. ill let you know how i get on