choosing a longboard for intermediates plus.

[lewis]

Hi,

I surf a short board already and have been for a while now. I've recently been thinking about long boards for flatter/smaller waves

I'd want something that can turn quickly and feel alive, but also ride the nose.

Does anyone know of any info that is about regarding board size etc for the mid level surfer and above? everything i find is only really aimed at beginners.

thanks.

[jaffa1949]

Lewis, welcome to the land of length I'd suggest you have a read around the longboard section of the forum for ideas and see if you can try a few different longboards at your local break, i'd recommend a 2+1 fin set up with a long centre fin box so you can learn to tune your fins to what you want to do. You'll need to get out of the thruster option of 3 equal fins and look at other configurations..
You will find one interesting thing to overcome, the first few times out you will probably bury your nose to the length of your short board
Practice cross stepping on rails and board width pieces of wood and stuff so you avoid unbalancing shuffles and learn to turn the board from other positions other than the full tail.

As to size , weight and height are a consideration, the magic will happen when you understand your board

[IB_Surfer]

I am out of my realm on this one, but the only observation I have made is that the pro's all seem to use thin longboard for performance.

I used a 9' x 22" x 3" longboard for a while and it performed preety good, I sold it a while back. If I was going to buy one again I would buy the same thing but in 9'6" to make it easier to catch waves and 2 3/4" to make it easier to turn, but I am speculating on my limited longboard experience.

[Rickyroughneck]

Does thickness affect the turning performance? - I thought it was purely for buoyancy.

[IB_Surfer]

less thickness means less weight, so easier to turn, which is why I would recomend a thinner board. Harder to paddle if you are a big guy, which is why most of us get them thicker.

How much do you weigh?

[jaffa1949]

less thickness means less weight, so easier to turn, which is why I would recomend a thinner board. Harder to paddle if you are a big guy, which is why most of us get them thicker.

How much do you weigh?

A lot of pro longboards combine lightness and increased tail rocker for shortboard like turning, the good pros are fairly light weight and super fit so nose riding is still available on the performance boards , rail function and changes towards the tail come into play as well.
For an absolute novice who wants to noseride flatter tail rocker and a square tail would be better and thickness to balance the weight forward.
IMO fin set ups and rail configuration is more important in helping the ability to turn, an d of course learning to turn a longboard from different positions on the board with different lengths of rail committed!