Some reassurance needed for beginner board..

[parito]

Hola,

Just moved to Canaries (Fuerteventura) to start enjoying my life rather than money - and with this came surfing

My experience level is exactly 7 days in water. My body: 1.86 cm (6"1), weight ~87 kg (191 lbs). Used to do lot's of sports 3 years ago (triathlons) but currently a bit out of shape. Improving..

Currently renting and playing on 9" softboard (hard bottom).

My planned time in water is whenever there are _any_ waves - and usually it's more or less every day (especially in winter).

I'm fine with renting to get a bit more confidence on the board (I am just about popping up ~70% of time on whitewater), but should buy something pretty soon (10 days of renting = used board price)

So I went through all the articles I could find, and yeah, the longer the better - however I hate 9" because it's so heavy and I can't fit it in the car but I suppose I could think of some setup on the roof for it.

So.. 8" hard longboard? What do you reckon? Cause I read softboards are a bit of a pain to turn.. (especially those giant 9").

Even after all these articles I am a bit confused about the types.. especially about longboard vs mini-mal..

Thank you for all the advice!!!!

[IB_Surfer]

My first board was an 8ft log, it weighted a ton but was wide and thick, and at the time weighed 170lbs. So yeah, an 8ft board will work...

[drowningbitbybit]

I am a bit confused about the types.. especially about longboard vs mini-mal..

A mini-mal is basically a small longboard. So if its 9ft+, its a longboard, if it's 8ft its a mini-mal.

An 8ft mini-mal will do you just fine to learn on

[parito]

Hey,

Thanks for replies..

Looks like it's much harder to buy 8 foot log than I thought. ended up with 7ft6" board - the biggest one I could find..

Tried it today - felt like first day in the water ) and those two weeks on a 9ft board seemed of no help ..

Back to white water and staying there for a while I guess..

[polyphonic]

Hey,

I started on a 7'6", and I'm around the same size as you. I think that it will make a better transition than an 8. Don't give up, surfing a new board always takes time to get used to. What part of surfing are you haven't difficulty with? When I look back, I realize that my paddling form wasn't refined. That's 90% of surfing. Maybe just work on that and take it one step at a time.