Looking to buy my FIRST shortboard

[Livetosurf]

Would defiantly agree with the comments above especially the wider and thicker, when your moving from a longboard your going from super stable to super unstable so make sure like they said previously get a wider board with ton's of foam.

- For your height and weight and your ability described I wouldn't go lower than about 35-40 litters in a board
- Shape can determine on a lot of thing but keep it wider in the node and tail than a usual pick
- Rocker is also a huge determining factor in catching waves you can shave off probably 4 inched of a board if you get the right rocker. so keep it really flat with just a little kick in the nose its going to help catch waves and have that similar feeling of stability on a longer board.

A lot of companies advertise their board and small wave grovelers or wide boys or great first time short boards
probably be a good place to start looking or even demo and see how they feel !!

probably good idea to start looking at 6'0-6'4

[tilem]

Would this one be too small you guys think ? I guess it has little less than 35L volume. There's a sale this weekend..

http://www.realwatersports.com/used-mc-metro-6-2

Thanks!

[dtc]

Two things strike me about that board (that put me off saying its a good choice)

1. hard rails all the way. Now Maurice Cole has his own particular views on hard rails, but most shapers still think more rounded rails up front are better as a whole, dont 'catch' in the surf and offer better stability

2. the thinned out rails all the way around

The combination of the above mean you have a board that is relatively thick in the middle but very thin at the edges. In other words, there is no stability offered through thicker rails. As soon as you lean on this board (unbalanced etc) it will dig in and throw you. Someone with good balance on the board may not have an issue, but any instability and its gone. Plus it looks like a pretty vulnerable nose being that thin, might snap pretty easily

Not to mention, pretty low volume. Going from a longboard to that is pretty significant. Its a board for someone with a few years shortboarding experience, I reckon.

Also, the board is said to be 'very fast', which sounds great but what are you going to do with that speed? Speed is actually a disadvantage at times, you want a board you can control, not one that runs away from you. Once you get 'good', the speed means you can go up and down the wave etc

From that site I would go for the the Hattares glass (I cant find much about these boards but they look to be pretty good and the dimensions are preferable to the MC).Maybe the shell shape, if you are willing to go that long (personally I think you should but you dont seem to want to, which is perfectly fine). They are pretty cheap as well, if it doesnt work out then you shouldnt lose too much in changing over. Assuming the boards are in reasonable condition

[jaffa1949]

Have you ever thought why a board that is supposed to be so wonderful is on sale? Some beginner bought the hype that he could surf with instantly increased ability. Are you next?
Sure Maurice's designs do what they say they do! But only if you are at level (Kelly Slater et al) where you can generate the control to use all the benefits , average or in your case ( bluntly, slightly more than beginner ) would find the board just too unpredictable as they would react to every shift in your balance.
The boards dtc is suggesting are much more skill evolving for you than the frustration generator the MC is going to be.
By all means buy it, experience what we are saying and then on sell it if you find what we said hold true.