Boards for hollow beach breaks

[muoh92]

I'm looking for a board that will work well in hollow beach breaks up to double overhead. I've been surfing a little over a year now. I'm 23, 5'9 and 155 lbs. I learned on a soft top, then got a fat groveler that I still like to surf when its below head high. I got a used 6'0 x 19 x 2.3 short board that works well on bigger days, but I like having a lot of paddle power and being able to get into waves early. The only board I have that will do this is my soft top, so I'm wondering if anyone can recommend something bigger and/or longer that will work well at big beach breaks. A friend suggested the stretch "IT" model or any kind of longboard/gun combination. I attached a picture from today to give an idea of what the wave is like where I surf. Wasn't very big, but I went out around high tide and it was still somewhat hollow.

[Big H]

A wave like that you could ride anything on.....get something bigger and thicker if you want to get in early.....how well are you riding? If only one year surfing I'd say you'd probably benefit from a mid size board for float and forgiveness....not a bad size for the quiver, something around a 7-7 1/2' length....if you get on well with the short board but feel you just want a little more float, then either EPS construction in a similar size or a hybrid shortboard that has "hidden" foam built into the design....I have one like this that goes well in good waves but is wide enough and with enough float to make it easier to ride than other boards of similar length which is important since I'm 45 years old and not getting any younger and because I'm only a year and a half into surfing and not that good yet (benefit from the extra forgiveness). Size of this board is 6'4" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4" @ 37L - size of me is 6'1" and 85kg. Same kind of shape around 5'10" - 6' would have more float than your current shortboard, but to truly get in early you would need to look at a mid size board and/or practice/refine your paddling.

[billie_morini]

The sage surfer's secret (SSS) for catching many waves at hollow beach breaks is to use hollow surf boards!