Need my 2nd board for low intermediate guy

[parito]

Hey,

I am 32, Male, 186 cm, 83 kg (182 lbs), avg fitness, surfing in Canaries about 3-4 times a week.

I currently ride 7"6 Surf series board (http://surfseriessurfboards.com/index.p ... =funboards)

This was my first board, and I was riding for 2 winters here, in Canaries. Looking for a transition on to a smaller board.

I can go down the line, do a crappy bottom turn, stay on the face of the wave. But I am looking now for more maneuverability and ability to duck dive. I do not think I am a very strong padler, so some additional foam would not be that bad I believe.

Thanks for your insights!
Par

[dtc]

If you want a challenge, get a 6ft10 to 7ft2 hybrid or big fish, like the addvance, 7S, McCoy nugget, even a big hypto krypto. Or something along those lines -wide, thick. Will be a tricky transition, you will miss a lot of waves, maybe fall off a fair bit

If you want to be a bit more conservative, a shorter fun board of the same length

If you want the safe answer, get better on your current board. Nothing beats time on the wave, which means whatever catches you the most waves.

I know the desire to get a new board, so long as you understand that there is a learning curve and a period of frustration. A shorter board doesn't (of itself) make you surf like the other guys with shorter boards.

Don't go under 6ft10 and I wouldn't hold out much hope of being able to duck dive too well with this transition board. You can duck dive or catch waves/paddle at this level; not both.

[Big H]

Your board is thick and made of epoxy....if you can't paddle that well you pretty much are out of luck....one thing I can guarantee, however bad your bottom turn is now, it will be worse with a smaller board...smaller board does not increase manuverability....the rider does...

Analogy - .just as if you took a honda civic out on a racetrack; until you can push that car to it's limits and understand that it is the car holding you back from faster lap times and not your driving, a faster car won't help. If you are making good bottom turns and cutbacks and want a board that can be whipped around faster, then yeah, time to go down. If I were you I'd work out that bottom turn first, then look for a PU board around 7' and 2 3/4" thick. That will be enough of a challenge, and I'd say that you're not even ready for that yet until you get your bottom turn sorted.

You are 1cm taller than me and 2kg lighter....nearly the same size. You would have to go down to around a 37L board to be able to duck dive well enough to make it worthwhile.....

I have a 37L board; it's PU and is 6'4" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4". Are you ready for that? You've probably got a board or two in between where you're at now and duck diving. It's a process; I don't surf that board very well yet; I'm better on another 6'4" that has 40L, better still on a 6'8" that I had before, better still on a 7' mini mal, and so on.....build a level of competency, be able to catch most of the waves you go for, get up and get into waves and not get hung up in the whitewater, make some turns and be strong in the water....hit that and then go down a notch, and not a very big notch at that as a little dab will do ya; like I said there is a noticeable difference in my performance between the 37L and 40L boards, mainly in how clean I get out of the blocks....the little bit of extra float gets me up and going just a little better.

That's my 2c based on my experiences; you could be completely unique, who knows.....

[Big H]

To apply surfing to the analogy I used and my experiences....I like the mini mal I have....easy to paddle, easy to ride, a lot of fun.....it doesn't turn as fast as I would like to, doesn't get into the wall of the wave in steeper and deeper conditions; it bounces off and I get batted towards the beach....I could definitely learn to surf that board better than I can; I've seen guys in videos on mini mals do 360*s, tail first wave catches then spin 180*, cheater fives and hang tens....look hard enough on youtube and there is probably a guy doing aerials....

Here's a question for the forum - so how good should you be on your current board to go down in size? Probably better than I was before I changed....

[waikikikichan]

The Surf Series is a great starter board, but one thing holding it back is the fins. The thru the deck screw on fins are better than the rubber fins on the sponge boards, but still are flexy plastic. They are a bit over size for the sake of stability. You can try removing the middle fin, to loosen up your turns.

As for a step down board how about this - http://www.nspsurfboards.com/surf/produ ... /fish--7-0 . It's wider in the tail, construction just as tough as the Surf Series, and has FCS fins. But you probably won't duck dive it.

[benjl]

huh- I had a 7'6 surf series as my first board but I brought mine off a manufacturer here. I thought they were made in NZ and exported elsewhere but that link seems to differ!

I have to agree with Waikiki, the fin system on that board was pretty crap. I only had mine for about 5 months before going to a 6'2 fish but I imagine if I'd had it for two years like yourself I would be ready to move on and get something with at least better fins.
Served it's purpose for me in learning and expanding my froth for surfing but I found the rocker too flat once I got good enough to get decent clean or pitching waves.

The NSP fish is a good suggestion for your next board.
I've gone down the same track of trying to go small and get better duck diving but as Big H said, you have to sacrificie a lot of voume before you'll get something that can be duckdived effectively and then you also get the negative benefits such as paddling sucks, board won't work off smaller waves, shorter rides, having to take later and more critical drops etc. All stuff that could make a potentially fun day, not very fun at all.