buying a shortboard.

[lukathegrom]

I'm 5'1 40 kg and an intermediate surfer. i can drop in and pump for speed on my dads 45 litre firewire spitfire but i need a board that i can duck dive and do snaps and cutbacks with for when i get better. i have good balance. any recommendations for under 650 to 700 £?

and any good surf shops in england

[BaNZ]

surfdome and boardshop are both good online shops in UK. I got my boards off them.

[waikikikichan]

I'm 5'1 40 kg and an intermediate surfer. i can drop in and pump for speed on my dads 45 litre firewire spitfire but i need a board that i can duck dive and do snaps and cutbacks with for when i get better. i have good balance.

You may have good "Balance", but what you don't have is good "Reading and Comprehension" skills. You are just asking the same question again after not wanting to listen to the advice we gave you. Why don't you at least try surfing your Dad's 6'0" 29.5 liters ? Practice your turns and duck dives on that. Save up your money to when your skills can match the new boards ability.

5 foot 1 and 35 kilos so almost every board i try is like a tanker but this time i was on a firewire spitfire that was 50 litres.

You wrote that on August 16th. So you're gaining weight quite quickly ( and somehow the Spitfire is losing volume ? ). The more you surf, you'll build more muscle and gain technique to duck dive bigger boards. Getting a board that's super easy to duck dive but very hard to catch waves is not the right answer. Your cutbacks and snaps will be much stronger and quicker if you can learn to do those on the 6'0" and then transfer those skills to a 5'4" later on.

[oldmansurfer]

This guy is riding a board too big to duck dive

[lukathegrom]

waikikichan i took in your advice its just that my dad changed his mind as he doesn't want to bring his board to england to pay airfares and he wants me to use a smaller one. And i agree that my reading and compehension of waves is definitely not good enough for a really really small board but my dad wants me to use a 5'5 or 5'4 so im not sure what size i should get.

[lukathegrom]

i can only surf the 6'0 in october when i go to ghana and before that he wants me to use a smaller board so i'm unsure what to do, should i just go for a 5'6 5'7 or try to tell him that i need a board i can grow into like a 5'8 or 5'9?

[waikikikichan]

Thank you for the clarification that the 6'0" is not available for you to use. But what is not clear now is your Dad wants you to use a 5'4" or 5'5", but you countered his advice with maybe wanting a 5'6" or 5'7". And to top that you threw in 5'8" or 5'9".
Since you've used Firewires before, I used their volume calculator to see what size board is recommended for you.

This shows boards of 20-24 liters in volume with sizing ranging from 5'2" to 5'4" for 23 liters.
BUT............. that is if you are an INTERMEDIATE surfer.

This shows boards of 35-43 liters in volume with sizing ranging from 5'10" to 6'2" for the lower end of the scale at 35 liters for Beginner surfers ( usually those who can't turn or cutback ).
YOU need to figure your true level of surfing. You need to rely more on YOU, not the board.
We can not answer or give you advise if you yourself are confused. You need to try a 5'4', 5'5",5'6", 5'7", 5'8" or 5'9" to see if you can actually surf it. And if there aren't any boards like that to try, then take your best quess-timation and live and learn.

[lukathegrom]

thanks a bunch for the advice.

[kookextraordinaire]

I thought I'd chime in here with what I hope is practical advice.

An overwhelming number of beginners seem to think that purchasing a shortboard will somehow magically improve their surfing. But until one masters the basics (dropping in and pumping down the line don't constitute the basics) shortboards work against the beginner surfer.

Paddling a shortboard is an art unto itself. It requires technique that can only be gleaned from surfing a suitable beginner board. Not only that, but developing ocean sense takes years. Imagine being caught in a rip, getting pushed way outside and having to paddle all the way around the rip with poor and inefficient paddling technique on a chippy surfboard. It will be exhausting and dangerous.

You say you want a board that is easier to duckdive. Poor technique won't compensate for low volume; many people on shortboards take a beating because they haven't mastered it.

I hope this doesn't come off as criticism. Perhaps you are a wunderkind of a surfer and none of this applies to you. But I would just stick to the board you have for now. Perhaps you'll take a beating getting out to the lineup but just hold on with all your might, it will be good for you.

On a side note, all this volume stuff has gotten way out of hand. Volume is a consequence of all the things which make up how the board perform (rocker, plan shape, concaves, rail thickness and shape, tail width to list some). I think people have started to focus on this one measurement far too much. Pick up a board, hold it under your arm (for some this is the ultimate test!) and compare it to other boards and you can get a sense of it.

[Big H]

The under the arm test doesn't mean anything if it is your first or second board. You need to have developed a point of reference.

[lukathegrom]

kookextraordinare.

I appreciate your advice and i hope to assure you that i'm not just buying a shortboard to look cool and duck dive.
It is mainly because i have advanced my surfing to the level that i can pop up quickly, bottom turn, pump down the line and paddle out of rips. (even on a shortboard). I understand where you're coming from because i have seen a couple of people have one surf lesson and then buy a performance shortboard only to then hate surfing and/or get in serious danger. I've been swimming in waves my entire life so i know a bit more than most intermediate surfers. Thanks for the advice though.

[dtc]

As Big H has said, unfortunately surfing isn't a sport where you can say 'height, weight, arm length = this board / volume'. You have to surf a few boards and go 'like this, don't like that' and winnow down the 100s of options to the ones they work

And when you are developing skills and growing at the same time, it's going to be a bit of a lottery because you will be changing the input variables all the time. You might be best off just buying a few cheap second hand shortboards - there are usually a few around (if you live in a surfing area) - and trying them out. If you can't then I would be a bit conservative ie don't push the length or volume to what you 'might' be able to handle; stay with what you know you can. Having a slightly bigger board or volume won't create any downside (I mean, look at how long 2 inches actually is and you will wonder why people agonise over 5'6 vs 5'8). And you will grow and what is now possibly a slightly big board becomes a slightly small board

[kookextraordinaire]

Hey Lukagrom,

Excuse the rant. As you can tell this particular subject irks me; I also think it's reprehensible that surf shops will happily sell a hpsb to just about anyone, even novices. It's pretty easy to spot a beginner in a surf shop from a mile away. That's retail, I suppose. Not that there is anything wrong with beginners, we all start somewhere.

Yeah, you definitely sound like an intermediate, which is cool. I know it will be more expensive but I would consider getting a grom sized board. An oversized and boaty surfboard will just hold you back (just like a really skinny and over-rockered high performance board). I think you should seek a happy medium between performance and wave catching. I would suggest going on "surfer mag" forum, people who post there give pretty good advice on sizing.

On the subject of volume, it's not as crucial as people think. I've seen surfers on shortboards catch waves every time when others in the line up struggle on mini-mals. Get insanely good at paddling. Here's a great link, read the posts by Nick Carrol.

http://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12430'

Hope you find your magic stick . Let us know!

[kookextraordinaire]

Hey Lukagrom,

Excuse the rant. As you can tell this particular subject irks me; I also think it's reprehensible that surf shops will happily sell a hpsb to just about anyone, even novices. It's pretty easy to spot a beginner in a surf shop from a mile away. That's retail, I suppose. Not that there is anything wrong with beginners, we all start somewhere.

Yeah, you definitely sound like an intermediate, which is cool. I know it will be more expensive but I would consider getting a grom sized board. An oversized and boaty surfboard will just hold you back (just like a really skinny and over-rockered high performance board). I think you should seek a happy medium between performance and wave catching. I would suggest going on "surfer mag" forum, people who post there give pretty good advice on sizing.

On the subject of volume, it's not as crucial as people think. I've seen surfers on shortboards catch waves every time when others in the line up struggle on mini-mals. Get insanely good at paddling. Here's a great link, read the posts by Nick Carrol.

http://forum.realsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12430'

Hope you find your magic stick . Let us know!

As an example of riding too big a board, I used to ride 6'2" with widths around 19 5/8. I thought a bigger board would help. Now I ride a 6' 19" 2 3/8 and at my height and weight (6' and 165 lbs with wetsuit) it goes really well.

[Namu]

Get a bigger board so you can grow into as your skills improve. You will get heavier and have a harder time paddling into waves on a tiny board. If your dad has money to waste on buying a new board every year as you grow, then that is up to him. If he gets pissed off that you can't surf a small board and has to buy another bigger board that is his fault. If you have any say in board size go with a bigger board.

[jaffa1949]

I hope your dad is not a surfing version of a soccer dad. I hope your dad is just encouraging you to surf not trying to build you into a competitive surfer (unless that is your dream) You need to be riding a board that suits your surfing level and abilities not, somebody else's thoughts.
Sounds rich after we give you surf board advice, but in the end you have to choose what works for you.

[lukathegrom]

My dad used to be like that when i was around five years old. But now he just pushes me to go out in bigger waves. (head high to 1.5 overhead) so thats another reason that i want a smaller more agile and duckdiveable board.