Learning to short board

[Roxyyy]

I’m 16 and I am already pretty decent at surfing. I usually surf on a 8-9 ft long board but lately I’ve been wanting to try getting good at short boarding. I’m already super comfortable in the ocean and I have a short board that a friend doesn’t use anymore. I’m pretty sure the board is 6’0” and I’m like 5’11.5. I weigh about 145 and I’m worried the board is a little to small to start. Do you recommend getting a larger board to start? Also, any helpful tips would be much appreciated. thanks!

[Big H]

Would recommend not jumping down in size 3 ft.....smaller bites like a 7.6 funboard would be a better next step.

BTW, how often do you surf and how long have you been surfing? Where and what kind of conditions do you like?

[oldmansurfer]

Have you tried the board yet? It's going to be a big change from what you are used to. Besides being more difficult to paddle it's going to be more difficult to line up because you have to be more close to the exact right spot. What do you mean by saying that you are pretty decent at surfing? Can you do top turns bottom turns and cutbacks both frontside and backside? What are you capable of doing? Most likely if you can put up with having a real hard time at first you can overcome the difficulty by practice but it may be a real slow learning curve at first because you won't be catching as many waves and I am only saying this because you are young still and learning will come much quicker. As Big H says It would be easier to do in smaller drops in size.

[Mrpompadour]

Where do you surf? If you surf often at a decent break, I would say go for it. One thing I wanna add. Many people seem to make this mistake (I myself did) thinking that longboards are easier than shortboards. They are entirely different along with most skills that come with riding them. If longboarding is like algebra, shortboarding is like geometry. Some find longboards easier, some find shortboards easier. I find it easier to shortboard than longboard. Mainly because I love and embrace the feeling of a skittish board compared to a big stable board. I always found it weird that I'd just mentally glue my feet when on a longboard because of how stable it was. Definitely felt weird on a longboard. So yeah, you're 16 and young, you should be riding soon with hard work and stubbornness. Some people learn differently, get out there and give it a shot!