New surfer wondering about longboarding???

[SnowPyro]

Hey...well currently I'm learning to surf and I am learning on a longboard that my friend is letting me borrow. I am liking it and I think I want to go in the way of longboarding over shortboarding, but I want to know how long I should wait before getting a board. I'm not good or anything, but I think by christmas I cold consider myself a true beginner cus I go to UCSB and literally live on the beach. Al Merricks head quarters are near me and my surfer friends recommended getting a shorter moderately priced merrick too. So should I buy whenever or should wait until I am pretty good or what?

[FishKid Wales]

Do a search on this site and check out the tutorials as this will produce a shed load of info on starter boards.

P.s i never knew merrick did resonably priced boards

[WooD]

I'd stick with anything 9+ in length. Going from a longboard to a shorter merrick might be a challange. If you are set on a merrick check out his water hog line. A friend of mine has a 7.10, and its a really nice board. I thought about getting a 8.6 water hog, but decided I'd stay with the local shapers.

[waterlogged]

I'd check out the Beach House down by the pier in S/B. They have a wide range of boards, and can get you set up with a longboard. Everything from a SurfTech to a multi-thousand dollar, mother-of-pearl inlaid Yater. (not likely for a college student, or most other surfers actually)

It's a fun shop just to visit anyway because of all the great retro boards hanging from the ceiling.

Enjoy.

W