Can a 55 year old find happiness on a 6-6 by 19 inches?

I hope you all appreciate how humbling this is to admit. My ego is shrinking. Maybe collateral shrinkage as well.

Can a 55 year old find happiness on a 6-6 by 19 inches?

I swim 5,000 to 8,000 yards a week on a masters team, with a bunch of sprints thrown in for an extra edge. I repeat 100’s on 1:20. Not bad. I weigh 165 and stand 5-9. ish. All the pieces of the equation are there (with the possible exception that I am not 19 anymore), but I am simply not catching waves on short boards. Like I think I used to. I think I forgot how. Kids all around me are surfing tiny chips on any given day. Big kids on 6-4’s and 6-2’s. How is this possible?

What is going on here? I don’t want to give up duck diving. And I don’t want to retire to a long board, exclusively. ( I love LB’s, don’t get me wrong.)

Should I cave in and just build bigger boards for myself? Are there some shortboard design considerations I should incorporate for better paddling? Wider tail? Less rocker? Is there some timing thing I may have lost. Should I go to Beach Boy Billy’s surf school for remedial lessons?

Any others out there dealing with this, too?

greg just go to 19 3/4 or 20 or more wide

and stay thin

problem solved

dont cave in and get a funboard

or even worse a mini mal

friend don’t let friends surf mini mals. all or nothing.

BTW, how old are you?

im 35 intermediate surfer (odd floater and cutbacks and reos )

i weigh 85 kg and generally ride 6 2s in small waves

sabs is 50 and he rides 6 2s

we both ride wide boards

not trying to hyjack the thread as it is related.I was wondering about fitness recently and how age affects it and has any one done scientific research on the subject .If we take Greg at twenty and his surfing and then Greg now at 55 and his surfing .Everything being equal,weight,fitness etc .what are the factors that would be different.Then add another 10years what can we expect of Greg the surfer at 65?Sorry Greg but your the Guinee pig.That could also help to answer gregs questions re board design

cheers

Mpcutback

Well. I’m over 50 and certainly find that I catch more waves on slightly bigger boards… I have a 6’4" x 19 that I ride if the waves are really good (steep with a lot of juice), but if its less juicy I’ll have a lot more fun on a 6’9" x 20, or 7’1", or 7’4"…or a 6’6" fish for that matter. I don’t have any problem duck diving boards up to about 8’long, above that and it can get tricky. Yes, you can use wider tails on your short boards, but that’s only one way to skin a cat. Why be hung up over the length or width of the board? Ride what you like, you’re probably not riding the same way those (big) kids do anyway…

Jeez,

100’s on 1:20 that is serious swimming for any age. I’d say you just had some bad sessions and your stiff. Get some wider, fishier and shorter boards in the quiver for the lesser quality days. Stretch. Stretch. Stretch. I have a couple of bad sessions and I start looking for answers as well.

I’m getting back in the pool to see if I can do 100’s on 1:20. Inspiration.

It’s your explosive strength, not the endurance that has slipped. fitness is not the issue, you can swim all day and bury just about any human in the water. But it’s the explosive power you generate to get from 0 to 10 mph on the board. There are 2 things you can do to equalize this. 1) Weight train and maybe gain that white muscle fiber back. 2) get a slightly bigger board that Keith mentioned. Give up the shortboard and get your surfing back on track. It’s about having fun, and not catching waves is not fun.

I could see your weight on a nicely foiled 6’10 thruster, you could use it all year long…big days, small days. The kids wouldn’t know what hit’em…there goes pop’s on another wave, what the hell got into him

Get the right board made and you’ll never go back to a chip, and next thing you’ll be surfing a 7’4" and having even more fun.

Resinhead…the old man on the big trifin.

you want to go smaller?

then

you gotta…

surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,surf,

and surf some more

I like shorties too

I’m 49… I’m about 5’8" and 190lbs… Been surfing nearly 43 years… Used to ride way shorter boards… Mostly because i wasn’t as old or fat or slow. My shortest boards used to be around 5’6" or so… now they’re 6’4" or bigger. I’ve stopped thinking I can outpaddle kids… especially in crowded lineups. I also don’t care so much anymore. I’ll paddle out on a shortboard - between 6’4" and 6’10" for me (except fish and mini discs) - if the waves are shoulder high or bigger, and it’s not super packed in the lineup. or there’s a point or defined peak.

If I have to outposition others to catch waves, I ride something with a little more beef. If I’m out with a bunch of shortboarders, I can blend in on anything up to about 7’6". More board under me usually feels better too. When I surf a shortboard, I can look back at where I’ve been and rationalize that I’ve gone really fast, and made lots of zippy turns… but I feel like I’ve spent most of my time focused on not scrubbing power, or keeping the wave from passing me by. A little more board gives me glide… and more feel. I can dance with the waves and relax. I can still crank turns and find the juice. I don’t have to think about not sinking the board… I can just go into the zone. Shorter works for me if the wave has some power.

I think bunny hopping to stay in a wave is silly. Fighting a tape measurer over ego is silly too.

Like Oneula says though - surf, surf, surf. Spend enough time on anything and you’ll get comfortable on it.

I rarely surfed longboards up to about four or five years ago. When I started with Hydro Epic the only model we had for the first year and a half was a 9’1". Granted it only weighed 9.5 lbs, but it was the biggest board I’d surfed for years and years. Since then I mostly - 60% - ride a longboard. I can paddle out for two hours and catch hundreds of waves (so it seems). When I surf my shortboard, I catch about a 1/4 of those.

OK. A little sympathy. A little advice. A little kick in the butt. I feel … a little better.

I like the explosive idea, Resinhead. Triceps, right? Beef them up in the gym, train them in the water?

And lighten up with my dread of obsolescence. And get in the water early and often.

Good to know y’all deal (successfully) with it.

I’ll finish the 6-6 now.

For me it’s all about having fun. At almost 55 years old I don’t get a lot of time in the water. Ride a board that you can catch a lot of waves on. For the past few years it’s been long boards for me. I’ve been thinking about 7-6 to 8-0 lately and maybe I’ll go ther in the near future. Just have fun and don’t worry about length.

Hi,

This subject is interesting to me too who started surfing late (age 43) and swim a lot too.

First of all, your swimming skills are fantastic! I don’t know how people go as fast as they do.

I’m a recent devotee of a book called “Core Fitness” by Verstegen. Get a copy if possible He’ll explain better than I that fitness is much more than strength in one particular area. For surfing, you need elasticity, explosive strength, balance, core fitness, and a host of other qualities that you may be getting none of through swimming. He has some great programs outlined that don’t take so long to do that will totally transform your body and probably your surfing as well.

He trains a lot of professional athletes and helps bring them to the next level. There is an example of a pro football player who lifted weights like you swim, but then really increased his ability by expanding his core fitness.

Michael

…yep, is exactly like Resinhead said

you re training only resistance

you need to train explosive force

G:

56, 170lbs, training to get down to 160lbs, 5’10" (I’ve shrunk a 1/2" since my

30’s), been surfing almost 50 years as of this November. I quit surfing sometime

back in the 80’s for about 5 yrs & missed the thruster revolution. Went to CI

(early Curren era) and got on a 6’6". Rode that and a 6"8" CI for many years.

Broke my back (L5) and had to go long to stay in the water.

Like you I’m having problems and this past two months I’ve been trying to go way shorter

for a summer Indo trip with my son. I found that dropping down to 8’ was no problem

and then went to a 7’6" wide tri (20") with a round tail and after about three waves,

had no problem catching a wave but my wave count went down. I then

tried a 6’2" fish and couldn’t catch squat. I found that I needed to change my

paddling stroke and beat to get that explosive charge like the guys are saying. I

also have lost muscle mass over the years (happens to us all after 35-40) which I

can’t get back and have tendon issues as well from being on shorts and overdoing it.

You are a really inshape guy, but I think that you should do some sprinting to build

up that explosive paddle. Also, try taking more of a lateral stroke to work your deltoids

more. Just watch out for tendonitis in your elbows… let us know how it turns out!

Tricep extensions, tricep pull downs…straight arm & bent elbow, Roto cuff work, forearm curls / wrist curls. Work on getting more water per pull, also puts more strain on the elbow and roto. That’s why you need to beef them up. You should already be getting good rotation from the swimming so your way ahead of the game there.

Do these and get a little more board, and you will not be out paddled…by anybody. It will now become an issue of how badly you actually want the wave, and how much you want to share.

Don’t forget the main pullers, latissimus dorsi (they give your back the ‘v’ look), and the lower sections of the trapezius. Chinups, pulldowns, rows, that sort of thing. Also, if you have time, to preserve your rotator cuff, give the external rotators (supraspinatus, teres minor, infraspinatus and some assistance form the rear deltoid) a go every now and then. You’ll be amazed at how relatively weak they are compared to the internal rotators (pectorals, latissimus dorsi, teres major, and subscapularis, with some assistance from the front part of the deltoid).

JSS

the best training you can do for surfing is surfing and surfing hard.

although you’re going to piss alot folk paddling back out like a steam engine after catching one…

there are some other tricks of the trade as well that you learn over time involving equipment design and technique that will compensate for raw energy and strength.

I have friends nearing 60 that can surf better than most surfers their kids and grand kids age.

Problem is they get to surf at least half a day everyday of their life because of their lifestyle.

when the surf is good and everyone is at work or in school.

best wishes

…if you dont have the pool and have the weight

here s the chart:

power: explosive force

intensity: 60-75% (Of your total lifting)

repeat: 15-10

speed: high

series nº: 3 to 5

exercises: 3 to 6

pause: 2 to 4 min

week sessions: 2-3

weeks:3

tension: concentric, pliometric

55 so what! You have the discipline to swim and train. Just train yourself to catch waves on a short board. Take a surfboard to the pool and do interval training, pyramids, etc. Keep your intervals short and intense. The motion of paddling a surfboard is an awkward activity for the human body. Trying to do other activities that mimic it’s motion is hard to do. Not to mention nipple, stomach, armpit rash. Just doing this in freshwater will give you a small amount of resistance, once you hit the ocean you’ll be an animal.