Ive been surfing a pretty standard shortboard, 6'6" X 19 1/2 X 2 1/2 for quite a few years now, alternating between fun surfs on a fish on certain days.
Im finding as I age gracefully my paddling ability is decreasing and Im wondering if its time to move onto something with a little more foam!?
Im 176cm (5'9"), weigh in at 102 kgs (224 pounds or 16 stone). I am a solid build, quite large and strong through the chest and shoulders and solid legs through playing a lot of football.
Im thinking I may need to go up to a 6'8" and add some foam in thickness and width???
I think your plan is right on. Check your rockers, too. Going a bit longer, but keeping the same rocker will tend to flatten it, relatively speaking. Depending on where you surf, a little more width in the nose, and a touch lower rocker helps with the paddling, along with the added thickness throughout.
I keep saying this. You don’t have to ride a longer shortboard. Ride a shorter egg with a pulled in tail and a quad set up. If shaped write it will be more high performance than your long shortboard. I ride mine 4-5 inches shorter than my shortboard and a fair bit wider. My egg paddles better than my shorty and I can get my fins out and do all the crazy reverses and stuff still.[img_assist|nid=1050487|title=5'8 eggs|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=618] Drink the Girvin Koolaid!
another related query, I have been surfing a 6'6" thruster basically my whole surfing career 20 years) with the odd surf on a shorter fish etc for some fun. my question is is this; what is the basic guideline for selecting the length of shortboard you ride? The 6'6" is 8" inches taller than me...is there a rough guide on this? I am well aware this will be affected my numerous things such as ability, thickness, width etc but anyone know of a 'general rule of them'...i.e all rounder shortboard should be 6-8" taller then yourself?