What kind of board do I want?

Hello,

 

I’m new to surfing. Am currently learning on a performance longboard. I live in new england so 1-5 or 6’ with varying conditions.

Im 5’10" 140 pounds and pretty weak with terrible stamina at the moment.

My goal is surf find a board that very easy to paddle and very fast. My desired style would be something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kIM0mXgzps      -very top to bottom, not many manuevers. Just fast and cruisie.

What kind would aid me in surfing like this? Fin setup? Thickness? Bottom contours?

 

Thanks!

 

how long have you been surfing?

how often do you get in the water?

assuming you're new to this (under 2 years of steady surfing), your #1 concern right now is PADDLE.

you need to paddle as much as possible, you need a board that paddles really well. you could probably go with something eggy, in the 7-8 foot range, low rocker, fin setup doesn't really matter although, thruster setups require constant pumping, which you proably don't have the skills for yet. single fin or even a well placed quad would probably suit you best...

the link you posted didn't work for me... right now though, you shouldn't be worried with style. just catch as many waves as possible. positioning via paddling. work on getting to your feet FAST and making that first turn down the line...

also, when you get in the water, make sure you burn your arms out by the time you get out. if this means you've got 3 hours to surf and you need to kinda conserve energy and work on your wave selection so be it. if you've only got an hour to surf, you should be paddling for every bump, and catching as many waves as possible. of course, you should always pay close attention to etiquette, and not be greedy. but, assuming you're surfing by yourself... if you are nearing the end of your session, and you still have energy, start paddling in circles. BURN OUT! after a while of doing that, you'll thank yourself.

chrisp is right - you need to surf every day for a year. To that end get a nice egg board, nothing radical in any direction. You want a board that will help you, not get in the way.

Then you need to learn wave judgement, how each type of break, and each individual break works, then what you can take off on, and when .

This is something you have to experience to learn. Get out in the water…

What kind would aid me in surfing like this? Fin setup? Thickness? Bottom contours?

 

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE... No board is gonna do it for you.

The best thing I ever made for myself wasn't a board, but a towel.  The basics are, in my opinion, more important than the board you ride.  A friend once told me that getting up quickly and accurately gives you a higher wave count because you will biff less takeoffs.  Pop ups and good foot placement are key.  To practice for this, I traced my feet onto an old towel that I would lay out on my living room floor and, while watching TV, I would practice pop ups during the commercials.  I would make sure I popped up fast and I would try to get my feet to land as close to inside my foot prints as possible. 

If you can make the drops every time then your natural style will be able to emerge that much more quickly and then you will learn which type of board fits you best, not the other way around i.e.  making yourself fit the board.

u didn't give an age, so i will presume you are post puberty.

new to surfing. on the east coast.  winter coming.  full wettie with hood. boots. and gloves.

i will tell you what i tell every beginning surfer who wants to ride more waves and surf better.

get a bigger board.  a long board.  if u are riding an 8' now, get a 9'6.  or bigger. 

bigger board equals more waves/more stability/more chances to ride/more practice.  practice develops muscle memory.  more muscle memory means u have to think less about basics and can concentrate on reading the wave. practice develops muscularity and stamina. 

i tell adults who ask me face to face that they need 90 days of surfing 4 hours a day...consecutively...or the equivalent in weekend/post work time, to get the basics down.

after that, get with a local shaper who can look at where u are at, and then talk with you about what kind of board will let u start to get where u want to go.

 

 

peterg is right on … I started surfing 4 years ago at age 42 on a 7’6" fun shape and had no progress for months until I moved up to a longboard. (Couldn’t catch any waves.) I live on the east coast and get out about 25 times per year so now after 4 years (=100 session) I just feel comfortable on my shortboard. Biggest help for me has been being in excellent shape (swim 4x per week) + I snowboard a lot.  

 

Michael

I did the same thing as werepat. Marked the approx dimentions of my board on the carpet using masking tape. Inside the board outline markings i marked where my feet should be, then just practiced popping up for a while. However I think one needs to work out what movements one should do and in what order. Start slow, get the order of movements right, then increase the speed. The way i did it and still do is lie flat, place my palms at the level of my chest, push with my arms....but keep the pelvis in contact with the floor. Then (im a goofy) i push off with my right knee to get the pelvis of the floor, (still keeping the back arched) and at the same time I bring the left foot to the right knee. Once the left foot is in contact with the floor I bring my right foot forward at stand up. Watch your torso position, it should remain as centered over the outline on the floor as possible in order to keep your CoG over the board when actually surfing, the shift of CoG to left or right will result in a turn even before you're properly up.

I think above board advices are v. sound

Good luck

Thank you all, very helpful…I appreciate all the advice. I love my longboard and am gunna continue to practice on it. It’s an 8’6" southpoint. I am able to catch waves on it, but it does require effort. I think thats should be good to help build a little strength.

So

Practice pop ups

Stretch (Yoga)

Burn my arms out

Swim

And Go out every day wther there is surf of not.

 

Is there any cool excersizes for balance?

 

Good Health! -Nick

Yes, you can pop up onto a Bosu ball (with the flat side up) … this is very helpful because when you land on it you have to be in good balance & your ankle muscles will be involved. If you pop up onto a floor, you’re only getting 1/2 the benefit.

I have an Indo board too but it is not so helpful … different muscles than surfing. Have to disagree with the post about popping up … if you make the popup “two part” (i.e. onto your knee first) you will never get a smooth fast popup. It needs to be one fluid motion.

I still remember the frustration of not being able to catch waves … it was because I was afraid of being pitched over the lip, so I was never in the right position … I would simply be too far out. That was my biggest obstacle (mental, not physical).

Michael

 

 

OT i know, but bad info is bad info.  Knees shouldn’t be used in the pop up, it should be just one strong "push-up type motion.  Less steps keep it fluid.  All good surfers I learned from transition from prone to riding so quickly it is difficult to see.  And again, board type doesn’t matter (in the instance of pop ups, a longboard is def better for learning), all pop ups need to be as quick and accurate as possible.

 

And, I know i’m getting petty, but I think the towel is a better tool as it is portable and at the end of the day is still a towel!   :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I like the masking tape board outline on you floor.  Add little x’s where your feet should end up and aim for them when you jump up.  As werepat said, no knees… go from pushup to feet… over and over.  Put the tape outline where you’ll be inspired to use it frequently - near the TV, in your bedroom, at work, wherever.  Surf as much as you can.  Swim as much as you can.  I never did yoga, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.  Bodysurfing is a good way to learn how to read waves.  Spend a lot of time on the beach watching surf.  Imagine yourself in the waves.  Watch a lot of surf vids.  

Strength and stamina will come with experience and time served.  It’s mostly in your head anyway.  Get your head straight and your body will follow.  I used to get a workout from surfing.  Now I hardly use any energy to surf.  

As a grom, my friends and I spent lots of time pretending to surf on dry land.  I still do it at 51.  I visualize myself on a wave and go through the motions in my head.  After a while, you’ll be doing this in your sleep too.  Speaking of sleep… I usually take new boards to bed with me before surfing them.  This creates a special bond that’s reflected in my surfing :wink:

Don’t worry so much about what board you need.  That will come to you (as many swaylockers can attest - over and over).  Try friend’s boards.  Rent boards.  Whatever.  Just surf and think surfing as much as possible and stay stoked.  I’ve been surfing 46 years.  Even though all I do is paddle out, catch a wave, repeat… it’s still the most gratifying thing I do.  

 

hey there

how about http://www.webbersurfboards.com/ the compact disc, good apparantly up to 4 foot

personally if i were you, i would think that i learn fast

paddling skills go up quick i winter !!

as a general guidline, 1 ft bigger than you are tall is good point to begin

so, 6ft10 in length

new england sounds you need more width, with all the wetsuit and so, say 19,5 inches

thickness, general 2.5, or slightly thinner

have a LIGHT board, light glassing.

so, boardcad.org shows me this:

just a quick sketch, pro’s should perfect it for you…

go with a thruster set up, i learned well on one, you can widen the nose, but duck diving becomes harder.

better to do rounded pointed nose i feel, personally… hard enough to start surfing already!!

[img_assist|nid=1046879|title=ne|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=644|height=387]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so having come on swaylocks and solicited advice from surfers all over the world, with years and decades of shaping and surfing experience, your decision is to continue to do what u have been doing already, and u expect to have different results?

 

"nobody listens to turtle".

 

good luck, sir.

No mate. I already have a long board that instead of getting a smaller single fin, im gunna keep practicing on for a while. And I’ve been practicing popup. And going out and paddling around the last two days even know there was no surf.

cheers!

we need another guy that can really paddle and get waves and then eat schit on the take off, then be right back into the lineup snaking another wave. learn how to surf, paddling is only a small part.

werepat... do you use just the strenghts of your arms to get you upright? prob not..in my opinion there has to be a third point of contact with the board nearer the tail, whether you use your knee, thigh or pelvis. With practice this "two step" technique becomes fluid and fast, infact the pushing of with the arms is near simultanious with the push at the tail. So in essence I use 3 points of contact with the board to get me upright while you might be using just 2 (although im not sure how). I think that if you were to make a vid of yourself popping up, slow it down, you'd see that you don't use just your arms to get upright, there is a third point of contact closer to the tail (just my opinion...don't take this as a stab at your skills and technique) :)

“Less steps keep it fluid.  All good surfers I learned from transition from prone to riding so quickly it is difficult to see.”

I think you two are saying the same thing. he is saying to minimalize other body contact.

I’ve been studying joel tudor’s takeoffs. Unbelieveable…

I need a way to slow motion the videos im finding.

Do NOT repeat Do Not get in the habit of using your knee(s) to help you get up in a take off. This is a terrible habit that will only slow you down, and in a critical wave this spells doom. As you progress in your skills you will find that you will feel the correct instant to pop up - just when your board begins to fall away from you and you will become slightly weightless. At that point your pop up will take very little effort and will be very quick - if you have practiced the proper technique.

Keep surfing - go out everyday. You’ll get it. It just takes dedication.