beginner board question

SonOfPerdition

folks,

myself and the missus plan to take up surfing this year . . both of us are complete beginners, with just two hours of surf lessons


i need to buy two boards, one for me one for herself.

me: height: 6feet, weight about 14.5 stone
herself: height 5'9", weight about 9.5 stone


>>How often do you plan to surf?
we plan to surf every 2 to 3 weekends over next summer

>>Are you catching the waves easy?
i found it very hard to catch the waves during the lesson, mainly due to my fitness and strength levels ..which are currently beign worked on (3 nights a week in gym the last 3 months) so hope to have improved that area.


I'm thinking of getting a a 7'3" or 7'9" mini mal for myself, does that sound reasonable?

what should i be looking at for the wife?

thanks for any advice..

SOP

c - 13

I would be about a similar height and weight to you (when I started anyway ) and I started out with a Hi Fly 7'10". It wasnt a bad board - reasonably cheap to start out and fairly bouyant for a "larger" guy. The best thing is that it was all plastic so it can be battered around the place which to me is very important when you begin. Its now been given to my girlfriend to learn on, the only thing is she finds it a little wide for her shoulders so its hard to paddle so i'd recommend you stay down around a 7'2" for herself maybe ?

Take a look at Irishsurfer, Adverts.ie and the buyandsell and your local surf shop theres always second hand boards on offer.

Just looking at your post there again - if your only planning on surfing every couple of weeks I wouldnt go making a huge investment until your sure you want to stick with it

SonOfPerdition

thanks c-13, i hadn't thought about the advantages of a plastic board, or the width issues for paddling i'll keep them in mind when looking around.

thanks for the info
SOP

promethius

Hey SOP welcome to the wonderful world of surfing.

Nice way to spend time with herself and good exercise.

For yourself I wouldn’t touch anything smaller than a 7”9’ to be honest.
With your size, fitness and the fact that you’re not going to be in the water a lot, anything smaller is going to be tough and could end up putting you off for good.
For you good lady, a 7”3’ would be fine. Anything bigger and she might find it a little hard to handle and carry etc.
I wouldn’t go near the BIC 7”6’ by the way for either of you, it’s a great board but not for beginners, too narrow.

For fitness, some swimming and cardio work is probably best but no matter how fit you are it’s going to come down to getting reconditioned once you start.
You’re going to be using muscle groups you’re not used to using together so it takes some time but not that long.

I think you should try and buy some used BICs for both of you if you can. They really tough and ideal for beginners, float well and are very forgiving as you learn.
Don’t spend a lot as you don’t need anything fancy for now. As long as it’s watertight it’s grand. Don’t buy fibre glass boards as you’re just going to bash them up starting out. A molded board is the job for u.

Buy a new leash if the one on the used board looks raggedy.

Best of luck and happy surfing!

SonOfPerdition

Hi promethius, thanks for your advice, lots of good stuff in your post that narrows things down nicely for us.

promethius wrote:

For yourself I wouldn’t touch anything smaller than a 7”9’ to be honest. With your size, fitness and the fact that you’re not going to be in the water a lot, anything smaller is going to be tough and could end up putting you off for good[/FONT][/COLOR]

Is there a max size i shoult be considering? how would a beginner cope with 9' or 10' boards?

Best of luck and happy surfing!

cheers, we hope to have lots of fun!

c - 13

SonOfPerdition wrote: »

Hi promethius, thanks for your advice, lots of good stuff in your post that narrows things down nicely for us.



Is there a max size i shoult be considering? how would a beginner cope with 9' or 10' boards?

cheers, we hope to have lots of fun!

Generally the bigger the board the easier it is to stand on. I surf a 9' 2" and its simple to get the pop up on (after a bit of practice) its much harder to turn though due to the increased size.

promethius

Is there a max size i shoult be considering? how would a beginner cope with 9' or 10' boards?

That’s a very good question,
I think you’d be better sticking to a 7”9’ and not going more than a few inches over that.
Anything bigger might prove a little difficult for you to manage.
Here are the main issues for you I can think of:

The board’s long length could make it more likely to pearl (nose dive). I’ve seen this with beginners starting out on longer boards. This can hurt when it happens and also damage the board pretty badly. Most long board have very little rocker which doesn’t help. Rocker is the curve in a board when you look at it sideways, like a banana.
It is going to be harder to control (as last poster pointed out correctly) and you don’t want to be starting on a board you can’t easily stop on, could hit someone.
It’s going to be more difficult to manage in the whitewater where you will be spending a lot of time when you’re starting out, it’s heavier and takes longer to get in position for a wave etc.
Will also be hard to walk it out through the whitewater and lift it over breaking waves as you move outwards.

What you would gain from a longer board is more floatation, easier paddling and additional stability when standing.
To be honest, you’re not that heavy for a 7”9’, it will have plenty of float. The benefits of easier paddling and standing stability are outweighed by the drawbacks I mentioned earlier.

Also keep in mind it’s not just length that matters (like much in life J) but also the thickness and width of the board. Length is a good rule of thumb however.
Post up some pictures/details of the boards you’re considering looking at and the heads in the forum can give you some indication on what you’re considering.

I have a 6”6’, 6"8', 7"9' and a 9”0, the difference in handling when going from one to the next is very significant.

Best of luck!

SonOfPerdition

thanks for all the advice folks, I've ordered a BIC 7'9" for myself and a BIC 7'3 for the missus.

Now onto sourcing roof bars and wet gear.

thanks again

promethius

A great choice you will have many years of happy surfing on these!