At what age did you start surfing and on what?

had a 6 ft david nuuhiwa board in the 80's (i was 18 or so) but i had depth perception issues and couldn't see sh!t. i sponged for the next 20 years, developing ways to see better. once i got the vision thing worked out i picked up a 9'6" dewey weber gun and have been enjoying it ever since. learning how to read waves as a sponger went a long way in helping me accelerate my surfboard acumen rapidly and profoundly.

 

Started surfing at age 48 on a 9'2 Southpoint. Now at 53 it's a toss up on the conditions what I ride. Anything from a 6'0 fish to a 9'2 longboard.

 

I started about a year and a half ago at 33. Started on a 9' long board and last week bought a 6'6" fish. I get out whenever I can, usually that means in the mornings before work.

 

I started at 23 too, and shared the same feeling until one day someone told me that "its not important when you start, its important that you started. just put in the water time and youll catch up!"

 

That is awesome! I surf with an older guy who only started a few years ago and his surf stoke is unbelievably awesome! Its a pleasure to be in the water with him, and dang is he good!

 

44

Started 4 years ago at 44--and damned I'm tired-wish Ida done it sooner -ride a 5'6" thruster my husband made for me

 

quit skateboarding after I stood up first try on a 9'. I was about 17-18 when I started... 23 now and hooked for life

 

1990 when I was 21 i took a road trip to ca. when i got to san diego I parked and walked to the beach. I was in awe watching people surf that beach and sat and watched for a long time. When i returned to boston i had to figure out a way to try. I got a used board, which was not a good learning board, I can't remeber it exactly something like a 6' or so. I'd drive out to Hull or RI and just get trashed. eventually I got an 8' funshape which worked out a bit better but I still hardly got up. I then started moving around allot but never close enough to water, I still have that problem. 15 years later My parents moved near the beach in Ma. and my dad got me a board for my birthday to keep at their house, again not a good learning board, an 8' gun or something. I didn't get far on that either. Eventually I got a longboard and things started to click. 43 now and that oringinal stoke which started 21 years ago in san diego keeps growing.

 

I gather you didnt read it. The author started in his forties. Its a fun quick easy read. A good couple days on a flat beach kinda read.

 

Just saw this thread and it reminded me of yesterday's session...

I guess the thick fog along the beachfront late yesterday put everyone off, because I surfed alone for a good hour before two little groms came out on their bodyboards. As it's been lately, the spot breaks harder and dumpier than most other spots around... it's a nasty and mean and gnarly little spot... and that's just what's coming out of the storm drain!

Anyway... these two little groms, both about 11 or 12 years old, come out and they're just taking off on anything... getting pitched, pulling in, getting ground up and spit out... coming up coughing and choking and spitting out their noses. Totally stoked...

So I see one of them has only one fin. I say...

"Did you just lose your fin today?"

"No... I just can't fit it on my foot."

"Why not?"

"Well I broke it and it's all swollen."

"Gnar, dude... How long did it put you out of the water?"

"A day or two."

"GNAR! AWESOME!"

Hahahah... love it.

 

I started in my early 30s on an 8'er. Had always wanted to learn, I grew up skating, started snow boarding in my 20s but did want to be the kook in the water. After hitting the water the first time with my board I went in with the attititude that I'd be respectful to the guys in the water, stay our of the way at all costs, and realized by doing this I wasn't the kook that I hated as a kid skating. Takes respect to get respect. I should have started surfing long before and will surf till I can't anymore. Best feeling in the world.

 

I started when I was 6 and I rode a morey body board. I was the king of the little kids at the beach on my board. At the age of 10 I got bic fish which was 5'10" after 2 years I got a 6 foot EZERA shortboard which I havent got to ride yet

 

my old man used to take me to croatan on saturday mornings and taught me to surf at probably like 9 or 10 years old. He would swim around and push me into waves. I would be riding, probably the coolest board that I ever had, one of his retro twinnie's from the 80's. Back then it wasn't cool, I just wanted a shiny white one covered in stickers, because you know, kids are d-bags.

Anyhow, those are still some of the fondest memories of my childhood. I can't wait to have kids just so that I can pass that along. He came with me on a surf trip to Costa Rica a couple of years ago and did the same thing. Every morning he would swim and I would surf. I even jokingly sat there waiting for a push once haha.

 

12 years old got a lesson for my birthday. Bought a bic funboard and rode if for a year.

 

The youngest of six, my older bros put me on the front of a longboard with them when I was six or seven. Surfed on some kind of board ever since. In my 40s now, have been surfing with my daughters (13, 10, and 7) for about a year. We just try to stay down the beach from the main line up and have a blast. Get just as excited seeing them pop up after I push them into a wave as I do catching a nice one for myself.....at least for now.