New guy longboard to shorter board question

The funboard/fish designs can be hit or miss. In my opinion they wont work as well as a traditional fish (short and stubby) or normal funboard, something in the 6'6-8'0 range. I would try and go with a funboard FIRST. You will gain better balance, mauerverability to later step down to a fish shorter than your height.

Phil Taylor actually shapes a model called the Hobbit, its 6'9 looks like a longboard, still plenty of width and thickness with a 5 fin setup. Worth a look to get ideas in your head.

I attached a picture of two of those models, I would suggest something like that.

 

get the 6-8 now. serious go get it now.

you will never know until you try it out and those dimensions seems reasonable for going down in size.

+ this could be a mid life crisis purchase or something like that

 

Dude- that would be a perfect board for you to transition too- I would even suggest a little bit longer. But the board is 3.5 in thick- so that's good. You can learn to duck dive it ok... It will just take effort.

Most of the guys who would dislike that shape probably ride a 5'10 so they are use to a smaller more responsive board. But you riding a longboard to short would be a different story- actually you would most likely dislike a 5'10 lol

Buy the board- or look for one a little bigger even- longer with a little less volumn- but your right in the area you want to be.

Btw if you enjoy long boarding- embrace it- it's a lot of fun!!

 

"Listen to Tard"

 

3 5/16?!?! Holy crap. Forget duck diving, that'll be tough to carry under his arm!!!!

Some good posts here. Glad we are learning to play nice.

OP hope you get stoked bro. Get a Carver.

 

Play nice....? Where's sandblaster? Where's gitcarter??

Agree w spicoli: you better be benching 420 & bangin' Hindus if you plan on duck diving that much float.

 

Hope we get some swell around here (VB) so you can better transition to that smaller board.

 

Benching 420? If he thinks he's duck diving that, he must be smoking 420...

May be possible with a lot of practice. Enjoy the board OP, and report back with pictures, of the board and the injuries you sustain duckdiving it.

 

To add to some of the posters above. I recently just got to riding a shortboard myself.

I was on an 8'2" softy and then got a 6'8" egg which I wasn't very good at. After that I found a used 7'6" ronjon that I was catching wave after wave on, seriously. I was catching more waves on that thing than a majority of the shortboarders. I now have a 6'4" thruster that I have started getting okay at but am by no means good. I seriously suggest you go the funboard route and even that will be tough to get used to at first. Good luck man and have fun. You only live this life once so take your time and do it right!

 

Look at lib tech water boards their is a 6'6 Extension ramp . i know its not a fish , but their pretty user friendly . 5 fin set up , concave deck ,fins are adjustable ,( put fins close = tight turns , further apart =long arcing turns ), plus their real durable . I Kitesurf and surf the same board the vert by lib . Real water sports might have one you can demo down on obx.

 

duck diving has 3 parts...down, through, and up. thickness helps w/up part.

 

Such a great post. I'd been neglecting the up part til recently. Has made all the difference. Even on a smaller wave, without the up you seem to get spun a bit or at least pulled into the spin which pulls you back. Feels great to get pooped out the back when you point that nose high. A good duck dive feels smooth and is a mental relief anytime I do it. Makes getting out back more fun. Then again that could be warm water temps being so kind...

baddy bro, why is thickness supposed to aid the final part? Is it due to more buoyancy pushing you through the water as it tries to get to the surface?

 

more buoyancy means faster rate to surface. sometimes in larger (well, actually under it) surf on the upside
of the dd guys can accelerate their ascension - and YOU WILL do this in hawaii - by turning their board 90 deg
whilst under water....cause you gotta go deep to avoid....(that!). and once deep you must get back up....

something i love to do and is completely irrelevant as well as irreverent is to slow down the dd and let the
crashing lip whack my heel. at that point you're not going to get pounded cause momentum sees you through
and its feels as if i'm flipping the bird to the waves power. (um, did i invent this or do youze guys also
taunt the set wave)...??

 

baddy tell me more bout the 90deg rotation please. I've been doing that during the bigger sets during sweet baby Bertha and Cristobal just by intuition as I felt like I needed to.

The giving the bird thing I'm not sure when I do that but I can see other people do that with their trail leg whether they intend to or not. Chances are they're from the "just go and surf" mindset and have no idea they're telling the wave to eff itself lol

 

happily. imagine THE OPPOSITE of sinking your board in a pool; that is, its ascension. when
rising the water displaced is 'X'....when you turn it 90 deg - or on its rail as how most might describe it -
the formula goes something like 'dis... x - (surface board area reduction) = y (which is faster rate of
ascension)...

in street vernacular (or, line-up) it goes something like dis: damn, that ***** just missed putting me
in the ER....which is good but now I REALLY NEED TO BREATHE so i must move toward the light ASAP....
what or how do i get there quickest....(before this ***** puts me in the ER)...

 

ahaaa