rookie buying board

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Hi!

I've been surfing for about 6 months now on boards I've borrowed from friends. But I feel as if it's about time I'll get my own board. I want to ride a shortboard, however not to short since I'm not all that good. Maybe something around 6'6". Does anyone have any tips or suggestions when it comes to picking out a board?

Thanks in advance,Karl

Karl,

Things to look out for when buying your first surfboard are, like you say, nothing too short. 6'6" might be ok as long as you're not a big guy. Try to find a board with plenty of volume in it i.e. something nice and thick like 2 1/2 inches or thicker with a nice wide plan shape, may 19 1/2 inches or more wide. Also check the rocker, that's the side profile curve of the board, the flatter the better in your early stages of surfing, this will make it easier to catch waves and help the board float over fat wave sections. Also something to consider are the new epoxy type boards, these are more bouyant size for size than polyurethane (foam core) boards and hence easier to learn on, Resin8 do a great range of boards - see Resin8 section on this site.

Hope this info helps,

Cheers,

Matt.

Matt Smith - crystalbluephotography.com

G'day Karl,Matt is on the right track, with his suggestions. Something that you may want to consider also is your surfing frequency. Many beginner surfers really take off with there skills in they're second year of surfing, especially if they are in the water a lot. A fat board is great to learn on, but you will start to realize that your dreams of chucking a good reo' (like your mates) will be harder to achieve if you are riding a 'boat'. So ask yourself the question, "Am I serious about this?" You may just be happy with coasting along the face for a while..... It's up to you.....

....and don't drop in!!!!!

All the best.....

Volume and stability makes a good beginners board....crawl before you walk, surf alot and as you get better you can get a more performance based design ( if thats the way you want to go )...enjoy

Hey Mark, read on Realsurf that you are going to do a new touring board. Awesome, what will you do differently this time you think? It seemed like a great marketting job last time Cheers!

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

yeah, got a few ideas of how to do it differently- better. The main one I wanna keep under wraps until it is sorted out, plus I have been copied a bit recently. ( a few board model names and some very similar shapes have appeared after me posted on the forums- dont own these things but have to contain some ideas a bit I think...shame ), anyway, I had lots of fun last project and have learnt a bit from it too...Hope to have some higher profile surfers involved and get the board to a few more exotic destinations...I am shaping a user friendly Quadfather design which hopefully will suit alot of guys...this shape is going so well that I am confident most will really enjoy it and may even sway them to ride something similar and increase the enjoyment in the waves...hope to have you involved too ??? Surfing Atlas is a part sponsor of the new project again.Thanks Adam...still dont have a name for the project, hoping to use the QUADFATHER name or a godfather link maybe ??? open to suggestions...

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