how to select first surf board?

[pow4ever]

As winter season coming to an end. The dreaded withdraw loom..

I have never surf before. Any tips are welcome.

Located @ Wrong(Long) Island NY. It's ironinic the best surf season for LI is in the winter time I was told.

Anyone heard of firewire surf board? They have so many different modesl. How does one go about choosing one?

maybe I should have rent and take some lesson first :)

Thanks

David

[dingbat]

David,

Renting and taking a lesson is a good idea.

For your first board you are going to want something big. A 9' long board with a fairly thick cross section, flat bottom, and round rails. A board like this will be easy to catch waves with, and stable when you are first learning to pop up.

If I do any surfing in Jersey this year I'll give you a yell to see if you want to come down.

-Mark

[Alaskan Rover]

I do a little surfing when and where I can. I'm no Kelly Slater, that's for sure....but I picked up a few things here and there.

For your first board, there is no reason to spend a bunch of money...I'd recommend going used for the board, as people are always trading up and so there are lots of used boards at most shops.

I too, recommend renting as many different type of boards as possible. I would stay away from the 'guns" for now, as they will do you absolutely no good for learning on unless you are a natural-born surf-god prodigy.

I don't know your size, but for most adult learners...9 to 10 feet is good. You need quite a bit of flotation while learning. I'd recommend a long-board at first. Many shops only rent those 10 foot foam Bics...a really lousy board. I surfed Montauk before....most of the shops there just rent Bics....BUT they will let you demo certain good non-Bic boards.

Single fin at first is fine for learning...you won't really have the skills at first to make use of 3 fins. The rounder shape at the fore end of the long-board gives you more flotation, but they're also wider and harder to paddle...get ready for some aching paddling shoulders at first, but you'll get used to it. The smaller comp boards are usually to squirrely underneath for most beginners.

One good hint is to practice beach pop-ups. The "pop-up" is the manuever you use to get up on the board during a wave...it has to be done LIGHTNING fast and accurately, so it takes a LOT of practice. The pop-up is the SINGLE most important skill you need to learn for surfing. Watch some videos of surfing beach pop-ups on youtube or whatever. You can practice them on the living room floor or out in the yard....do like a thousand of them until you get a nice fluid action. I can't stress getting the pop-up down enough.

Surfing is easy to learn when you're a kid, but buggedly hard to learn as an adult....but is truly worth it, for once you catch that first wave, and feel the ocean take you on it's merry ride, you're hooked.

You also might wanna try paddle-surfing as an introduction to real surfing, as it will give you a good feel for the balance needed for standing on a board and is a good bit easier to learn...no pop-ups necessary...and you'll STILL get that great feeling of riding the wave. 11 foot long board works well for that.

Gravity IS Life.

[Gecko]

I rode long boards and longer boards, the old adage of starting on a longboard isn't as much of a requirement as it used to be with the advent of boards like the Slug and the Fish...Firewire boards look nice if you are interested in a shortboard take a look at the Kingfish

oh yeah and all that stuff about pop up's? soo true

[lonbordin]

...if at this point no one has asked your size?!!!

Bigger people need more flotation. But if you're a smaller person you will really be battling to get a 9' longboard out into the lineup on any day with juice.

I hope your a good swimmer to start with and in good shape. Surfing is difficult to learn... Imagine every time you went down the slope the slope was different and there is no lift to take you back to the top. It's fairly easy to stand up and go straight to the beach but that's not surfing.

Oh, and you have to paddle out through the mountain to surf it.

Lessons are a great start and you can typically demo different board lengths but all of them will typically be 8 foot or better.

I'm not sure where you're going to be surfing on Long Island but the winter is really the best season. Spring and fall can also be really good. Summer time swell really depends on the hurricane season. Low pressure systems > Hurricanes for developing swell so Winter > Summer. With the right wetsuit, gloves and booties year round surfing is the way to go.

A trip to:

http://www.bungersurf.com/

is a great place to start. A lot of history there!

Good luck! Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[dingbat]

David is a big guy.

Or he just wears a big jacket.

[dingbat]

The secret to a good pop up is starting with the lamest girl push-up ever. Nothing comes up off the board but your shoulders and what they drag with them. This sets your back in a reverse arch. It's easy to create upward lift from this position by quickly snapping your back into an arch and your butt straight up in the air. As your body is jumping up, it leaves plenty of room underneath to swing your feet forward. You can practice in the comfort of your own living room. Make sure you have some sort of reference line to act as the stringer of the board to make sure you are placing your feet on center and keep your hands entirely within 10" of either side of the line.

[pow4ever]

Thanks all for the great feedback!!!!

I am 6' ~235lb in decent shape; decent swimmer :) not so good snow boarder lol

Will do more homework (internet surfing :) ).

Dingbat/lonbordin: Thank you very much for the offer!!!

so true on learning things when one is young. Just read some report that when you learn something as a kid you actually build neural pathway as oppose to just muscle memory.

Thanks!!!

--

David

[lonbordin]

Since I'm 6'4" 245 I can tell you not to even look at a board less than 8' long and something around 9' will be even better. Nice and wide 22"+ and thick (3"+). The "little" guys at the shop will have no clue about your flotation requirements.

A bonus with a nice longboard is that you can ride some pretty tiny summer swell and still have some fun while learning to surf. Also you can use a longboard as a paddleboard for fitness.

Craigslook has more than a few in your area but I would do the lesson thing a couple of times first.

I travel with one of these anytime I'm going near the water.

[dantheman0177]

Seriously there is only one way to start. Get a soft board and maybe a couple of lessons.

The best softboards on the market are G Boards (they also make the jet ski sleds for most of the serious tow in guys, designed by Ross Clarke-Jones). Check out and see if you can find one in your part of the world.

You won't be on that for too long, but it will get you up to speed so much faster than trying to get on a fibreglass board, so you'll enjoy the improvement and enjoy your time in the water much more as you are starting out.

Oh yeah, did I mention lessons?

[boarderboy]

Seriously there is only one way to start. Get a soft board and maybe a couple of lessons.

amen to the above!

And you might just find you'll stay with that softy, too, especially for small summer surf. Its great float is also welcomed in cold water.

Personal vote for best U.S. softboard is the CatchSurf Swizzle, designed by veteran builder, Tom Morey. He's the original inventor of the Boogie Board and has been developing long boards (short ones, too!) since the '50's.

http://www.catchsurf.com/

I bought my son a very inexpensive softy as his first board for our too-seldom beach visits. Over three different sets of group lessons, I've watched as he won the "Kahuna" award each time while kids with traditional glass boards floundered on their (often too-short) semi-submarines.

It's all about fun.

Hope you have lots of it!

BB