help with first "proper" board

[nimo]

I have been surfing on and off for the last year and have been useing a BIC 7'9" plastic pig, I know you will laugh at this board but it has served its purpose very well. I now want to buy a decent board and think a long board is going to be the way to go for me. I live on the south coast of the UK but have a holiday chalet in North cornwal. so want to be able to go out in a range of conditions. my level at present is , I can get most of my take offs and track along the wave making a few shakey turns.
The board that has caught my eye is a Robert August "what I ride" 9'0" surftech construction. I want the board to be as light as possible for paddleing speed and early take offs. In the future this will probably be paired with something smaller, but for now it will be my only board.
Am i on the right lines with this board choice ? any advice gladly taken.

[phillwilson]

sounds yummy,

how thick is it, cos i just tried a longboard that was a couple of inches shorter then mind 9' to my 9'2 but it was fairly thin compared to my chunky 3"er and i noticed it was much more unforgiving.

other then that would say your on the money

[twerked]

yeah, sounds about right. what are surface conditions like there? mostly choppy/unclean? or lots of glassy days? from my experience, epoxy longboards can bounce around a lot when there's just a bit of surface chop. whereas a fibreglass board is a bit smoother. but maybe it's just my imagination...

[nimo]

The Robert August is 3" thick so should be quite forgiving.
We do get a lot of choppy days here, I hadn't given that too much thought. I suppose it makes sense that a lighter board will bounce a little more. Don't really know how that will effect me though.

[themathteacher]

The August will be just fine, as a begginer you will automatically get more paddle, more glide, and have more fun right away. If you where a pro you would hate the bouncyness on choppy days, but you aren't a pro, the board will be great for you.

[Hang11]

Just my opinion, and others will definitely disagree with it, but I wouldn't use a surftech or similar board on the S. Coast of the UK. You'll be surfing plenty of gutless, choppy, onshore days, and those boards are corky, bouncy, stiff, and don't go at all well in those sort of waves.

Also, I wouldn't go for something too light. You say you want it for paddling speed etc, but a slightly heavier board will be quicker to paddle once you get it going, and be easier to get into waves than a lighter board, especially if it's choppy.

If it was me in your shoes, I would go for a decent all round longboard, shaped locally, built for the conditions. Just go see the shaper and tell him/her honestly what your ability is and where you'll be using it, and you'll end up having a lot more fun.

Tim Mellors at Custard Point makes awesome longboards, but there's a lot of other good shapers on the S. Coast and in Devon/Cornwall you could see.

I had a surftech out of the first batch imported into the UK, got a real cheap deal on it off the importer, beautiful board, great looking shape, and it was shite to surf in Brighton, bounced out all the time during the bottom turn, nearly crippled me trying to paddle it out on messy days, and just didn't feel right to surf. I sold it after a couple of months, and wouldn't ever bother with one for those kinds of conditions again.

It's a different story for clean/grunty surf though, they work OK for that.

[nimo]

Hang 11, I hadn't realized That there is a downside to light weight boards. I may be focusing too much on the weight thing as my current " plastic pig is nearly as heavy as my car.......
What about the durability side of the two constructions ? any benefit either way ?
Thanks for the comments guys.

[Hang11]

Epoxy boards are definitely more durable, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. You can keep a board going for years with duck tape and car pug

I guess the weight thing has a bit to do with how you like a board to go, but with mine, I definitely prefer a heavier board for small/crappy waves, and the flex of a traditional construction longboard makes a huge difference as well.

When you're riding weak, sloppy waves - like on the South Coast, you don't get speed from just trimming, it's all about using the lumps and bumps on the face to squeeze as much speed out of it as you can, and having a board that holds in through the chop, as opposed to bouncing around all over the place, and that has a bit of inertia behind it, will let you go faster, which means you can get some proper turns in, and will be a lot more stable due to the speed. Basically, you need to be on a rail most of the time, really working every last drop of power out of the wave.

Bic boards aren't necessarily crap because they're heavy, there's a few other factors that give them their unique crapness

[drowningbitbybit]

Bic boards aren't necessarily crap because they're heavy, there's a few other factors that give them their unique crapness

*DBBB splutters his breakfast all over the keyboard*

[Cole]

It seems like other people hit on this, so I'll just add my own spin. I surfed a Bic 8'4 and it was heavy, and the fins had too much flex, not very much drive. I later surfed a 9'5 PU single fin LB and found it much more reactive, even though it was an old board. My only experience w/ epoxy was on a 7'0 and it did feel like it floated too much and was too responsive to chop. The LB your talking about will probably be the complete opposite of what your'e used too, for better or worse. The thing should paddle like a boat though, and Im sure you'll like a more responsive board for small waves.