Advice for Beginner

[salty_beard]

Hello,

I have surfed a few times and are considering getting my own board. Since I want to commit to it and don't want to rely on other's people availability for going surfing.

I have a question that is probably the most popular here (and boring one) but mine has a small twist.

I know that the ideal board for a beginner is a mini mal. However I come from skateboarding and even though I know I am totally beginner with absolutely no surfing skills, due to my skate background I can to some extend imagine the surfing style that I would want to adopt. Mini mals seem great and sound fun but I don't see my self being satisfied by just standing up and managing to ride a wave.

Anyway I was thinking if getting a large fish (not retro) or the Santa Cruz pumpkin seed will be a wise choice for a total beginner. I am 5'11 and weight 141 lbs.

The choices that I am considering are

Santa Cruz Pumpkin Seed 7'0
Santa Cruz Pumpkin Seed 7'6
Tiki Sumo Fish 7'2
Rusty Piranha 6'8

I was thinking that due to size and thickness it won't be so hard to paddle and catch waves with the above boards. Not sure if this is a valid point.

Please let me know if any of the above seem like good and viable options for learning to surf or if you believe that I must go with a mini mal.

[kitesurfer]

Hi and welcome. We get many skaters, snowboarders and other types ask exactly this. The simple answer is you will be shredding far sooner on a shortboard if you start out with a minimal. Buy or rent a cheap one then ditch it for a shorter board once you have the skills to catch and ride green waves easily. Its always a mistake to splash out lots of cash on a first board, it will get trashed.
Its your call though you don't have to go with a minimal.

KS

[drowningbitbybit]

99% of learning to surf is about learning how to paddle, how to catch a wave, how to be in the right place, how to get out back, how to read the waves... skateboarding isn't a lot of help with any of that.

[dtc]

What is the issue with a mini mal? Do you think it doesnt look good, or do you think its impossible to turn one? If the latter there are plenty of videos showing people doing fun things on mal shaped boards - they arent just 'cruise down the wave' boards. Its a slightly different tecnique to 6ft boards, but you can do a lot of the same stuff.

If you are dead set against a mini mal, then get the longest board. Anything under 7ft is a complete waste of time; and under 8ft might double how long it takes you to pick up some level of basic skills.

The others have said it, but dont you think there is a slight difference between rolling a 30inch skateboard around the place and a surfboard?

[salty_beard]

I think there is some confusion here. I did not state anywhere that I think surfing and skateboarding are the same.

I also clearly said that I have no surfing skills so unless you got an issue with skateboarders I don't see how your comment " dont you think there is a slight difference between rolling a 30 inch skateboard around the place and a surfboard" contributes anything to this thread.

What I said is that I come from another board sport (skateboarding) and have the culture, and some basic understanding behind with what I want to achieve with my surfing. In simple words what means fun surfing for me.

I don't think that people coming from snowboarding or skateboarding are the same with some 35 old dude that just picked up surfing. Coming from a board sport you can understand, work on your style of riding and most important of all having the advantage of balance and quickly picking up where to place your body and how to turn, etc.

I don't care if a mini mal looks good or not, it just seems so big and kind of slow and since it is hard to find a used mini mal here I am trying to figure out if it is worth investing on it for shortening the learning curve or if jumping on another board will be a bigger waste of time and money.

[Lebowski]

I also came from a skateboarding and snowboarding background, and to be honest, they offer no real advantage in surfing. Surfing is hard. As drowningbitbybit said, 99% of it is about paddling into the right spot, catching waves, getting out back etc. Mini-mals may look slow to you, but that's probably because you see them being ridden by beginners. The fact is, a bigger board will begin to plane (ie catch a wave) at a lower speed but you can make plenty of speed on them. I haven't looked specifically at the boards you mention, but big is good for a learner. If you go too small you'll be going even slower than the mini-mals because you won't be riding any waves. Having said all this, you're quite light, and the board sizes you have mentioned seem reasonable to me.

[jaffa1949]

It really is good advice when you know someone has taken the same path you as the one you intend to follow.

When you are up and riding your board skills will give a speed up to what you can do.

In all other board sports, the thing you choose to ride doesn't move or suddenly pitch upwards as you hit a reef or morph as you ride into a section.
Just have fun ride longer first, no board is slow it's always the rider.

[Toj]

All i can say is the same as what what other people have already said. Surfing is more about paddling, timing and reading the wave rather than trying to start shredding straight away. If you buy a second hand minimal (you can get a good one for ~£240 and even some new kits for about that price) you can sell it for close to what you paid for it, then use this money towards a shorter board if thats the way that you really want to go. My other half had a 7ft4 minimal (bearing in mind she ahd surfed quite a bit before but incosistently) after a year of getting on wtih it really well and being able to catch 99% of the waves she went for she was on the look out for a rusty Piranha 6ft8 but at a new price quite expensive. long sotry short she part ex. her old board for this one and its the best thing she could've done, she has transferred the skills from her longerish board (paddle power/stamina, timing, reading the waves) to this one and is now pregressing even more.

Never bite off more than you can chew, short boards seem cool and they are when you can use them, other wise your on drift wood in the sea with no strength to use them. They need much more power to get them to the same planing speed as minimals/longboards.

Maybe just go for a BIC, or surf series board. you can get a 7ft9 bic board with leash, fins and a bag for £249

[pmcaero]

As a beginner, I have to say that I was impressed with how fast I was able to catch waves on a mini-mal, and I find the board able to maneuver well enough for this stage.Enough turning ability to avoid people in the water is good enough for me
Based on my experience and being in your shoes so to speak (I have decent balance,and no real previous surfing experience), I think you should pick this type of board.