Surfboard for a big guy.... 6 foot / 17.5stone.

[knobby]

Hi Guys.

Looking for my first board, don't really want to waste my money hiring a board and would prefer to buy one.

What can people recommend for my 6 foot /17.5 stone lard arse?

Cheers

Knobby...

[essex sucks]

8 ft plus but would say go more than that with alot of volume and nice and wide the more float you got the easier u will find it to lean on

[Deepwaterdesigns]

definately something with loads of volume, 8'6 or even 9ft. you can buy plenty of used mals and mini mals online plus they sell on really easily too and then always go smaller once you get comfortable with the bigger board. always try before you buy though make sure it suits you....you wouldnt buy a car without a test drive first would you?

[knobby]

thanks for the advice..

everyone is giving different advice but most are saying 8.5" to 10' I guess i need a big board. think im going to hire a foamie and see how i get one.

[Supafly]

Hey bro, i'm 6'4 and 200lbs and learnt to ride on a 6'6" x 19" x 2 3/8" but it took me a long time to make any progress when 1st starting but it was all worth it. Now that i've moved to shitty wellington in NZ from dunedin NZ and have got me a 6'4" x 20 1/4" x 2 3/4" hughes quad fish and love it for the shitty small waves here

Anyway where i was going with this, if you want an easy learning process go bigger with loads of volume but it is possible on shorter boards (i prefer shorter boards than longboards) it just comes down to preference, but you can always go shorter after you get the hang of it so best bet is to go big to shorten the learning process and maximise fun when learning haha

[knobby]

Hey bro, i'm 6'4 and 200lbs and learnt to ride on a 6'6" x 19" x 2 3/8" but it took me a long time to make any progress when 1st starting but it was all worth it. Now that i've moved to shitty wellington in NZ from dunedin NZ and have got me a 6'4" x 20 1/4" x 2 3/4" hughes quad fish and love it for the shitty small waves here

Anyway where i was going with this, if you want an easy learning process go bigger with loads of volume but it is possible on shorter boards (i prefer shorter boards than longboards) it just comes down to preference, but you can always go shorter after you get the hang of it so best bet is to go big to shorten the learning process and maximise fun when learning haha

Hey,

I am about 45 pounds heavier than you. thats my worry..

[Supafly]

Yea i'm not saying it is the correct choice just saying it can be done with patience but i do have a mate currently learning that is 118kg and he is doing very well on a 7'6" mini mal with loads of volume (cant remember the other dimensions) i personally wouldnt go any shorter than that if i had to re-learn how to surf (like it was fun on the shortboard but it just took too long on the 6'6")

But yea when learning especially larger surfers it is always best to got too big than too small

[bluyan]

hi knobby,

i'm 6'4 and about 17st (tryin to sort the last bit )...just about intermeadiate level...

imo if you can afford £375.00 then this board will give you loads of happy surfin memories......in conditions from 1 - 5ft this board will pick anything up...there will not be many who beat your wave count per session (unless you have no arms ) and that imo is what it is all about..catching waves...even if you don't go for this ,make sure your board has bucket loads of volume....

http://www.secondhandboards.com/search. ... ll&id=5597

the board comes with a top fin set up (which i would knock £50.00 off if you didn't want them)£325.00 with standard set up.
a bargain imo but hey ho if it doesn't move it will be headin for ebay in a few weeks.....others views would be welcome feedback as to wether it is to much or to little..

some of said board in the water.












the reason for the sale...i dropped on a 9'6"mctavish fireball....in a blue resin tint ....what could i do...



cheers
ian

[Liquid Peace]

Better to rent/hire until you find a board you dig, good boards are expensive & you should enjoy riding it, buying a board, without experience or knowledge of what you really want & need will cost you way more in the long run. Most surf shops will let you rent for an entire, day, week or month and allow you to experiment with their full quiver of surfboards! Enjoy the process, really it is impossible to tell someone what kind of board they should buy, you may like long boarding or short boarding better, you may even find that you prefer a SUP.

[stevie]

hi all, i'm 16 st an 6" 3, Got an 8.5 ft NSP board, its nearly too long coz its quite hard whilst learning to get your weight forward enough after popping up, the longer the board the further forward you need to get the front foot an for ages i didnt know what i was doin wrong, i kept falling off the back of the wave.

just summat to think about, good luck to you all, surfin fukin rocks

[jaffa1949]

Hi Stevie , I would suggest to you that your board is at the bottom end of length for your size and weight rather than too long.
If you are falling off the back then your pop upand paddling position is most likely at fault by you being too far back on the board. When you paddle the nose should be no more than an inch above the water paddle hard to exceed the speed of the wave until you are paddling down the face feel the acceleration give two more strokes and then pop up with a step forward at the same time. See how you go

[dtc]

Stevie - I have read (but not personally experienced) that sometimes people pop up by moving their hips back to be over their feet, rather than moving their feet forward to be under their hips. The former, naturally, puts you way too far toward the back of the board. Off the top of my head, I reckon if you are a bigger guy (and/or do not have sufficient upper body strength), you may be tempted to stick your feet onto the board ASAP and then stand by moving the rest of your body backwards.

Just something to think about next time - as Jaffa said, you need to 'step' forward.

[stevie]

dtc an jaffa, thanx so much for the great tips, ive been doin a lot of core exercise lately to improve my pop up dtc, and I've taken some severe wipeouts/nose dives while sortin out my positioning jaffa lol

its all good tho folks, im glad i have a longboard coz im catching lots of waves, an ure tips are valued big time, thanx again

[dtc]

If you arent wiping out then you arent challenging yourself. Thats what I say, anyway, as I'm flailing around 5ft underwater yet again.