when is a shortboard absolutely not suitable for you?

[DreamSurf]

i do not mean like it is not suitable cause you can not ride it. but i have a stubborn friend(hear me saying that). that has a shortboard and i see him paddling and it basically sinks into the water. is that even ok?
question is really what are the rules of a valid shortboard? without mentioning how you weight or anything. what is the proper feeling. should it be floating like my nsp 7.2?

i keep telling him it sinks to much. and when the wave comes he paddles like a panther running or cheeta. but i see the shortboard of him sinking in the wave that is coming towards him. ofcourse you need to lean forward so that the wave pushes the tail and so forth. but he does that. i mean it allready is under water a bit when he paddles. the more i talk about it the more i realise i answered the question myself. but again

what is the proper shortboard to function? without mentioning weight or height or anything

[oldmansurfer]

I have a 6'2" board that was made for my wife who weighs 100 pounds. I weigh 210 pounds and I can catch waves with it but for all the looseness of it when on a wave it is just too difficult to catch a wave for me. If I were younger and in better shape I am sure this would be the board I rode mostly or something like it but in my old age and broken down body it's too small

[YungGrom]

Might have really low volume, I bought a board thinking the dimensions were right (5,8 and 27 L) but it was about 5,6 and 23 letres. I sounded exactly like that paddling like a cheeta but sinking in the wave. Probably too high perfomancey.

[jaffa1949]

There are no set rules as what board you ride.
These questions need to be asked, no matter what animal he paddles like, does he catch a wave? If he does , does he ride the wave at his level of ability?
There is a trade off in going short, you have to be able to link manouvres to maintain speed without float volume you have to have speed to get through flatter sections on a wave.
No speed = sinking feeling and a critical manouvre without speed turns into an epic bogging.
Smaller lower volume boards require later drops in a more critical part of the wave and the control to pull it off. Look and you will see many late dropping short boarders of low skill dropping and then being trapped behind the white water, or if they make the open face not being able to generate enough speed and the white water runs them down.
All these things are signs the board is not currently suitable.

[icetime]

Sounds like someone took out the Shortboard they bought without knowing much about surfing.
A surfboard in general isn't right for you if it's not matching your physique or skill level, you can easily be under volumed and that's why you should stick with a fuller nose as your first shortboard, most kids try and go for the pointing extreme rocker shotboards cause they look cool just to basically be swimming in the water and not being able to catch waves.
Not too many of them here but Big H did say he sees a lot of vacation kids under volumed coming over to Bali

[oldmansurfer]

To surf a low volume board you need to be more accurately in the right position which means a narrower area that you can take off on a wave. So whatever skill level you have in lining up you will probably catch more waves with a board with more flotation unless you are so good at lining up waves that you are never out of place for your shortboard. I enjoy my medium length boards because they allow me to be well out of place for a shortboard and still catch the wave and they still turn well. If your friend is unable to catch waves then it's likely too short for him or he needs to learn to lineup the waves better. If he catches the wave but has the board is unstable and flying all over then it is just a matter of time to bring it under control. If he catches the waves and it bogs down then he needs steeper waves.

[RinkyDink]

I am still a beginner, but here is how I understand it.

Bigger board = more floatation which means a surfer can move faster and catch waves more easily. The downside? The bigger board will be far less maneuverable than a high performance shortboard

Shortboard = less floatation which means the surfer has to work harder to get momentum. That's the problem a shortboard rider has to solve. The easiest way to see this problem for yourself is to try riding a shortboard in white water. It just doesn't work because shortboards are intended to move on an incline (steeper wave) or to already be moving fast when they hit the flats. What's the easiest solution? Surf shortboards on bigger waves (I'd say 4'+ size) or position them on steep wave sections.

Fish shortboard = high volume shortboard. Solves the momentum problem and allows shortboard riding in smaller surf. Fish still aren't as maneuverable as a high performance shortboard in larger surf (can't really surf rail to rail like a shortboard). From what I understand, fish become unwieldy in larger waves.

Keep in mind that is the analysis of an inexperience beginner/intermediate.

So, when is a shortboard unsuitable for somebody?
I'd say when the surfer is riding waves that are mushy, small, and lack the power to move a surfer on a board that has a lot of drag, i.e. a shortboard. Since beginners start off on white water and mushy waves, shortboards are useless for them. If a surfer is stuck with surf that is regularly ankle high to 3 feet, then a longboard is perfect because they will only see shortboard waves a handful of times a year.

[oldmansurfer]

As a beginner it won't matter that a high performance shortboard is more maneuverable because you lack skills to use it so really a bigger board will work just as well if not better for a beginner. Fish are not all created equal and some fish may do well in bigger waves and really the bigger the wave the less need to do quick rail to rail turns. Some fish may have a V bottom that helps it to turn rail to rail. Lots of board design won't matter to beginners because they lack the skills to use any board. If you want to you can learn to use most boards in most waves. Maybe they aren't ideal but that doesn't make them useless. People just like to blame their gear for their own shortcomings. As a beginner it's not the board that is the limiting factor it is the surfer. If a beginner surfer is on a shortboard he/she is the limiting factor and if the same surfer is on a longboard it's still him/her that is the limiting factor. It's just that bigger boards are easier to paddle and catch waves with and for a beginner the wave count and learning curve will be much lower and much longer on a shorter board

[Big H]

What you describe seems about right for a shortboard.....you actually want to be able to sink into the wave, bury a rail, and be "in" the wave rather than floating on top like a higher volumed board will do....to paddle around will take more effort than on a floatier board, and catching waves is more about position and timing than paddling hard; if you aren't in position and your timing is bad it won't matter how hard you paddle, conversely getting in is relatively easy if you have those two dialled......as far as actually riding the wave, what Unc Jaffa said is right in that you'll need to work the board and stay relatively close to the pocket to make a lower volumed board work, otherwise you'll bog and sink and wonder where it all went wrong.....you also need a better minimum standard of waves than what you could get by on with a bigger, higher volumed board, and when you're around that minimum standard, you need to be spot on with your take off position and timing; if you are a bit off the peak either way can mean the difference between getting on and missing out. A bigger board expands the margins for all of these areas which is why when you are learning a bigger, more volumed board is recommended so that you will be able to catch waves when your positioning is a little off, timing a work in progress and still working up your nerve to take on waves that are big enough to make short boarding "look" easy.....

[luizesg]

The way you describe the situation, the problem is more related to the surfer than the board. It is possible to use a very small board if you are capable of doing very late drops and paddle like a maniac. But this requires experience and finesse (think of an Alaia).

[YungGrom]

The way you describe the situation, the problem is more related to the surfer than the board. It is possible to use a very small board if you are capable of doing very late drops and paddle like a maniac. But this requires experience and finesse (think of an Alaia).

The shortest I have ever ridden is 5.4 and have done averagely it felt like a skateboard, but mind you I am about 5.4 anyway but yeah I do agree with you that it isn't the board

[one0one]

my mate is 87 kg and was riding a 28 litre js monster 3. the clown at the shop said it would be a good board for him. I saw him stand up and do turns i've never done. but he only got 4 or so waves, and I got 12. I told him its the board and that he is a way better surfer than me. i looked it up and the 80kg Julian Wilson rides that exact size board and design. i was like no wonder you can't ride it properly. He surfed a 32 Litre black and white and loved it. similar performance, but way better wave count.