HELP! Learning to surf on a 6'2 shortboard?????

Question

Learning to surf on a 6'2 shortboard. Thats the only board I could find in my price range. I'm 14 and it took 8 months to save up for a board. I cant trade it for a longboard I already tried. And please dont tell me I should be talking to someone on the beach because I dont have any teacher or surfing friends.

How do I stand on the board if I try it sinks. WHY?

Can I have some tips on learning to surf??

Answer 1

GG,

hang on to the 6'2 if you want, as you will prob be able to use it by next summer.

For this summer though, if you are sinking the board, then you are not going to learn on it sorry. 8'0 is probably a bit big for you. There are soft boards that are perfect for learning that range from 6'0 - 7'7. If you are a light girl then you could prob get away with a 6'0 (they float much better than a normal board as they are made of soft foam and carry a lot of volume). I brought my sister up on surfing a 6'0 that she surfed for a full summer. She now surfs a shortboard, however the foamy comes out for a spin every now and again. You can buy these very cheap online or from a surf shop. They wont break, you wont hurt yourself and you wont hurt others.

You could then keep this board in your quiver for summer surfing as you can use them in the flags when the beach is otherwise super crowded.

Yes it does mean forking out a little more money, however you will not be able to learn on a 6'2 performance board in the whitewash. you need a board that will float and allow you to get the feeling of the ocean and how a wave pushes you and the board towards the shore.

Good luck GG.

mesurf

[e-mail]

http://www.mesurf.com.au

Answer 2

How much do you weigh, and how thick is the board (dimensions should be written on the stringer on bottom of the board)? And is the board sinking to the rear?

Answer 3

If you look back through the answers, you will see dozens of times that some us recommend that you LEARN first, and try a variety of boards FIRST, BEFORE YOU BUY A BOARD.

Unless you are just too big for that board (you didn't tell us how much you weigh, or how thick or wide the board is) you can probably get the hang of it, in time. But, you need to get a start, and a lesson or two may be what you need. Go to a good local surf shop and ask for help, they will help you get lessons, and either the shop or the instructor will rent you a suitable board to learn on.

Once you get some of the basics down, if you are very persistent, you can probably master that short board (again, that is only if it is just not too small  to float you).

I wish I could help you, in the water, because on line isn't the place to resolve your problem. I really hope things work out for you.

This situation makes me angry. Because a nice young person who really wants to surf is stuck without either the proper guidance to start, of the proper equipment to use, and I keep reading some of the lame-brained advice given on this site, that let's poor kids like this get sold a line of BS.

Gossipgurl, good luck, and when you pick an answer, let us all know how you made out. And don't worry about taking a long time to leran how to surf. I started at 13 or 14 (way back in 1966), and it took me all summer to get 'decent' (but not 'good') and I surfed almost every single day, for hours. Be patient and don't give up.

Answer 4

concentrate on getting on the right place on your board so the tip of your board is about 3-5cm above the water and then practice riding on your belly to get used to being on the right place on your board. Try going along the face of the wave on your belly. When getting to your feet you need to swing quickly to your feet, if you get up slowly your going to lose to much speed and by the time you stand up the wave would have gone past you. Mainly just get used to being on a surfboard. Goodluck!

Answer 5

First off, an 8 footer would've been perfect for you to learn on.  You're just not used to surfing which is probably why it seemed big.  The 6'2 probably sinks because you're not catching the wave.  Shortboards generally have thinner rails and combined with shorter length and thinner width they don't float as well because there's less board volume.  Also, you may not be paddling hard enough (shortboards are MUCH harder to catch waves on than longer boards) to catch the wave and end up bogging on top of the wave (stalling).  You need speed to keep from sinking, and to do that you need to catch a wave.

BUT!!!  You cannot afford a longboard, and buying that shortboard was a big mistake.  What you CAN do however is trade it in for a fish, or possibly a funboard.  The fish is wider and will float and paddle easier and the funboard is about 7-8 feet and will float and paddle better also.

Whatever floats your boat, err... board

Answer 6

get a different board, your not going to be able to learn on a 6 2 shortboard unless its like 3 inches thick. Your board is sinking b/c it is too thin and you arent going fast enough to give it some buoyancy. At your size you could probably get away with learning on a board around 7 ft but it really depends on how much u weigh

Answer 7

instead of getting a longer board you could go to Lowe's or home depot and buy eps foam. you can get it really cheap. a 4'x8'x2" peice is only $20. you could buy two cut them in half and glue them together with silicone (so their 8"x24"x8') . then you could roughly shape it into a surfboard. and as you get better you could take a little foam off at a time untill its about the size of your shortboard then switch when you felt good enough to ride the shortboard. the only tools you would REALLY need is a knife (at least 8" long) and sand paper.

p.s. make the bottom as smoth as you can