Help looking for a new board

[longyfreshy]

I have been looking for a new board and going into a couple of surf shops in Manly and asking questions etc. I know they are trying to sell their boards as well so it is proving a difficult and confusing task.
At the moment I am riding a miller fish 6'2" 21 1/8. I have been enjoying this board and am not a big wave rider so I am looking at something that can handle up to 4ft conditions. Occasionally the board does slip out form under my feet which I believe the fishes do that. Whether to go fish again is the big question but I like the width of it and the ease of paddling and generally the performance of the board. I am interested in trying a more rounded nose to give me a little more time as my ageing knees and body aren't as quick to pop up! The guy was trying to sell me a shorter board but I am not keen to go shorter specially for the summer conditions and crowds.
I am 5'4" and about 52kg and nearly 55 yrs.
Any advice and which surf shops to go to would be greatly appreciated. The northern beaches area.

Thanks

[Natho]

^^^ if you are into supporting Asian pop outs

[longyfreshy]

Thanks very much guys I am going to look into all your advise. I don't know of any shapers.

I know Wicks from years ago I bought my daughter a board there when she was 12 and the fins were so sharp when she wiped out they nearly cut her leg off, ok slight exaggeration but the worst fin chop ever she is now 25 and still has a bad scar. I know things change.

Oh yes I am a female and not a troll (terrible expression). LOL!

I was hoping to get something before xmas but working at Myer I just won't have the chance. But when I get a board I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for the great advise.

[longyfreshy]

Thanks so much iggy to going to all the trouble in posting the pics and also great advise.

[petulance]

get something along the lines of a simon anderson molusc or mark rabbidge micro if you want something with a full clean outline with enough foam, but still performs and turns properly. or something like a webber compact disc if you want a rounder nose for even easier paddling. you'll find any of these boards will be much less inclined to slip out, like a fish will. they'll all turn nicely in the pocket, and sit well in steeper parts of the wave, and give you a great balance between performance and glide.

Without wanting to hijack longy's thread ... how do those boards duck dive, iggs? I'm 5'8" / 64kg and I have trouble duck diving my current Miller Waterskate 6'6" x 21" x 2 5/8". Of course it could be down to my technique ...

[godsavetheking]

^^ That's a lot of board to duckdive for someone of your proportions, petulance. Sinking one rail before the other so you kinda scoop it under is the main thing that I can think of, but you're probably doing that anyway

[alakaboo]

You've got a lot more leverage at your disposal, king Louie

[petulance]

^^ That's a lot of board to duckdive for someone of your proportions, petulance. Sinking one rail before the other so you kinda scoop it under is the main thing that I can think of, but you're probably doing that anyway

I have been trying the technique described in Nick Carroll's book, where you sink the nose and both rails in at the same time instead of putting one rail in first, without much success.

OK, time to use Google and back to practising ...

[rmb]

The guy said hes only surfing 4ft surf max shouldn't have too much issues duck diving that board using the correct technique and timing.

[Monty]

I will chuck in a suggestion which is a JS Prodigy, I'm riding one at the moment in waves up to 4 feet and it's up there with the best boards I've owned.

[sandfly]

Hi Longy
I am a 54 yo guy and about 65kg.

I have both a Haydenshapes Shred sled 5'10" and a 5'8" hypto kyrpto.

Either would be a great board for you at around the 6'-6'2" length.

Haydens is at Mona Vale and is open Saturdays.

The guys are great and will look after you

[Natho]

I can vouch for the Simon Mollusc for someone trying to advance their skills without going too HPS. Pretty much as fool proof a board that you will get while still maintaining great perfromance (if you get a round tail version).

Plenty of volume and area forward on the board and flat rocker for getting into waves and getting over dead sections. Nice soft forgiving rails. And a wider round tail that will allow it to perform and hold. Kinda an all rounder that will do as much or as little as you want it to, without being too much of a fish.

[damo666]

I was going to say that you sound like an ideal candidate for a McCoy Nugget. Similar outline to a Mollusc pictured earlier, but with more rcoker - brilliant paddler, very stable, pretty versatile when the waves get better and built to last forever...

[Allan]

duckdiving bigger boards is easy. just use the ball of your foot on the tail, put your back and shoulders into it, allow a fraction more time.

By ball of the foot, do you mean like... the heel?

Great advice Iggy, and if Freshy is looking for some advice on wax, I hear Bumfluff is the go to man.

[carvin marvin]

You mentioned that the board has slipped out from under you a few times, that issue says you have a board with too much volume relative to your 52 kg body weight, a board with slightly less volume will plane slightly lower in the water for you.
Say for example on your next board you went 1'' narrower and kept the other dimensions the same, this would reduce the volume by approximately 4 litres, that would be my recommendation.

Looking a bit more at volume, if you checkout Firewires volume calculator they recommend a board with a volume of 32 -35 litres for a 52kg, 55 year old with intermediate surf skills and of average fitness.
You didn't mention the thickness of the fish you currently ride, but for an example lets say it's 2 5/8''.
Finding a board on the Firewire site with dimensions similar to 6'2'' by 21 1/8'' by 2 5/8'' and I come up with a volume of approx 40 litres.
Therefore narrowing the width by 1'' would bring the volume down to 36 litres which close to what the Firewire calculator recommends.

Say you wanted to reduce the volume a bit more by shortening the length, reducing the length by 1'' will reduce the volume by about 1 1/4 litres, so 2'' would reduce the volume by 2 1/2 litres.
If you reduced both the width by 1''and the length by 2'' this would give you a volume of 33 1/2 litres.
Here is a link to the volume calculator.
http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/quive ... e_calc.php

[carvin marvin]

Here is an example of volume difference when you alter a boards thickness.

Firewire Quadfish
6'2'' by 21 1/2'' by 2 3/4'' volume 41.3 litres
6'2'' by 21 1/2'' by 3'' volume 46.4 litres.
So a 1/4'' increase in thickness is equal to 5.1 litres.
Therefore a 1/8'' increase in thickness is equal to 2.55 litres.

[carvin marvin]

Checking the Annesleys surfboard website and the 6'4'' by 21'' by 2 3/4'' board that Iggy recommends has a volume of 40.3 litres.
Too much volume if you agree with my advice.
I also disagree with what they recommend for a 55kg surfer, a 5' long by 18 1/2'' wide by 2 1/16'' thick board with a volume of 21.5 litres, a board with almost half the volume of the board you ride would be a slow paddler and have a much much slower surfing glide speed, but, it would be shit easy to duck dive under waves though.

[carvin marvin]

Adding an 1/8'' to the width gives a 1/2 litre volume gain.