Hi all,

i´ve been surfing a year now on a 8´6'' minimal softboard, and l wanna upgrade to something better. l am having a nightmare with the inabilty to duckdive this battleship so l would ideally like to drop down a size or two. l am however 6´6'' so where is the best next step for me, get a better longish board, or go short like 90% of the surfers here in Barcelona (who are alot shorter than me it has to be said)
Thanks for the . l live in bacelona so the best we get is 4-6 ft on a nasty winters day. Most of the time its 2-4ft in the winter and 0ft in the summer. The killer is that when it does come in big, there is very little space between the sets. Duckdiving is necessary, and turtle is too slow. Thanks for the info though. I´ll look up this board you mentioned. Rich

hey ok ive worked local shapers around my town & for its tough cuase ur a big guy (not to be werid) anyways here is what l would do l would drop the size down between 7'0 an 7'5'' alond with going shorter l would look around ur local surf shop or ask a local shaper for a board that had a bit wider deck this will help with ur center of gravity givng u better balance the shorter board will help u duck dive a bit easier then having to turtle ur larger board well thats my advice but ur best bet is to go to a shop an talk to people who have had lots of experience

l agree with the previous answer. Being a big guy u either want to keep the height of a board or the thickness.
But another option is a board called the fat burner, a chunker version of the afterburner, the beauty of this board is u can go that little shorter so its easier to duck dive.without compremising the stablity of the board being a bigger guy because of the thickness & width it maintains. Its an easy paddling, easy riding board. most (fish) boards r better for smaller waves but the fat burner is shaped to the degree it is stable & suprizely good for big waves.

You do not need to worry about duckdiving if the waves are 4 feet tall. Keep a long board but not a ''softboard''. l am 5' 11 and used a 9' 3'' board and was able to catch every wave no matter what the surf..

In general surfers who shortboard ride shortboards a few inches close to their height. If your end goal is a shortboard, You'd probably do well getting a 6'6-6'8. However that might be a big jump from your 6'8. I'd suggest asking a shaper and letting him know your goals.

At 6'6 l can only assume that ur weight is proportionate. How tall u r really does not make any difference. Your weight/buoyancy ratio is what that counts. You need board that floats u well enough to paddle & take off on a wave.

l think l was born weighing over 200 lbs (90 kilos). l surfed on a 6'4' made on a nice thick blank for years & years. Now, l weigh around 230 lbs (104.5 kilos) & my smallest board is a 7'8''. l have three different style 7'8'' boards: a nice fat twin fin fish, a fun board (mini-mal) & a 'big guy' performance board.

You need to go to a good surf shop. l know there r some good quality shops in Spain. The folks in the shop will help u match the right board for ur weight, skill level & local waves. In a shop, u can discuss options with them, u can not do that on a computer.

Do not get caught up in buying a mass produced junk ''popout.'' There r lots of great European shapers, & the big US manufacturers all sell boards in Europe ( & all of the big manufacturers have 'big guy' models of the performance boards).http://mckevlins.com/nopopstory.htm

l have been surfing since 1966, & l take all of my surfboard purchase questions to good shops in the places where l surf. Good luck!