l have been surfing for two or three years now and im decent.ive mostly used fish, funboards or other shorter style boards, but really wanna learn to longboard well.l wanna learn how to cross step and noseride.im 6' 160 lbs and surf in pretty small waist high surf. Any tips and what board should l get?

thanjks

l believe that longboarding is an art. I've seen some really great surfers do incredible moves on a longboard. l understand what u mean about stepping & hanging. Go to several surfshops in ur area & find out if any of the people r into longboarding. Get a few lessons. As far as board choice, you're light enough for a 9 ft. There r so many nice longboard makers, u will need to find something to suit the waves u will be riding. Your instructor can help u with that as well. Check out
http://longboardmagazine.com/magazine.html

yeah if ur going to get a long board u may as well get a proper one ie 9 foot or longer, cause u can have fun on the tiny day's, any thing shorter & u will sink to the bottom.
And if u want to turn the fucking thing, get ur back foot back as far as possible ( more leverage ), If u can master the long board, it makes surfing a gun a piece of piss.
And as dumb as it sounds u can practice cross stepping on dry land on a plank of wood or something..When ur surfing dont be temped to chuffle up & down, it is gay.. You r better off to attempt to cross step & fall, till it becomes second nature.

Technically speaking it has to be at least 9 foot long to be a longboard. Since it sounds like u r looking for more traditional LB surfing stick with a traditional shape. Concave nose, 50/50 rails, vee in the tail. You can go either single fin or a 2+1. If l were u l would go for something in the mid 9 feet length area to give u some extra stability for nose riding. You will want a fin with a longer base to help keep the tail down when on the nose. l use a 8.5'' cutaway fin on my 9' noserider but l can not get all the way on the nose without it starting to submarine, just do not have a disposable cash at the moment for a different fin.

As far as practicing l use my indo board to practice cross stepping. l put y front foot a little forward of the mid point & simply cross my back foot to the nose & hold for a few seconds & move it back to the rear. They make a longer version of the indo board that u can do a full cross step on.

l have also heard that a good way to figure ur board length is to make a mark on the ground for ur tail & lay down about where u would position yourself relative to that. Mark u stomach position & stand up. This should be about where u pop up to. Take three small cross steps & that should put u on the nose, there is ur length. l just picked mine of the rack though

Surfammo gave u a good tip with the link to Longboard magazine. Modern long boarding is great. l ride both long & short boards, but being an old dude, l have a certain affection for the art of long boarding. l have a couple long boards, one is a collectors item, the other is a 9'4'' Allison. There r some great long baord shapers out there right now. l really like what l see from Harbour & Stewart, but there r some great 'big name' long board shapers out there. l am partial to Allison, a N.Carolina shaper, he makes some really great modern longboards. My son-in-law has a custom 10' Allison that is fantastic.

Since l am not sure where u live, it is hard to recommend something & be honest about it. Go to a good lcoal shop, & find out what the surfers there think is the best long board for ur local conditions, that will fit ur size, skill level & budget. Like everybody else in my era, l started in '66 on a 9'6'' log, but modern lonboards offer a whole new experience. Check out ur local shops, & get the right answer, & have fun 'hanging ten''