Is Your Board the CORRECT SIZE? What You WEREN’T TOLD about Longboards! Tip Time : Surfer’s Advice

[@BenConsidine]

For anyone who may be looking for any longboard coaching video analysis, we're getting things up and running and I'd be stoked to assess and set up a plan for what you're looking to improve on! If you are at all interested please feel free to email at [e-mail] Cheers everyone! Ben 🤙

[@lonbordin]

Hey fellow big people... I'm only 1.95m & 111kgs. But I can testify to 10' and beyond. I have 11', 12', 10'6" and many shorter. Go big, wide, thick... Then reduce as needed. Don't be afraid of a big board and don't listen to the advice of people who haven't walked in your shoes... They don't know. Mahalo

[@BenConsidine]

100% !!! 👏👏👏

[@anthonydiacopoulos9107]

Hi Ben. Great advice. I am 5’5 and 90kgs. I have not been surfing that long and want to noseride. I live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and have been surfing 9’3 traditional long board and just could not get to the nose. I recently purchased a banged up 9’8 traditional longboard and the difference has been amazing. So much more stable and getting to the nose. Not quite noseriding yet. So based on what you just talked about I am gonna stick to it. I think your videos are a great learning tool I would not be progressing without them. Thanks.

[@stuartg6606]

Isn’t the classic 9’6” x 23” x 3” ? Perhaps equally important is the foam & glassing. If too light the board can be too floaty and corky and difficult to keep in trim while cross stepping as a beginner. Go heavy volan glass for that deep hull boat stability.

[@hrburrell7587]

Good video. I am 5' 10 190 lbs and I prefer either a 10 ft board with thinner rails and less foam and less rocker for traditional riding or a 9 with more foam and more rocker for just general surfing. Since I surf kind of a punchy beach break with smaller steeper waves I find the 9 or even an 8'6 with some rocker works well here, you still get that paddle speed that you would get with a longer board that has thinner rails but the rocker helps you fit into the waves and make the turns on the smaller faces. I love my 10-foot classic shape but honestly where I surf i very rarely use it because it's just not the best choice for the waves we get here.

[@rrrseajay]

My experience during my first week surfing proved this information correct. I used a9foot and a 10foot over a few days on a small beach break. Remarkably more success and fun on the 10 footer.

[@TacticalBunnyCA]

I agree with go bigger for beginners to intermediate. This idea that if you go too big then it won't be maneuverable is just silly. Maneuverability has much more to do with shape and fin choice then give or take a foot of length on a longboard. Here is my easy rule: when you can knee paddle and the board floats you with just enough bouancy keep your entire body out of the water then you have just enough bouancey to catch any wave on any given day. Anything with less size and bouancy might be fine but it is sacrificing more paddle power for marginally more maneuverability and will require more critical section take off skill to get into waves. I'm 6'3 250 lbs range and I'll go up to 11'0 with more performance rails and narrower squash or pin tail.

[@maaags_]

I'm 511 180lb, I learned and rode a 9'4 for 10 years, I recently got a 9'5 and I wish it was 9'6 or bigger. I can cheater 5 no problem but there are not many situations where I can hang ten without the weight pushing the board under immediately. 9.5 inch fin on it. Hope this helps someone my size or larger, go for a longer board.

[@anthonydiacopoulos9107]

Hi Randy. As per my post above I went from a 9’3 to a 9’8 and the difference is amazing. Thanks for sharing. 🤙

[@altheatoldme5003]

How wide is the tail? Inch per feet is a okguide line but is not the best way to determine fin size. If it’s a super wide tail you may want a bigger fin.

[@roncommins]

Follow-up question Ben: spoon or not for noseriding? I'm 71, surfing 2 years, starting to walk on my 9' board. Probably not the right board for this ultimately, but a good board to practice my steps on. Thanks for your channel! P.s. strpping back before stepping forward was a great suggestion.

[@jackquarantillo5192]

Nice video, and timely. I'm working on getting a new board shaped this spring!

[@BenConsidine]

Epic!!! Always an exciting time haha 🤙🤙🤙

[@cbadcruiser]

Hey Ben, love the vids and keep up the good work. I'm a socal native and am looking for a new board. I'm 6'1 and around 84 kg and used to compete in both high school and college and was looking at getting back into it. not a big fan of my current board. It's big and thick with a lot of rocker in it. basically too big and thick for high performance, but too much rocker and not enough spoon in the nose for classic log riding. I tend to lean towards high performance riding, but believe it's not a real long board if you can't consistently get some proper hang tens. I can on my current board, but the sweet spot is so small that there is really no chance of me holding it for more than a sec or 2. I was looking into the thunderbolt tech from firewire (specifically the HI4 9'3") and wanted to get your thoughts on it. I don't really have the option to have multiple longboards for different conditions and figured that it was a good middle ground between high performance surfing and still able to get some really nice nose rides and could work in a wide variety of conditions.

[@fishing.on.saturn9833]

Thanks heaps Ben for doing this vid. Just the question I asked last week and was perfectly answered. 9’8 it is😉 🙏

[@thnz5067]

It's not the board. It's the rider.

[@bridgetandtonymorgan1836]

Hey Ben, what are the volumes of the boards you ride and how does volume fit in with the equation?

[@altheatoldme5003]

It doesn’t.

[@SoCalSurfer69]

I am 59, 5’10” and 245. I ride a 10’ that is about 4” thick. 2+1 nose rider. I would like to go down a bit in size but not sure it’s worth it.

[@rctrix9063]

I'm fairly ignorant about this subject but I have always thought this subject was about weight. I have never experienced board length effecting nose riding, just shape.

[@therealmamamellow]

I’m 5’3, 52kilos and ride a 9’1 shaped by James Parry but I’m tempted to get something with more volume for small summer waves. I’m guessing 9’4 is the biggest I really want to he lugging about though?

[@BenConsidine]

I think you're spot on, from what I can tell I think 9'4 would be plenty of length in the board, what you could have a little bit more of a play around with is the width, weight and thickness. I find adding width and a bit heavier does a lot for being able to catch smaller waves - whereas the thicker rails can be a bit problematic at times for other aspects of our surfing (in my opinion).

[@therealmamamellow]

Thank you Ben. Yeah I deffo struggle with those chubby 3” rails you find on some bigger logs. Not least in terms of trying to wrap my small paws round them 😂 I’ll keep trying out bigger boards this summer (and try to nail turning off the tail more!) 🙏🏼💙🩵🤍

[@BenConsidine]

Yewww sounds good!!! Let me know how it goes - you’ll smash it!!! Yewwww 🙏🙏🤙

[@BodhiiB]

Hey mate, do you surf HP longboards ever?

[@BenConsidine]

Hey! I surfed them a little bit when I was younger for contests but have just stuck with logs since

[@mikehall6433]

Hi ben, I'm on the east coast of England, not the best waves in the world. Just getting back into surfing after 10 years, I'm 55, 6ft and 195lbs I just want as many waves i can catch. What length and volume do I need. Very much a beginner.

[@BenConsidine]

Hey Mike! epic you're getting back into things!! I would go a minimum 9 foot 6, probably 2 and 7/8 to 3 for volume. Getting back into things the more volume the better in my opinion, but if you have any further questions at all or wanted more depth/clarity on anything please don't hesitate to message - email is [e-mail] if you did :) yewww!!

[@oceansurfing]

I surf mid lengths and combine carving and cross-stepping, but i'm an amateur. Could somebody explain to me what you can't do on a 7'6"-8' that you can do on a 9'+?

[@boatgalhb1142]

Nose riding

[@eusebiokampos]

hey man :) whats the rocker you got on those boards?

[@helnorse]

A board below 9 ft ist too small😂😂😂thats all you need to know

[@BenConsidine]

🤣🤣🙌

[@Surfer-og5lt]

The excessive jump cuts in this video make it really hard to watch

[@BenConsidine]

Really appreciate the feedback and definitely know what you mean in the edit - will try and fix for following vids!! 🤙🙏

[@TheDude68305]

If it will help, don't watch, just listen to him.

[@TheDude68305]

When you said choosing a 9'6 board might be a good idea it's like you read my mind. How about a Dewey Weber Performer as a beginner's board 9'6 or 10 ft? I'm 5'8 and I weigh over 210. If I can get down to 165 lbs., would this board be a good idea for me?

[@TheDude68305]

Btw, is a hatchet fin ok for a beginner to use?

[@BenConsidine]

Certainly okay to use, but maybe not the most functional in my opinion. Depending on size though should be a fairly big fin wth large surface area so stability should be fine, just may make the turns a touch trickier from experience