What should I get? - Surfcore: Surf Forecasting and Community

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I've been lloking forward to getting back to my roots by getting back into surfing after nearly 2 decades out. I moved to Southampton recently and want to take advantage of being at the coast again. Trouble is board designs and technnology have no doubt moved on a fair bit and I'm looking for any hints and tips about the best options for me for a board. I'm 68Kg, 5'11" and want to start back on Cornish coasts. I'm planning to travel to Morocco, France, Ireland and anywhere local ish in the next two years and eventually want to head back out to South Africa for a reaunion with my old haunts. What's the best option for board shape and size given those parameters. I want to progress from smaller more manageable stuff to larger challenging surf over that period, so I need a board that'll last me about 2 years. Any hints and tips, outlet suggestions etc would all be very appreciated. Look forward to getting back into the community and hearing from you. Cheers

Some lessons?

Good stuff Pitmonkey - if you're reasonably fit and were surfing okay before I'd recommend going for a few lesssons to help refresh yourself. It'll take a big chunk out of your learning curve. They'll also have a varity of boards that you can try, so that you can work out what you feel comfortable on.

I' recommend www.GlobalBoarders.com - you can go for a weekend or a week. My wife went last year and she said the staff were great (Chris's good man) and it was relaxed and helped take her surfing to the next level.

As for boards I's say try as soon as possible to get on a 7'0" / 6'10" funboard which you can duck dive and carve a little - these sorts of boards can be ridden in lots of different waves and give you a little more volume to get into smaller stuff.

Anyway stick with it mate - it's a good move getting back into it

Nice one

Cheers Sam, appreciate the response. I was thinking about doing some lessons mainly to be able to try out some different boards, so I think I'll go for it. A bit of guidance wouldn't go astray either I guess, though I spent the best part of seven years surfing east coast SA, (mainly holiday surfing.., boarding school has a lot to answer for) so I'm sure it won't take me too long to 'get back on my feet' so to speak. I was thinking more along the lines of a shorter board to start with, progressing to a 6'/6'2" as the size of the wave I was taking on increased. I was wondering whether the depth or width of the board might offer a bit more stability to start with and cover me for smaller surf at the beginning stages at the same time. I was checking out some comments you made about your fishes, but that looked a bit too advanced for me. I might be struggling to get the basics on such a whippy platform. What do you think.