hello everyone! i will be extremely happy if you guys can help me to choose a new board
i'm moving form 10 footer to something shorter, lighter, easier to turn and something to improve my wave riding
female
beginner
hight: 168cm /5.5 ft
weight: 53kg /116.8 lbs
waves -home spot: small, mushy, chop
possible options:
FANATIC ALL WAVE 8'3" / 8'5"
FANATIC PROWAVE 8'9"
STARBOARD POCKET ROCKET
STARBOARD WIDE POINT
(or any other starboard surf models)
NAISH MANA
NAISH HOKUA
what do you think would suit me best?
i'm much more interesting in buying fanatic or starboard models.
all i ask is thin rails, wide and short board, stability and shape, that would bring me to next level of paddle surfing.
what do you think?
thank you!
I'd recommend the Pocket Rocket. The airborne may be to wide for you're relatively light weight to get on rail and turn. The pocket rocket will do whatever you need it to.
Hi my wife is your weight and height has done a lot of flat water, she has started to show interest in the surf she found 32" to wide and went for the Pocket Rocket and loves it, don't go wider than 30". She also liked the 8' 5 Mana , once you get some miles up in the surf at 53kg you will ride anything good luck with it
My girlfriend starts with allwave 8'6 and perfect like firts board, i had mana 8'5 and she likes more, lighter and more responsive. 6 months ago changes to prowave 8'5 and me too, and love love love, specialy becuse its lighter and easier to move in the water. The board floats perfectly, only use in waves but if the water is flat you can use to paddle and go little excursion. Even want to try 8,0, im sure its floats perfectly, she is 54kg the only question is if she will have to Paddle too hard to catch waves, Her level is 1 year paddleling and catch waves very good but into the waves she needs time to read better the wave and to move ok for bottoms etc, but with time you will become tecnique no problem
The 8'5'' Mana would be perfect.. or the 8'10'' Mana if you like the Alana colours..
Try and demo before buying if you can.
Another vote for the Mana, its an awesome board, with a good balance between flat water paddle ability and wave riding.
Personally I reckon the Mana will be too big for you.
My wife is 5'6" and 54kg.
She started on a 10'6" Fanatic Fly. Was an absolute boat.
Moved on to a Surftech Al Merrick 9'1" and loved it. Great stability and good for flat water but still a little oversized for waves (although she did get some nice rides on it).
Now she's on a Naish Hokua 8'5" and loving it. Great wave performance and can still take it out on flat water (not if you want to go really fast though). She's very happy with this one.
She kept the Al Merrick and takes it out on flat water occasionally with the dog. Stable enough even with him on it.
I think that at your weight, you should probably forget about big boards.
My wife is the same weight as you, and all she can do on a wave is surf the green wave and she loves my Starboard 8'0 Pro. She says it's the first board that doesn't feel like a monster to her.
I think the best possible board for her would probably be the 7'4 Pro or the 7'1 Pro although this last one would be quite challenging, because in my opinion you should be able to handle your board in the surf without struggling, instead of just going where your board feels like taking you. She has paddled both of them in flat water and it wasn't the end of the world!
Another starboard i think you could look for is the airborn 7'4 and the 7'10 x 30".
On the naish side, you'll probably be able to find a second hand Hokua 7'3 or 7'8 (the older models which were about 28" wide.
Lovely boards for someone your size.
Cheers
thank you guys for all those answers! i'm really pleased to hear all your advices. now it's time to decide what to buy:)
i forgot to mention, that i already have a board for flat water, so new board will be used only for wave riding. so should i go "really short?" or will i struggle too much?
do you think that a fish tail would be better choice for my conditions (small, mushy waves)?
JohnnyMaya, i was already thinking about starboard pro, but maybe switching from 9'8 to it would be too challenging? i was thinking about not too short pro, something about 8'0 maybe... what do you think?
I think you are really light.
While you shouldn't struggle from the get go, in the worst case scenario of it happening, you just take a couple more sessions to figure it out.
I think the 8'0 should be a nice compromise of size and confort.
In the 8'0 you have two options, a 28" wide option and a 29" wide. While the second one will make it bomb proof for someone your size and weight, the second one will be easier to turn.
The good thing about the big brands, is that ir is fairly easy to give it a try in someone else's board.
Have fun!!!