It was like trying to surf a match stick!

Last week I bought a second hand short board. I thought it was time to move from a long board and learn the art of short boarding. More manoeuvrability has always appealed to me. I want to learn how to perform high speed turns.

Then, today, I went surfing to try out my new board. Standing on the dunes at the beach I knew it was not going to be a great day as the waves were small. It was a rubbish day weather wise, drizzle and 13 degrees (so much for summer) but I didn’t care. The weather proved the least of my problems … haha.

Carrying the 6’6’’ board to the water was a piece of cake in comparison to my 9’2” long board. There is nothing worse than fighting the wind with your board on the way to the water. I found the centre of the board easy enough when paddling out but standing was a different story. The waves were not steep and every time I tried to stand I fell off. Balancing was a real problem. Even if the waves had been better I know I still would have struggled.

My long board is so much easier to surf. It is like standing on a barge, compared to the match stick sized short board. After two hours the waves were getting even smaller so I called it a day. I learnt gradual process from a bigger board to a shorter narrow board certainly takes practice. Reading the wave patterns is also more important when using a short board.