After my trip to Nicaragua, I decided that I wanted a shorter board. While visiting there, I had the amazing opportunity to go watch and "hang out" with real, experienced surfers at beaches with consistent, incredible surf. They made surfing the shortboards look easy and appealing. The shortboarders seemed to dance on the waves, moving back and forth so quickly. I knew then that I wanted to be able to do that one of these days. Ashley, ChicaBrava owner and surfer extraordinaire, said that she actually started her surfing experience on a shortboard. She mentioned that it took her almost a year to stand up for the first time. She was patient though and has certainly conquered the sport. Don't get me wrong, I still love surfing my 9' Softop and my marvelous 9'6" Senator board and I have in no way conquered surfing those boards yet. I'm still such a beginner! However, the shorter board just looks like so much fun.
When I decided to buy a shorter board, I wasn't sure what to look for in a shortboard, or in my case, a funboard. (Funboards are between 7-9 ft., while shortboards are anything under 7 feet.) I noticed on one store's website that they had a 7'2" board on sale for $199. The board was pretty too, not that it should matter what it looks like. But, pretty is definitely an advantage in my book. It was really thin though and considerably underpriced compared to the other ones. So, what's the big deal you might ask? Well, I couldn't get the you salesman to explain why it was so cheap. In fact, I couldn't get the young salesman to answer any questions about the boards. Since I was making a pretty big leap by trimming two feet off the length of the boards I already had, I wanted to know what the advantages were in all the different smaller boards. I came to a couple of conclusions on my own, despite the salesman's vain attempt to just sell a board. First of all, I thought for sure that if the board was too thin, I'd definitely have trouble with it. I also realized that if the nose was too pointed, the board would probably "move" too fast for me. (Not sure if I can adequately explain what I mean, but even the "mute" saleskid seem to agree with me about that.) I opted not to buy the board, which I think was a "Surf Betty" (aka NSP) make. It sure was pretty. What was odd about it, was that the board was $200 cheaper than most of the other 7'2" boards in the store. The salesman couldn't explain why other than to say that only that one board was going for the cheaper price and that it would probably sell fast. (As of this writing, it's been over a week and the board has not sold yet.) I left the store that day trying to decide what I really wanted in a board.
Almost a week later, I went by the store again to look at the boards. (I was only going to that store because it is the only one on the mainland near me that sells surfboards.) I had pretty much decided that I would probably not buy one from them because of their poor customer service. However, I just wanted to look at the different boards again. The same inept sales kid was working there and his demeanor indicated that he didn't want to help "some old broad" with her surfboard questions. He and one of the other young salespeople made some sort of inside joke that caused some laughter, but I wasn't deterred. I just needed a question answered about the boards again. Once I got a half answer, I was gone. I decided to call my surfing friend, Robin, to discuss my adventures in surfboard shopping. She reminded me of a board her niece had and might want to sell. She wasn't sure of the size so the two of us went by to look at it. I was sold. It was a 7'2", which was just like the one I was considering at the store. I wrote a check and so began my funboard experience. I hope the board helps propel me to the next level. We'll see.
UPDATE: On Sunday, I took Petal (my 9'6" Senator board) and my new board, "Lil' Sis" to the beach. Of course, on Saturday, I had to strip the wax off, as well as some stickers. I found a few dings, including one that took the epoxy off all the way to the styrofoam. I added extra wax to protect it and off we went. My first discovery with the new board was that getting out in the surf would be different. My board was under the water so that when I swam out, the arch in my back had to be more pronounced. After one short ride in, though, I was sold. I popped up right away, but it wasn't pretty. I definitely need a lot of practice. I changed my profile photo to include "Lil' Sis." What fun!
