Transition from longboard to shortboard

6'6-6'10 fish

 

Your biggest hurdle in your transition from long to short board will getting the speed up to get to your feet in critical part of the wave. Get a board that floats you well. If it's one that doesn't get dings- even better.
North or South Korea? Are you a defector? Any pics?
Welcome anyway. Let's unleash this forum. You and we may find the answers here.

 

I was an adult learner, always on >=9 longboards, always on weak beach breaks. I feel your pain. My "step down" is a fat, thick quad fish, which I like because a quad does not have to be pumped to keep up with the wave (a true thruster must be worked pretty hard) . A quad can just go wherever the wave takes you with little effort - I would be a flailing fool on a thruster. My fat-fun-fish is 7'6 so I trim it almost like a longboard, yet it is faster and more maneuverable. Super fun around waist high.
I think an important question is, how do you want to ride a couple of years from now? Do you aspire to slashing turns and vertical maneuvers, or just swooping ess turns? Let that guide you a little ... my impression of Lib Tech, lost ... etc larger volume boards is that they are step-ups for aging shortboarders (or shortboarders who find themselves stuck with mushy conditions), not step-downs for longboarders.
You already have a 5'10 lying around so I would say no need to go too short, go with Sobeyville's advice( above), at the VERY least ... me personally, if they let you bring 7' on the BART, I'd go the fattest thickest 7' I could find. Probably the Walden MiniMega (starting with a quad setup) or MegaFish at 7' (obviously quad (or 4+1)). (Both those boards have more volume than my 7'6"! More turns per session ...)
In any case, good luck ... when many guys your age are picking up a broom, you are challenging yourself ... hats off! And add pop ups to your fitness routine, it's true the shorter the board the less margin for error, so you want to be quick, athletic and balanced in your popups, practice makes permanent.

 

154 pounds wtf

im pretty sure you need to eat some more

 

5'11....150 lbs....dood, I'm with metard on this one..... immediately steer yourself to the Waffle House & do not stop, do not pass go, just keep eating until you puke in the parking lot. Repeat for one week or until you shiiit blood.

And hit the gym to get some paddle strength going: at your weight, on a 9' board, you should be the second coming of Joel Tudor.

 

I have a 7'0 7s super fish II x2 epoxy and it has a ton of float (Im 215 LBS). I surf weak crappy beach break and this board paddles way easier than a real short board. It is fast, stable, very durable and comes with the Tri/quad set up. I really enjoy it. I know it's a pop out but it's fun as **** and would make a great transition board. Sometimes Global Surf industries has decent sales, I got mine for 450 including fins and shipping. At your weight and in Northern California you could go pretty short.

 

my girl is korean, and her family is good peoples. well mr gangnam style when i went from a lb to a sb i when from a 9,4 to a 6,4 quad. it might be a good idea to go with a tri fin set up first, quads are fast and swirly.

 

your in califorina dont get a pop out piece of crap 7s from china. there are thousand of board makers out there and you can get a good price. dont fund the machine. get a rusty, stewart, a roy stuart???? but no anything but a 7s.

 

Yea mine is sturdy. The PE ones are not as strong. But sandblasters has a point, you have more options where you are located.

 

When I first tried to switch, I also had trouble just paddling and keeping balance. Looks like you're learning that on your own, so the problem is that you're just popping up too slow.

The longboard is very generous with stability and popup time and you need to speed that **** up.

I had the same problem and this is how I solved it. Maybe it will help you:

Lay your board on the floor, take some painters/masking tape, and made a mockup of your board. Outlined the nose and tail of the board, and put a thin piece of tape up the center, mimicking the stringer. Stand over it and put your feet in the sweet spot of the board (back foot above the fins, front foot under chest). Use tape to mark where your feet are in this spot. Lay down every day and use it to practice popups. Look at where your feet land every time. And practice it until they land in the right spot, every time.

This really helped me. Give it a shot- your longboard surfing will get much better too, you'll find yourself making waves you previously wouldn't have. If I were you I'd try it - don't toss that 5'10 just yet.

The other thing that has helped me is skateboarding. A lot. When I started to once again push myself skating, my surfing benefited. I guess it reconditioned my core, hips, etc... things that were getting creaky even though I didn't realize it. If you feel it's too late to start skating, do some other hip-centric sh*t. Bang some North Korean defectors, I guess. Pollute the bloodlines of the glorious leader!

And yeah, don't buy some popout sh*t, GSI/7S is all crap. If you're gonna go durable then go Libtech, at least they are made in the USA, with reduced environmental impact.

 

If you're looking at McCallum's and LibTech's, money is obviously not an issue for you.

If you can get any type of big floaty Fish from McCallum, DO IT NOW. His skills are up there with Christenson, Manny Caro and Pavel. Definitely one of the world's top shapers right now.

If you are up in NorCal, do yourself a favor and stop off at Mollusk Surf Shop in San Francisco. They are guaranteed to have the board you need.