I'm probably not the best person to give specific advise as I'm far from being the most experienced surfer around here - definately at the novice to improver end of the spectrum.
What I would advise therefore is that you talk to a board shaper as these guys really know their stuff (the good ones anyway). Beachbeat make good surf boards
www.beachbeat.co.uk and their shaper knows his stuff, and no doubt Ancient William would point you in the direction of Tunnel Vision for advise - his friend works there and the advice is very good also.
You've about my height / weight so something around 8ft is about right. The volume is ciritcal too though as at our weight, we need that bit of extra volume and thus thickness in the board. Like I said, take a good shapers advise on this as they're paid to know their stuff.
The critical thing also with an improvers board is the quality and more specifically the weight of the cloth / glass. As a "beginner" you want a heavier stronger board so it can take more hammer. I've heard good things about Beachbeat boards but they're not particularly cheap - case of you get what you pay for I think. Always beware Eastern imports, brands you've never heard of as many are cheap in construction. The manufacturing cost is directly proportional to the amount of cloth / glass used so often cheap boards are cheap for a reason. They may seem a bargain at the time but when the deck starts dinging or cracking / splitting they can become a very expensive mistake. For this reason, there's a lot to be said for supporting local shapers / quality locally produced brands.
As for wetsuits, very much the same case - you get what you pay for. The more expensive brands tend to use stretchier neoprene in the critical areas and so give better less restrictive movement. Something like a Rip Curl would be a good choice.
Al.
Linear Mode
