Stepping down in board size?

[Dave J]

I've been surfing on the C4 10'6" for a little over two years. I am curious as to the learning curve of going from the C4 to say a Naish Mana 9'0" or 9'5"' or say the Starboard Hero, Converse or Pocket Rocket, or PSH boards in the same range.  I typically surf on the east coast of Florida so pretty much beach break and often a bit choppy. My C4 has been good to me but it is time to step my game up a little. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Caribsurf]

can't comment on all those boards, but the Starboard Hero is ridiculously stable.  That board would be easy transition for you I am sure, but it would be a step down in surfing performance due to it's extreme width.  It paddles great catches waves easily, but I felt it was just a little too wide and beefy for my style of surfing..it does do well in the Florida wind slop   however
The Converse  is narrower than the Hero and offers  more performance and aggressive surfing if that is what you are looking for

you might want to also consider Coreban Performer 9'6" or
Coreban Fusion 9'

whatever you do, don't go by word of mouth get out and demo if possible

[Dwight (DW)]

I've been surfing on the C4 10'6" for a little over two years. I am curious as to the learning curve of going from the C4 to say a Naish Mana 9'0" or 9'5"' or say the Starboard Hero, Converse or Pocket Rocket, or PSH boards in the same range.  I typically surf on the east coast of Florida so pretty much beach break and often a bit choppy. My C4 has been good to me but it is time to step my game up a little. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

C4 10'6 to 9'5 Mana, no learning curve. The 9'5 is more stable and quicker turning. My friend demoed the 10'6 C4 on a choppy day and struggled. He has no trouble with the 9'5. He bought the 9'5. I've surfed them both too.

For making the jump to a 9'0 Mana, no issue if you're under 190. You will wobble some at first, but its very do-able.

The wide PSH boards would also be do-able without much issue. Around 9'2 or 9'4 WR.

Width is key. Compare width and don't get too concerned with going shorter. C4's run narrow, so going down with more width is easy.

[tautologies]

how much do you weigh?

I mean for beach break type waves..they are sharp and wall up right, would you consider the Naish hokua range. It has more rocker, and works better on steep waves IMO.

The 9'0'' is fantastic, if you think that might be big step, how about the 9'6''?

Both boards are stable as hell, and you get used to paddle it in just about any condition. 

[jdmotes]

 Dave J where on the east coast of Florida are you? I've got a bunch of Nahs you can demo if you are fairly close to J-Ville... Later,   JD

[surf monkey]

Dave

Someone in the Zone classified has a 9'8x30 starboard for $700. I went from a 10'6 to a 9'8X28 starboard and it was a great transition. Not as surfy as a 9' board tho but a good all around board, paddles well and surfs 2' to double overhead I think that is the same model Dave Muir won the Tahiti contest. They seem to be well built, the PSH boards are good but the other day one of the team riders from Blueline here in So. Ca snapped a new PSH bamboo and about a month ago the same type of board had a buckled nose at our local beach. I surf with these guys all the time and have had no problem with the Starboard. Just info.

good luck

[firesurf]

Surf Florida both coasts.
Been riding the C4 Classic 10'6" for a couple years also. Great board (other than the chipping rails) but been trying other boards as well. Bought the 9'5" Naish Mana and didn't keep it long. Seemed kinda corky to me (I weigh about 160)
On windy days I really struggled on it. although some people love the mana. Rode the SB pocket rocket the other day, caught a couple good waves but once again may be sort of short for me.  Also bought a 10' C4 sub vector - (it's for sale) don't weigh enough for it.

So now I'm looking as well - here's the short list
SB 10'3 pro
SB 9'8" pro
Coreban 9' 6" Performer.  (may be too thick?)   a little trigger shy on the corky thing after the 9'5" mana and the 10' sub Vector.
Corebans look awesome but they all seem thick with a lot  of volume when you only weigh 160 pounds.
My thought now is not to go to short as I don't want to lose the glide. Anybody else got comments on these or other boards? 

[VonR]

Firesurf,

Have you thought about going with a custom board? At 160 lbs you really don't need a board with a lot of volume. My newest board is 8'2" x 28" x 3.75" thick. It's light, floats me without being "corky" and has pretty good glide. I have another board that's 8'6" x 29" x 4.25". It's much heavier and has much thicker rails. This board feels much more "corky" and has less glide. At 140 lbs, I've found that thinner and narrower is definitely the way to go. I also wouldn't be afraid to try something shorter too.

Aloha!

[marky]

 Hi
   I would have a look at the SB 9.1 pro looks like a great board and not to short for me the 8.5 pocket rocket turned great but  was very slow

[Dave J]

Meant to mention that I weigh 170#. Thanks for all of the input. Firesurf, I can relate to your comment about the chipped rails on the C4. Mine looks like it has been to hell and back. I finally gave up worrying about it.