I've been wanting to get back into surfing for a long time. I never really got into surfing as much as I wanted to, and realized the other day that I had some kind of bullshit childhood ptsd from my older brother.
He is 6 years older than me and always had a better job/more money than me. He seemed to view surfing as "his thing" and would never let me borrow his board. He'd always say I'd break a skeg off, ding it, etc. I'd steal his board now and then when he was at work and use it. He caught me a few times and one day went off about a huge ding I'd supposedly put in it. I pointed out that the ding was still circled in marker, which was why he'd gotten it cheaply from the surf shop.
Regardless, by the time I could afford a surfboard, I had convinced myself I'd just ruin it. I'm a stubborn fucker, so it was pretty surprising to hear myself admit that recently.
So fuck him with a longboard! I was at the jersey shore the other day and found myself in the surf shop I would go to as a kid. It's now owned by the son of the couple I used to hang out with and listen to stories from 1960s surfing, including building his own 60 lb plywood board, only to have it fly off his car on the parkway and get wrecked. They have a great program- you can rent any used board you want for $30. If you don't like it, you swap it for another until you find one you like. If you buy one of them, the $30 goes towards the purchase. So this summer, I'm going to rent a board and hopefully find one I like enough to buy. I have no qualms about starting with a foam board. I'm told foamies get made fun of. Fuck 'em. If I'm surfing, I'll be happy!
I'll most likely start with something in the 8-10' range, probably on the longer side since I'm still pretty fat. Looking forward to it!