Hi Steve and welcome to Seabreeze
. I started on a NSP 11 ft around 3 years ago. They are low priced but still are of a good construction, bullet proof, quite good flat water paddlers and have good stabilty. In the surf they are difficult to turn quickly on the face of a wave, though they get through white water well and catch waves easily. They tend to surf like a Long board and you need to move around a lot. I found they still were'nt very manouverable but good cruisers.
The Starby Wide points are more expensive dependant on the construction type you choose, but all types are of excellent quality, again they are bullet proof, reasonable to good flat water paddlers, excellent stabilty in flat water and in surf. It is their abilty to manouver well in the surf that is their greatest asset. If you have never surfed then it's not an issue at the moment, as it will take some time on flat water to get used to the feel and learn the basics of handling a board. This board will still then be a better board for surfing than the NSP in my opinion.
There are many other types of boards that fit your requirements and plenty are on the Buy and Sell page here. Many of the ex owners are pretty anal so the boards tend to be in excellent condition
. ( Mine usually have big chips out of them
). The Starboard would be my suggestion if you plan on doing a fair bit of surfing. If you are under a 100kg you might even want to check out a 9'5" Widepoint. The reason for the stabilty is their extra width and resulting extra volume. Construction materials change the weight and performance (Carbon Fibre for instance) of the board, the lighter the more expensive generally.The reason for their surfabilty is their design and shape. I hope this helps and that you enjoy the sport as much as I have
!
PS. Check some of the video sites like Vimeo and Youtube for helpful hints and if not from a surfing background the rules of surfing in crowded breaks.
