Hey guys I have been surfing for about a year and a half now, and even though Im not that good yet, I enjoy it so much I am trying to get some of my mates into surfing. However this has become difficult as I have learnt alot of my mates don't want to be seen on my 8 footer (which I used to learn and I think is a great learning board). They all want to learn on my short 6'7 board - which leads to failure everytime.To make matters worse, the guy I am trying to teach has mates who are "apparently" pro surfers, and they have told him not to ride a board which is longer than he is tall!! So its like he is reluctant to take me advice cause lets face it, Im not a pro surfer and he'd rather take their advice. Anyway, my question is: How do I convince a learner that if they want to get used to paddling onto waves and surfing that they need something a bit longer and fatter? I suggested not to go shorter than a 6'10 with about 2.5 inch fatness.

HAHA!! funny you should mention that dude. Thats where I learnt to surf(still learning and still fairly ****). And your description of what happens is dead set true. I suppose thats why I have no shame riding a big board. Actually, when my mate said he wouldn't be seen dead on my 8 footer at sandtracks, I said stuff it, ill ride it 4 sure!

Mind you the people at isolator were pretty awesome when I was learning. I went from learning at trigg and scabs and having duds getting real angry.. to going to isolator and having old blokes helping me by telling me which way to paddle (left/right) and how to sit further forward on my board to get enough speed.. so ill never bag it or the people there