I climbed on a board once in a while as a teen, but I really didn't take up surfing hardcore until I as 45, primarily to hang out with my youngest son. Started off with a 8'2" funshape. Good learning board. But I've since switched to a 9'6" Walden Magic, love the board. Bought it with a 7" MD2 which makes for fun riding, also have a 9.5" cutaway for the bigger wave days, allows me to keep from pearling, and a nice 9" pivot fin, but I'm a long ways from being a nose rider. Before I started surfing I had gotten up to 225 lbs, and now down I'm down to 180lbs.

Right after Christmas 2003, I had a decent wave, and all off a sudden my board just stopped. Thought I hit something, but it was odd the backend was pulled under. Tried surfing some more, but was having troubles keeping the board stable. Looked at the fin and figured out why. Sure looks like a shark bit the fin to me.