5'9" is your size in my opinion. I'm about 5kg heavier and would ride the 5'9".
That said I don't think you'd have any issue with the 5'11" either. Depends if you like riding a smaller board or like a little extra volume.

As for the Spitfire, if it's going to be your only board it could be a better pick. If you have a standard short board for when the waves are juicier then the El Fuego will handle the low to medium range well and even the bigger stuff as long as you can get in early.

Two board quiver: Hellrazor 6'1"/Dominator 5'8"
One board +standar short : Spitfire 5'8"

Hey Remedy,
On the El Fuego model, I am in agreement that you could easily ride the 509, but I know someone about your size who rides the 511 and loves it. It comes down to preference a little bit and wave type, wetsuit needs etc.

I think the spitfire, as compared to the El Fuego offers a bit more rocker and likes to go a bit more vertical in a beach break while the El Fuego prefers a more open face, down the line wave. The choice is up to surfer but I think both would go well in the Maldives.

Cheers!

Thanks guys for feedback on size of board and will probably go the 5/9
Just a question on the white rapid fires are they stronger then the bamboo deck rapids and are they better to repair

I have not surfed a rapidfire version, but the FST is much stronger than a standard PU board. I think of myself as being fairly gentle on my boards, but every time I surf my PU board I come out with new heel dings. Not so on the FST. Looks brand new still and does not feel like one of the other epoxy pop-outs either.

EDIT: As to your original post, if you surf all the time, go 5'9". If you are looking to go with a single board to do it all, I think a Spitfire might be a better call, even though that depends a ton on what kind of waves you regularly surf. A Two board quiver for me might be an El Fuego and either a Hellrazor or Alternator. I can honestly say that the ElF is the fastest and most fun board I have ever surfed in anything from just over knee high to just over head high waves.

Where in the Maldives are you going ? Im your weight (70-73kg) intermidiete ride a 5'9 EF and a 5'6 Dom. Took them booth to the Maldives this April(central atolls for 8 days, honkies for 3 days), two of my friends also took there el fuegos same weight as me on 5'9s and 5'11s. We were all super happy with how the el fuegos handled the waves in the Maldives. I'v tried the 5'9 and 5'11 and much prefer the volume of the 5'9. I think the 5'11 rides well at our weight but it does feel very floaty and big when your sitting on it. The 5'9 gets in easy and the waves in the Maldives are so good it makes it even easier. I didnt actually use the Dom in the end because Id had the ef longer and was more confident on it, but I'v been using the Dom since I got home and wish I'd used it there now! Such a good board, I like them both so much and would struggle to say which I would Prefer, I think it's true that the Dom surfs a little more like a traditional short board but I really liked the el feugo shape in those fast glassy walls, especially machines in laammu atoll. What a wave!

Overall I felt the ef was perfect for the waves there as they were breaking kind of fast with small barrell sections popping up and the speed the ef gives you helps you make those sections. The waves had easy take offs so I never found the low entry rocker a problem, even on steep take offs. The 5'9 is a solid choice for the Maldives, tried and tested, perfect vol. However a Dom or spit would also be awesome if you do decide to go down that road, I cant see you regretting either.

Good luck, I'm so jealous, been so disappointing being back in the uk after that trip :) (lookin to a third trip already!)

Wish I was taking my Elf to the maldives! Out of interest Matt what sort of waves do you surf your Elf in back in the UK? What fins do you ride too?

Iv got 3 boards 5'9 EF, 5'2 Potato and 5'6Dom.... based in london at the moment so im surfing more on the yorkshire coast these days (find the drive shorter) but sometimes down in cornwall and doing a fair few overseas trips to keep sane

I find the 5'9 EF the most dependable (maybe because iv had it longest) surf it anything from chest high to maybe head and half at a push (anything bigger than that and im not in the water) especially if the waves are breaking faster down the line and I need extra speed i think the lower volume tail makes me feel more like the EF is a good call and it does get in nice and early to set up as well, I think like most say when your style has to be a bit more lateral the EF is the call

Iv had the DOM a few months i was worried about 5'6 being a bit of a short rail line so kept going with the EF as i couldnt get out of the habit of using it and I like it in all conditions over chest high, however iv been on the dom a bit more latley and I surfed it in some great barrely chest high beach break in hossegor and loved it, it was so much fun, so I think when its clean and not peelin so fast this would be my choice over the EF at the moment, but i can defintley see myself switching back and forth between the two

The potato i surf anytime it looks fat regardless of size really (up to my limit of course), love surfing it on long reefs around waist to chest high, the short rail makes it a lot of fun, kind of like skateboarding

RE fins iv got, i ususally put the C drives in the el fuego as a quad if i want speed, if i want a bit more performance i prefer it as a thruster (c drives or k2.1 are the best iv found so far) i havnt experimented much with the dom but k2.1 up front with rear sf4 seem to work great on that session in hossegor, felt really connected to the board, and c drives as a quad in the potato

maldives = intermediates paradise, havnt found anywhere that tops it yet! well worth the cash

How much is 10 days or something in the Maldives if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking at a trip somewhere at the moment and if it's not toooo brutal I might just go for it...

Cool cheers for that.

Always good to hear other peoples feedback.

I can imagine the ELF going really well in some long walling points straight top to bottom stuff!

PRJ,

Iv been twice and done quite a lot of research leading up to both trips and in general I think your looking at maybe £400-500 a week on a boat per person. You can get a private boat or get on a shared trip. land based camps are also an option.

North Male atolls (possibly the best set up?) would not require an internal flight so maybe add on 600-700 for the international (I did 14 days in north male for £1450 - 5 years ago) honkies, cokes, jails, chickens all fantastic perfect waves. Best months for clean easy waves i belive are march/april/may. I went in april and it was waist to head and half the whole time. Crowds were medium but the waves cranked all day so we got a fair few quite sessions and the vibe was fun even with 15-20 guys out (probably worst crowd we had).

Central atolls (where i went this april) - roughly same price but we had to pay a fuel surcharge (www.maldivesurf.com does regular trips organised by anthony yep best place for instand info on the area) - We spent 8 days here and about 3 back in north male. For 11 nights (choice of any breaks between central atolls and north male) with 8 people on a boat that could take 11/12 we paid about 1000 quid each including the fuel surcharge to get the boat down to the central atolls, we bought a one way flight and cruised back. The waves never really got above head high the whole time in the central atolls (compared to the last trip to north male id say a bit smaller for sure), I thought they were faster and definelty shallower (knee deep at times but not scarey, just fun!). The best bit was we didnt surf one other session with another boat, it was a great adventure, we only passed 2 boats crusing in 8 days. There were a few stand out spots like machines and hadigilla (you can goggle search for pics) which were easily as good as cokes/honkies/chickens, but some of the other waves were not as good quality and the cruising was longer between. we had to buy an interal flight for around 100 (whole trip price for 11 days was around 1900 i think inclu internation flights).

Southern/outer atolls, think its just between feb/april, best and biggest set up i hear but i havent been, used to be uncrowded but I think everyone heads down there now in those few months to get away from the crowds that are suppose to plague north male atolls. But to be honest with you i dont see the crowd problems in north male atoll, espeically in april as loads of boats are down in the southern atolls thining the crowd. Even this year i was expecting the crowds to be bad, but we had to head up to honkies to surf it again after the first trip. We surfed with something like just ourselves to maybe 20 guys in the 3 days we surfed there and the vibe was totally cool, I was on a constant conveyer belt of waves and im by no means a great surfer, so many waves to go around, the waves were a bit overhead and had a good bit of power, super long rides.

I think if you want good overhead waves go to outer atolls in april (but you will pay a couple hundred extra for return internals and fuel surcharge) if you want isolation go central, if you want perfect fun waves with less hassel (no internal flights) go north male.

You can also stay in a guest house near cokes which might even be the cheapest option, you can goggle it for set prices, basically you can get a local ferry out to cokes island once a day for like $3 or something and stay in a guest house near the break AUD110 http://www.cokessurfcampmaldives.com/cokes-surf-camp/

might be not quite as fun as a boat trip as you would be limited to surfing just cokes and dont get the fun boat trip lifestyle (and chickens across the channel) but I think it would be really fun anyway

I booked my boat through tim at lineup explorers, german based company (you want to get a trip that charges in euros or us dollars as aud is a bad exchange at the moment) totally nice guy who will price match if you find a cheaper option (as he did with us) super on it with communications and very knowledgable/honest about the maldives.

let me know if you got any more questions about it if you do decide to go for a trip, i highly recommend you do it at least once!

Yeah it sounds really good. I'm going to look into it for sure. Was looking at other options like Costa Rica/Sri Lanka etc that I've done before for <£1000 but with the price of most longhaul flights at the moment most places seem to be pushing the £800 mark before you've even taken board fees etc into account...

Hey prj, I'm heading there in 3 weeks with Liquid Destination (Australian). Check out their website and Facebook page. They have an awesome reputation and are not afraid to travel to get away from any crowd probs. We are going Central Atolls and will go south if the weather suits. Reading this thread has me PUMPED for our trip. Thanks for your help on the fish page too mate, I ended up tracking down a 6'2 retro. Firewire quiver complete.

^^^^^^ remember TK. Photos or it didn't happen.

Stoked for you mate.