Choosng first surfboard height

Question
I want to buy a surfboard and i was thinking of trying to get a second-hand mini-mal but im not sure of what height to get im 5'3 and growing.

Answer
A great board to start on for you would be something along the lines of a retro fish http://www.2imagine.net/surf/eretro.html should give you an idea of what shape to look for. Besides that, look for anything other than a high performance shortboard, you will find that they are waaayyy too much trouble to learn on. As far as board length goes, it really depends on what type of board. If you're getting a fish I'd look at one between 5'5" and 5'10".