How To Determine What Surfboard is Right for You
So, you are learning to surf and want to buy your first board. You may be thinking that you need to run out and buy the nicest, most expensive board on the market. The nicer the board, the better the surfer you’ll be, right? Wrong! It’s important that you find the right surfboard for you. Here are a few things to know when determining what surfboard is right for you.
Stick to a Foam Board at First
If you have ever taken a lesson with us, then you know that we teach all of our lessons on nine foot Liquid Shredder foam boards for adults, and seven or eight foot foam boards for kids (depending on the ages and size of the kids). Foam boards are the best boards for beginners. We use foam boards for beginners because they have rubber fins, are forgiving, paddle well, and float well (due to the high amount of volume).
When selecting your first foam board we recommend looking for a few key characteristics including:
Stability: a stable board should be wide and have a significant volume. This will help you fine tune your pop up, timing and board control
Safety: opt for rubber fins and a soft material for your first board to keep you safe on the water
Durability: you will want a board that is basically indestructible. When learning to surf, your board will get dinged up quite a bit, it’s important that your board can hold up against these dings
Cheap: don’t blow your budget on an expensive board. As mentioned above, it will get dinged up, and your first board is not always going to be the perfect board for you. Leave room in your budget to upgrade your board as your surfing skills progress
Availability: don’t spend days and hours hunting for the perfect board. We recommend looking at those boards that are readily available to buy at local surf shops, like Ocean Surf Shop.
Upgrade to Fiberglass or Epoxy
So, you’ve now mastered the foam board and are now ready to upgrade your board. We recommend upgrading to a fiberglass (PU) or epoxy (EPS) board. When looking to upgrade your board it’s important to consider your age, weight, and fitness level in addition to your surfing ability and primary surfing beach/daily surfing conditions.
We recommend buying a used board for your first fiberglass or epoxy board. You can find good used boards on Craigslists, ShredSeason.com, and at your local surf shop like Ocean Surf Shop. When buying a used board, make sure it is not dinged up or waterlogged. You can check to see if its waterlogged by noticing if it feels abnormally heavy.
Other key things to look for when buying your first fiberglass or epoxy board are length and volume. You should ideally look for a board that is seven to nine feet in length. The longer boards will help ease the transition from a typical nine foot, beginner foam board. Also, you will want a board with more volume, like that of the longer boards. Lastly, you will want a board that has forgiving aspects, that floats well, paddle well and allows you to catch more waves.
Don’t let buying your first surfboard overwhelm you. Keep it simple, stick to a foam board initially and upgrade to a used fiberglass or epoxy board down the road. Have any questions about boards or just surfing in general? Don’t hesitate to stop us and ask if you see us on Folly or shoot us a message.