Choose a Surfboard

Series Summary

Surfing comes in many different forms: kneeboarding, bodyboarding, surf-skiing, tow-in surfing and, of course, the traditional stand-up surfing. Some surfers enjoy the sport as recreation, while others surf competitively for national and worldwide titles. Traditional surfing consists of paddling out on a surfboard into the ocean and waiting for a breaking wave to come along. Once a surfer sees an opening, they paddle in the direction of the moving wave, matching its speed. Once the ocean begins to carry the board, the surfer hops to their feet and maneuvers the board, whether it’s to do tricks like hang tens, stalls, to go inside the tube or to just enjoy riding the wave. In this free video series on surfing, let a surfing instructor explain everything there is to know about the fun water sport. Discover how to choose a surfboard, wax a surfboard, maintain the appearance of a surfboard and figure out goofy- or regular-footed riding styles. He talks about how to paddle out and catch waves, stand up and turn and cutback on a surfboard. Finally, he discusses fixing a surfboard and wet suit, dealing with wet suit rash and buying a surfboard and wet suit.

Video Transcript

"Hi how's it going? This is Mike Sanders and I'm going to tell you how to choose your first surfboard. There's a couple things you've got to keep in mind. One of them is the size of the board that you're going to want when you're starting. Shorter boards are usually less dug into the wave they're harder to control. You feel a little more squirrelly on them. Long boards are heavier, they're a little bit harder to turn, you've got to really lean into them more but they give you a lot more stability. And they keep you cruising straight when you need to. Not falling off left and right. Also you've got to worry about the rails and the fins that you're going to have because those are going to keep you in control as well. Really with short boards it's kind of hard for me to say this to a lot of people but a lot of people come up to me and ask can you give me a lesson, I want to learn how to short board. Well it's not that simple because you've got to start with a little longer board. It's really pretty difficult to start with a short board and learn how to surf off of that. It's kind of like learning how to drive in a F-1 racer car. It's just not a good idea. But a good idea is what they call fun boards and those are moderately ranged lengths from 7 foot to 9 foot sometimes. They've got a good amount of rocker which is a curve in the board. And that'll keep your nose up above the water and keep you from going under. When you have more board you're able to keep above the waves and you don't have to work as hard to get into them. So it's a good idea to get into surfing with a moderate to long size board. It's a lot easier to get up on. It's a good investment over time. They're always fun even when you know how to surf. Just cruise around on small days like today."