So you’re catching white water waves on a regular basis and feel like you’re ready to step out into the lineup and ride the green waves – which surfboard to ride? The soft top surfboard is too big and doesn’t give you enough agility, and the shortboard is still a bit wiggly and unstable. Our head instructor in Portugal, João Durão, explains what surfboard you should go for.
– When you’re ready to step up from the soft top longboard you want to have a look at the regular longboard or a mini Malibu. These boards will allow the surfer to improve his or her surfing skills and technique due to a more refined and high performance shape and specific aspects that will increase and sensitivity.
– While the core of the board usually is made of different types of foam and on top of this you put plastic like polyester, epoxy or polyethylene. Epoxy boards will make you feel like a surfer and start enjoying generating speed and basic turns. It’s lighter, faster and stronger than soft top surfboards, and you will able to turn quicker and perform better and more controlled movements. Strength wise the polyester is the weakest and gets dinged easiest so for the level 2 surfer it’s better to go for an epoxy board like the NSP’s or the plastic ones from Bic. For these boards you should go for normal plastic fins as they are the cheapest and give good enough drive for the level 2 surfer.
– The most important thing to remember when you surf with these boards is safety. Being made out of hard plastic material these boards are somewhat solid and sometimes can be a hazard if you loose control of it and put you or others in jeopardy. Remember your surf awareness and board control when surfing with this boards and be careful with crowd factor (stay away from other surfers specially when surfing a wave or in case of getting caught by a big set).
– If you want to buy a board you should look for an easy surfboard as your first, trying to take in consideration 4 factors: Weight, height, surfing skills, and types of waves to surf with that board. Be humble in your choice and don’t go straight for really small boards. Look for nice Malibu surfboards with plenty of wideness and thickness as well low rocker to increase paddling power and speed, stability, control. Always play safe and choose a board that will allow you to get a lot of waves and learn how to catch waves all by yourself without struggling too much.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE LONGBOARD AND MINI MALIBU SURFBOARD:
Size: 7 – 8.6 feet
Leash: Approximately same size as your board
Fins: Three fin setup, hard fins made by plastic.
Material: Foam core and epoxy, polyester or polyethylene cover on top