How To Choose a Beginner Surfboard
How to Choose a Beginner Surfboard is an early question for people excited about learning to surf. Hopefully you start with a lesson and experienced a soft top surfboard.
The soft top is good for beginners for three reasons: They are easy to Paddle. They catch waves easily. They won’t hurt you if they hit you. As you go to shorter hard boards, you lose all three of these advantages.
Choosing the Size of the Surfboard
Beginners can choose the size of the soft top as a function of their weight. I started teaching 12 years ago on all 8′ soft top boards. I watch other instructors with boards up to 10′ and decided I was making it too difficult for my students. When I went to 9′ soft tops, I increased the success of more students.
At first, I would put students over 120 pounds on the 9′ and keep the under 120 on 8′ boards. Now I even put 100 pound students on the 9′ board because it makes it so easy on them to learn. Under 80 pounds I used a 7′ board.
If students up to 110 pounds were to buy a board they would want to buy an 8′ soft top. It is easier for them to manage. As soon as students become proficient on the 9′ soft top and can land their pop up, they should attempt the 8′ soft top.
Dropping to an 8′ soft top
After students have paddled out and caught bigger foam and real waves, they move to bigger real waves. There are many surfers who use an 8′ soft top in the line up. It will catch up to 7′ waves. They keep the wave catching, paddling and riding easy.
On real waves the 8′ soft top surfer can learn to do bottom turns into the pocket, accelerate by moving the nose of the board up and down the face with their front foot, and do cut backs. Some surfers might do tricks like ripping the lip, but that becomes difficult with the soft top.
The 8′ soft top could remain the surfers choice for a long time if they don’t get to the water often. It keeps paddling and catching waves easy. Once the surfer moves to shorter hard boards, things change. If a surfer moves to a hard long board of 9′ or 9’6″, they retain all the advantages of the soft top and add greater performance.
Why Move to a Hard Board
When the soft top surfer wants a hard board the first move should be to a fun board of 7’6″ in length, 21″+ in width, and 2 3/4″ in thickness. As the surfer moves to shorter boards they should only move 6″ shorter at a time while maintaining the width and thickness. This keeps the fun in.
The advantage of shorter boards is the added maneuverability and carve capability. If you are not going to do more than bottom turns and cut backs and perhaps rip the lip, there is no need to keep moving shorter.
More Posts
Oceanside Surf Lessons for Beginners
How to Progress to Surfing the Short Board
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