Your First Surfboard, Beginner tips!

So you have had a few Surfing lessons at a local Surf School, now your hooked and want your own Surfboard. Here are a few tips to stop you buying the wrong Surfboard for your experience.

1. Soft top or Minimal?

Depending on how well you do in your lessons you may want to miss out the buying a soft top or foamy surfboard and go straight to buying a Minimal. Why! well it’s true you will learn quickly how to pop up and ride a Foamy straight into the beach but once this is achieved you will be looking to upgrade to a proper Minimal Surfboard and that is when you will find out that trying to ride a proper board is nothing like riding a foamy. I know you can get your hands on some really decent foamy boards these days but they are not cheap some cost as much as a fibreglass surfboard so is it really worth months on a foamy that could of been spent learning on a Minimal. Your surf instructor should be able to tell you are ready for a proper surfboard or not and you might want to continue a few lessons on your minimal to get as many tips as you can from your instructor.

2. How big should my first Surfboard be?

Don’t take any notice of the volume on your first Surfboard, buy a Minimal board that is at least 1 1/2 ft taller than you, this should have plenty of volume in it. Buy local if you can! look you can browse all you want on the internet but you can not get better advice than your local surf shop or Surfboard Shaper, it is very much in there interest to sell you the right board, they want to see you become a good surfer so you can be a repeat customer maybe for a intermediate surfboard after your first few years on a Minimal.

I do a full Minimal Surfboard Beginner package deal Find out more

3. Keep at it!

Especially in the North East you are going to hit your first winter and think WOW this is tough, surfing is one of the hardest sports on the planet, no two waves are ever the same, learning to surf does not happen over night it takes years and in the winter it takes on a whole new meaning when you weigh about 5kg more due to the extra thick wetsuits, the cold takes your breath away and fatigues you very quickly during the winter. So dig in and take your time while having fun along the way.

4. Build relationships with local surfers and Shapers!

Join clubs and Facebook group, make new friends who are into surfing especially if they are learners as well so you can swap tips and encourage each other. If you buy your surfboard locally you will need it repairing at some point, the relationship you strike up with your local Surfboard Shaper can be valuable for local information and advice on when and were to surf. Also your local shaper will get to know you and your surfing making further surfboard purchases much easier!

I myself have helps hundreds of new Surfers from being a complete beginner to becoming and advanced surfer it’s always a pleasure to watch someone grow!