-
Surfboard Size
Hey guys, right now I’m riding a shortboard 5’10 made of Epoxy. Right now my level of surfing is trying to catch unbroken waves, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I’ve been wanting to buy a new board, a shorter one about 5’7, my height is 165 cm, is it fine? I feel my current board is too heavy when I carry it around and I’ve been wanting one that weights less but I don’t know if I’m being too desperate about it. Help please!
-
2 Replies
-
Just saw your post. The Barefoot team may have some better recommendations, but a rule of thumb I’ve heard is if you can catch 90% of the waves you try for, then you can consider a shorter board. May I ask why you want such a small board?
Personally I’ve been surfing 10 years, easily catch unbroken waves and have slowly been increasing my surf board size in order to get in sooner, deeper and beat the crowds and get more waves. For reference, I weigh 145lbs, and my daily driver is a 6’0″ epoxy with lots of volume. Some days I even wish it was bigger…
-
Hi there Kyle,
Thanks for your question.
I believe that you would benefit from a deeper understanding of how a surfboard’s volume affects your surfing, especially your paddling speed & ability to catch waves. Check out this free article:
https://tutorials.barefootsurftravel.com/articles/what-is-a-surfboards-volume/
The length of your surfboard is only 1 aspect of its design. There’s also width, thickness, rocker, outline, etc. Another important thing is that it’s more about your weight than your height. The thing you want to be thinking about is “how much floatation” you need for your level. Not enough floatation will make you paddle slower, catch fewer waves, and the board will feel less stable. In short, it will harm your progression.
I hope the article helps 🙂
All the best,
Gab