subject: Choosing Your First One: Surfboards For Beginners [print this page] It's a wonderful sight, seeing the crashing breakers rolling in and catching glimpses of surfers pitting their wits, balance and surfboards against the best that nature can throw at them. Even the most hardened heart can't help but feel the thrill of the sights and sounds, but the sheer range of options often presented when you start out makes choosing surfboards for beginners a daunting prospect.
In general, surfboards can be divided into two categories " long boards and short boards. Long boards are defined as such when they are over eight and half foot long. This makes it easier to catch waves and transition from paddling to standing upright, but the downside is that a long board is slower and not as easy to maneuver once you are up. In contrast, a short board will be faster and easier to turn once in motion but with less surface area it's not so easy to stand up for extended periods of time on them. In general then, just from these two differences, long boards tend to make the best surfboards for beginners.
Usually the greatest aid to a new surfer is to have a board that has more buoyancy, which is where the length of their new surfboard brings the greatest advantage. Choosing a board that is wider will further aid the new starter in gaining experience and confidence and so these will typically be presented as good options " typically being referred to as "mals". Some schools will often try people out on so-called "mini mals" or Fun Boards which are wide but not as long for practice " and this is typically to get people used to the approximate weight, shape and dimensions of a board before progressing to a long board.
The biggest advantage to this route is to get people practiced in standing up, if only briefly, on their boards. On thinner surfboards your position is crucial. If you are not standing exactly in the center of the board, the less stable you will be. If you can't keep your balance on the board then you're not going to get very far.
That transition from paddling to standing is the most frustrating part of the learning process for new surfers. On a shorter board, even a wide mini mal, you're generally paddling at a slower speed and so need to make that transition quickly at the steepest point on the wave as it breaks. With all the extra effort going into paddling, inexperienced surfers tire quicker. Unfortunately it's a rare person who can pick up the trick of transitioning into perfect balance straight away, so at least at first you need all the spare energy you can muster to keep trying again and again. The extra maneuverability of short surfboards then, in many ways, is a reward once you've got the hang of it. That's why any recommendation for surfboards for beginners is going to be for a longer, wider deck.
