surf board rental guid
SURF NIVEAU
If you are not sure of your surfing level, the following overview may be helpful. Although there are different concepts for determining your surfing level, you can use these requirements to find the right rental surfboard:
SURFBOARDS FOR BEGINNERS
The basic rule for newbies is: Go big and go soft! You should never choose a surfboard that is too small, because a larger board with a lot of volume gives you more buoyancy and stability in the water. Beginners usually lack the necessary paddling power and a board with a lot of buoyancy helps enormously to compensate for this shortcoming. You get faster and more waves and subsequently more opportunities to practice.
In addition to the paddle power, the board feeling of newcomers is usually not particularly well-developed. This is where you benefit from the stability that a surfboard with a large contact surface offers. You can position yourself on the board more easily without losing your balance and it will be more forgiving of mistakes. The large contact surface is not only influenced by the size of the surfboard but also by its shape, which is why a Malibu shape with a wide, round nose is ideal for beginners. We have the largest selection of this surf shape for you in our surf school on site.
Of course, height and weight also play a role in the length of the board. In principle, you should add at least 30 cm to your height, then you have the approximate board length that you need as a beginner.
The length of the surfboards is given in feet and inches: 1 foot = 30.48 cm, 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
-To avoid endangering yourself and other surfers in the water, you should definitely use a softboard at the beginning.
Even advanced surfers can have a lot of fun with a softboard, as they offer a lot of buoyancy and you can get a lot of waves. Just take a smaller model, you’ll be amazed at how manoeuvrable these things are. They are now available in all shapes and sizes on the market.
If you prefer to switch to a hardtop or continue surfing with it, there are several options.
The most common surfboards have either a core of polyurethane (PU) foam laminated with fibreglass mats and polyester resin, or a core of expanded polysterene foam (EPS) laminated with epoxy resin. Many boards also combine these materials in different combinations.
Polyester boards have excellent riding characteristics and are usually a little cheaper than epoxy boards, but they are very sensitive to impact and easily dented. Once the resin layer is broken, the board needs to be repaired immediately, otherwise the core will pull water and the board will become heavier and heavier.
Epoxy boards, on the other hand, are much more resistant and not so easy to break. Due to their light EPS core, they still have similar good riding characteristics as polyester boards.
CONSIDER 5 FACTORS FOR LENGTH AND SHAPE:
- Surf level
- Physical conditions (weight, height and fitness)
- Surf spot and waves
- Daytime conditions (swell, wind, etc.)
- Line-up utilization
As easy and relaxed as it may look, longboard surfing is unfortunately not suitable for bleeding beginners. Due to their size and high volume, longboards offer a lot of stability and buoyancy but are significantly more difficult to maneuver than smaller surfboards (e.g. malibus). As a rule, they are at least 9 feet long (approx. 3m) and thus a real projectile in the water that needs to be handled! If you don’t have any surfing experience, we recommend a surfing course or longboard private lessons
Thanks to their large volume, longboards function in very small waves, but can also be surfed in larger waves. This makes the wave selection much bigger and you no longer have to fight for a spot at the peak in crowded lineups.
Their high stability in the water makes longboard surfboards (DE) a real playground where you can run back and forth, dance on the waves and try out a stunt or two.
There are no limits to your creativity. You can stand, lie down, kneel, and even surf in a headstand – the main thing is that it’s fun!
