02 Feb Surfing lessons in Bali: what surfboard to start with?
There are a lot of types of surfboards, they can be very different – short or long, with a pointed or round nose, narrow or wide. Every detail of size and shape of your surfboard has a big influence on the choice of a spot, speed and manoeuvrability. If you are just about to start surfingtake your first surfing lessons in Bali, you should learn about surfboards and this article will help you. What type of surfboard you should start with? What’s a gun and what’s the difference between a gun and a longboard? After reading this you will understand this sort of information, what waves you can get with a certain type of board and this will also help you a make decision what direction you want to move to after you finish basic course.
Soft-top
Among all the types of surfboards this is the best one for your first surfing lessons in Bali and catching your first wave. The name of a board speaks for itself. So instead off fibre glass surf boards, soft-tops are made with soft sponge material, so you will learn surfing safely and will not harm your self or other people. Sizes are different – they range from shortboards to longboards, but, of course, second hand ones are better for the first lessons.
Guys who surf for a long time know, that its hard to stop thinking about getting a new surfboard. A true surfer should have at least one board for every type and size of waves. Small waves? Take a fish board, longboard or mini malibu. If you have enough experience and swell is good – perfect for shortboard. But if you have more than enough experience and passion of extreme surfing – try yourself on big waves by riding a gun. Except the size of a surfboard, there are a lot of parts that have an impact on speed, manoeuvrability and style of surfing.
Longboard (8+ ft)
Stability of the longboards and length allow you to do some different tricks like cross stepping or nose riding, make a headstand or even surf with your friend on one board. You will feel yourself like a hippie riding this thing, it’s way more relaxing than other types of surfing. Some people think that these boards are used for begonners and surfing lessons in Bali… but nope, it’s just one of surf styles!
Funboard / minimalibu (6,5-8 ft) – same types of surfboards
As you got already fun boards are definitely created for having fun. Fun boards are long and thick enough as well, that allows you to get more waves, but still they are shorter and not so heavy as longboards so it’s more easier to manoeuvre. It’s something like between a single fin longboard version and a shortboard. But the difference between a longboard and a fun board – speed, manoeuvres and tricks. On the plus side, there is a huge variety of fun boards: from pointy nose type of shortboards to kind of long ones. Also good if you already had some surfing lessons in Bali and hesitate between longboards and shortboards.
Shortboard (5-7 ft)
Very short, thin, narrow, with a pointed nose and different fin set ups (from 3 up to 5). If to compare to other types of surfboards, this one is the most popular especially among pro surfers. Videos of world shortboard competitions are more exciting than, for example, long boarding competitions. The reason why the short board is liked so much is because they give you a lot of speed and have a huge variety of tricks that you can do on a shortboard, like air, tube riding, carves and many many more. It’s perfect for waves preferably 3-5 ft high. But despite of all of these pluses you should remember that even when its small waves the short board gives you a lot of opportunities, it’s not so easy to keep balance, so it ‘s 100% not for the first surfing lessons in Bali.
Fishboards (5-6 ft)
The first fish boards came into this world in late of 70-s. Basically these boards were created for surfing on your knees. Old school designed fish boards have swallow tails, 2-5 fins. These boards are wider, thicker and shorter than shortboards, that gives you a greater possibility to go surfing when waves are too small for a shortboard. More than it these boards have still same variety of manoeuvres as the short board, but can be dangerous to ride in bigger waves. If you like shortboards, make sure you have a fish board for not loosing opportunity to surf when it’s not “a big day” in the ocean.
Gun (8-10 ft)
Guns are for real men, so if you just beginner don’t even try to ride it. Guns are same length to longboards that’s good for stability and paddle speed while riding big waves. They have same width like shortboards, that keeps it manoeuvrability. And its pintails and pointed noses are good for getting speed on the wave. The main difference from shortboards and guns are guns are much wider and a lot longer, because it’s easier to avoid breaking your surfboard when you ride giant monsters and easier to paddle in to them.
Watch this video to see the difference between riding short and longboards.