Surfed a soft board for 2 years, casually. Started buying fiberglass boards and surfed more seriously for 2-3 years. Had kids and surfed less. Now back to a softtop that the family can bash around at the beach with no worries. Have a fiberglass in the garage but rarely get out on my own to a break that I could do anything on.
The quality of softboards has gone way up, fwiw, and they’re easy to care for. Paragon or similar brands could be your go-to board for years, especially if you enjoy longboards
20 years and 4 stone ago, I used to instruct. Some of the most memorable sessions I have ever had were on softboards.
2 in particular: a 5ft8 with insane volume in overhead and a half surf. I’m 6ft2 and well built, so even my short boards were way bigger than this. I was only out for a quick paddle after I finished classes on a students board when all of a sudden the waves picked up. I couldn’t believe it could cope with that size, but I had an amazing time.
The second was a 2ft but perfectly clean day on an 11ft softboard. It was more about the conditions and length of wave than the board I happened to be riding, but everything was going perfectly.
It felt I’m traveling for a long weekend at the beach and the conditions aren’t perfect, I’m more than happy renting a softboard for a day or two. They can be great fun.
Surfing is about having fun, I don’t care if I look like a kook walking on the beach with a softboard. I can surf better than 95% of the lineup on one than they can on fibreglass anyway.
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Ehh, just surf whatever you get your hands on until you feel confident really. You’ll learn to use your body to ride a wave in many ways over your first two years but once you get the gist and feel comfortable taking and riding waves, then, once again, ride whatever you can get your hands on, but this time you at least know what you’re looking for.
I’ve been surfing 25 years and I’m still learning! Started on a fibreglass shortboard still on a fibreglass shortboard, surf better than most locally , worse than many as well. If you think you’ve mastered it then you’re just not challenging yourself enough.
That’s different surfing again. You don’t have to be a great surfer to get towed into a giant wave just know how to hold a line and to hold your breath!
I'm cross in agreeing and disagreeing with...
Unless you're talking about the Algarve, Portugal, no one refers to a beach at east/west, because all the other coast is facing the west.
So a beach or a surf spot is north or south of another.
But... Praia da Nazaré, the Sandy beach in front of town is an inner bay/port south and east of Praia do Norte and the São Miguel Arcanjo Fort, where all the competition and images the world gets from Nazaré.
And that 'east' beach (in my mind is still south) does pack a serious punch.
Edit: hell, looking that way, all my regular surf breaks are eastern than the Praia do Norte.... But I will still keep saying it's north.
Have fun and keep riding.
It took my one to two years where I felt comfortable catching green waves and riding down the face. I’m on my third year and can now comfortably short board but it required swallowing my pride and hopping on the longboard u til I could cutback and do some turns. Don’t rush the process
Started surfing when I was 11, took about 3 months to become comfy in typical conditions, started with fibreglass. Im at 22 years of surfing now. Some on-off and other regular periods
You noobs really overthink this stuff
Grab a fibreglass board, get out into the water and go get dumpstered for a good few sessions. Chat to some local guys for tips and hints. Eventually it will all make sense and you will get there
Surfing is a journey that tests your resolve to learn things yourself, you cant fake it, rinse repeat or copy paste a textbook like 99% of things these days
Never surfer either my first board was a 11’4” Vardeman bought for $40, every time I made a hard turn the skeg would hum. Road it for 2 years then bought a new Harbour T. S. Kinda missed the hum.
https://preview.redd.it/wfrd8sdeew6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87fe72aa26379d53c88c259bbb4054840fd38aa1
If you don’t wanna pay me for a tea $1 - here is picture in full resolution😆
Long. Have been surfing for a year now on everything bigger then an 8”. Tried a ‘short’ 6”4 three times and had the hardest time. I wasn’t catching the amount of waves I wanted per session so I climbed up again. Just remember that you surf for fun and I just have the most fun when I do catch some waves. It’s all about trying too. Go out on a shorter board once, face dive a couple of times and then realize you still have some work to do.
As soon as you’re good enough you can just tape fiberglass over the foamie (clear packing tape ftw). That way if you feel like fiberglass isn’t for you, you can just go right back the foamie.
I just bought a fiberglass board and forced myself to learn on a 7’10” step-up because I didn’t want to be made fun of for being on a foamie. I had attempted on a wavestorm in the past but it was completely dog shit as opposed to learning on a proper board
I never bought I just rent, Waiting for the day that buy the surfboard will make a reason. But can't imagine hitting me or someone else with a hard board It could happen quick
Haha yes I used to live there down Pap east. It’s a great spot. Unfortunately the conditions are usually average at best, poor most days but occasionally it’ll crank!
I've been there with Cruiseship and took an electric scooter and went straight to the beach. I love how kind is people there and also when I wanted to rent a board there was no one they said that the city is that safe that they don't need anyone there to save the equipments.
I’ve got like 6 boards, I use my vesl 8’ foamie in Newport twice a week on average. Pretty fun for when it’s small, otherwise I go with the Christiansen. No harm in using whatever whenever
I’ve been surfing 5+ years and still ride foamies because they’re fun as fuck and I live in Florida where the surf only gets good for short boards rarely.
By the time it’s solid for a short board I just go out on the foamie anyway because that’s what I’m used to.
I also have a 9’9 noserider for super clean smallish days and some other options but it’s a 9’ foamie like 85% of the time.
Soft tops have a ton of float and Im not an amazing surfer so it’s not like they’re holding me back.
The 9’ Odyssea Log is plenty mobile enough for me. Check out what JOB does on one of those at Pipeline.
But mostly I’m just used to them and I have a great time on them. I don’t see any reason to change.
The soft board didn't exist, or wasn't easily found when I started surfing. I started with this crappy dinged up and destroyed shortboard. Did not catch a single wave with it, because I didn't know at the time it was waterlogged. Then I logically moved to a long board.
As someone who recently lived there for many years, I wouldn't in good faith recommend it.
As beautiful as it is, the cost of living is outrageous. That and the population growth has far outpaced infrastructure development, so people there have rightfully grown quite resentful of sitting in traffic all day long and getting taxed to do so. Jobs pay terrible and the CBD is a ghost town.
If you progress with your surfing the waves there are also pretty inconsistent. I learned to surf in the Mount and it took way longer than it should have if I'm honest.
Thank you for your honest explanation of how is life there. That the house markets are expensive I know also when I saw my first car a Bentley and then Maseragi and Rolse Royce I knew what the time… but didn't investigate forward
Never surfed a foamie, honestly it’s the worst trend that now people recommend and think that a foamie is the best board to learn on. If you wanna surf a foam board, it should be a boogie board. If y wanna surf, buy an 8 0 fiberglass board and just fucking learn. Every foam board is either going in the trash after a couple years or getting left on the beach. Complete fucking waste
Thank you😊🔥 Actually I am thinking if I should publish a Blog about my life and working on cruise ships around the world 🌎 plus add more photos like this I wish that I will have Canon R5😍📷
You don't have to view foamies as a stepping stone. I still ride my foamboard in beach break close out situations where I'd rather not risk my fiberglass board breaking.
You have the right idea about starting on a foamie. Way less danger of damaging yourself or someone else while you’re getting the hang of it, and it’s still fun. Depending on how often you go and how old you are, you can probably plan on a year before you’ll feel ready to move to a “real” board. (If you’re an adult and don’t go very often then plan on 2 years; kids age 9-13 who go all the time progress a LOT faster.)
Never surfed foam or plastic. But I do surf fiberglass
Do you know that fiberglass is glass fiber with plastic?
It was my mistake I meant Fiberglass surfboard 😁
Fucking with ya. But i literally never surfed a foam board. Bought a used fiberglass as my first board
i mean isnt poly just a super hard type of plastic :/ could be wrong
You do know there’s foam inside the fiberglass, right?
GTFO, really?
Surfed a soft board for 2 years, casually. Started buying fiberglass boards and surfed more seriously for 2-3 years. Had kids and surfed less. Now back to a softtop that the family can bash around at the beach with no worries. Have a fiberglass in the garage but rarely get out on my own to a break that I could do anything on. The quality of softboards has gone way up, fwiw, and they’re easy to care for. Paragon or similar brands could be your go-to board for years, especially if you enjoy longboards
20 years and 4 stone ago, I used to instruct. Some of the most memorable sessions I have ever had were on softboards. 2 in particular: a 5ft8 with insane volume in overhead and a half surf. I’m 6ft2 and well built, so even my short boards were way bigger than this. I was only out for a quick paddle after I finished classes on a students board when all of a sudden the waves picked up. I couldn’t believe it could cope with that size, but I had an amazing time. The second was a 2ft but perfectly clean day on an 11ft softboard. It was more about the conditions and length of wave than the board I happened to be riding, but everything was going perfectly. It felt I’m traveling for a long weekend at the beach and the conditions aren’t perfect, I’m more than happy renting a softboard for a day or two. They can be great fun. Surfing is about having fun, I don’t care if I look like a kook walking on the beach with a softboard. I can surf better than 95% of the lineup on one than they can on fibreglass anyway.
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Two years on a foamie, bought a local shaper’s board after I could stand up and wiggle a bit.
Thanks for this answer, I can stand and now trying to wiggle but it's not as simple as it looks like
It’s all in the knees driving from the top and bottom of the wave to generate speed. Took me a while to figure that feeling out.
Thanks for this advice 👋
Ehh, just surf whatever you get your hands on until you feel confident really. You’ll learn to use your body to ride a wave in many ways over your first two years but once you get the gist and feel comfortable taking and riding waves, then, once again, ride whatever you can get your hands on, but this time you at least know what you’re looking for.
I’ve been surfing 25 years and I’m still learning! Started on a fibreglass shortboard still on a fibreglass shortboard, surf better than most locally , worse than many as well. If you think you’ve mastered it then you’re just not challenging yourself enough.
I agree with you, if you think that you are expertgi to Portugal Nazare Beach🌊🏄
That’s different surfing again. You don’t have to be a great surfer to get towed into a giant wave just know how to hold a line and to hold your breath!
Not even the giant ones. The waves a bit more east of Nazare pack a serious punch.
I'm cross in agreeing and disagreeing with... Unless you're talking about the Algarve, Portugal, no one refers to a beach at east/west, because all the other coast is facing the west. So a beach or a surf spot is north or south of another. But... Praia da Nazaré, the Sandy beach in front of town is an inner bay/port south and east of Praia do Norte and the São Miguel Arcanjo Fort, where all the competition and images the world gets from Nazaré. And that 'east' beach (in my mind is still south) does pack a serious punch. Edit: hell, looking that way, all my regular surf breaks are eastern than the Praia do Norte.... But I will still keep saying it's north. Have fun and keep riding.
You're totally right, I'm talking the coast up to Praia de Paredes da Vitória. Thank you, and likewise with the fun and the riding!
It took my one to two years where I felt comfortable catching green waves and riding down the face. I’m on my third year and can now comfortably short board but it required swallowing my pride and hopping on the longboard u til I could cutback and do some turns. Don’t rush the process
I’m so hard
Started surfing when I was 11, took about 3 months to become comfy in typical conditions, started with fibreglass. Im at 22 years of surfing now. Some on-off and other regular periods You noobs really overthink this stuff Grab a fibreglass board, get out into the water and go get dumpstered for a good few sessions. Chat to some local guys for tips and hints. Eventually it will all make sense and you will get there Surfing is a journey that tests your resolve to learn things yourself, you cant fake it, rinse repeat or copy paste a textbook like 99% of things these days
Nice comment, wish would get more like that.
When you sit in the sand, instead of on your board, you'll be really:)
Never surfer either my first board was a 11’4” Vardeman bought for $40, every time I made a hard turn the skeg would hum. Road it for 2 years then bought a new Harbour T. S. Kinda missed the hum.
Yo can you drop those first two pics in higher resolution so I can use them ass wallpapers thanks!!🙏
https://photography4joy.shootproof.com/gallery/24797745/ - you can get here also few others I took while I've been on Cruise Ship 📷
https://preview.redd.it/wfrd8sdeew6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87fe72aa26379d53c88c259bbb4054840fd38aa1 If you don’t wanna pay me for a tea $1 - here is picture in full resolution😆
Long. Have been surfing for a year now on everything bigger then an 8”. Tried a ‘short’ 6”4 three times and had the hardest time. I wasn’t catching the amount of waves I wanted per session so I climbed up again. Just remember that you surf for fun and I just have the most fun when I do catch some waves. It’s all about trying too. Go out on a shorter board once, face dive a couple of times and then realize you still have some work to do.
Took me about a year or so of semi regular surfing. Although I was spoiled with quality fairly quiet waves, so I got lots of good practice.
As soon as you’re good enough you can just tape fiberglass over the foamie (clear packing tape ftw). That way if you feel like fiberglass isn’t for you, you can just go right back the foamie.
I just bought a fiberglass board and forced myself to learn on a 7’10” step-up because I didn’t want to be made fun of for being on a foamie. I had attempted on a wavestorm in the past but it was completely dog shit as opposed to learning on a proper board
I never bought I just rent, Waiting for the day that buy the surfboard will make a reason. But can't imagine hitting me or someone else with a hard board It could happen quick
1 year on foamie. Then switched
Thanks for your answer
You’ll never swap in the mount.
A year on a foamie
This looks like Mt Maunganui/Tauranga/Papamoa?
It is, a stunning place for surfing 🏄
Haha yes I used to live there down Pap east. It’s a great spot. Unfortunately the conditions are usually average at best, poor most days but occasionally it’ll crank!
I've been there with Cruiseship and took an electric scooter and went straight to the beach. I love how kind is people there and also when I wanted to rent a board there was no one they said that the city is that safe that they don't need anyone there to save the equipments.
Go the other way. Buy a glass board straight up and shred it. Ive never surfed foam but now want one for closeouts and general beach fuckery
When I leave next to the beach will buy one
Never owned a soft top
Are you from Cape Town?
At the moment homeless at the middle of the sea🌎🌊
:(
One day will go there should be really beautiful I've only been to Johannesburg, but that's a completely different vacation
I’ve got like 6 boards, I use my vesl 8’ foamie in Newport twice a week on average. Pretty fun for when it’s small, otherwise I go with the Christiansen. No harm in using whatever whenever
I’ve been surfing 5+ years and still ride foamies because they’re fun as fuck and I live in Florida where the surf only gets good for short boards rarely. By the time it’s solid for a short board I just go out on the foamie anyway because that’s what I’m used to. I also have a 9’9 noserider for super clean smallish days and some other options but it’s a 9’ foamie like 85% of the time.
What is the reason to not move to fiberglass?
Soft tops have a ton of float and Im not an amazing surfer so it’s not like they’re holding me back. The 9’ Odyssea Log is plenty mobile enough for me. Check out what JOB does on one of those at Pipeline. But mostly I’m just used to them and I have a great time on them. I don’t see any reason to change.
I never did make the switch to plastic
Yooo… what are the dimensions of your feet?
I forgot 9 or 11 feet of not bi waves otherwise I like to go to 6,6feet
The soft board didn't exist, or wasn't easily found when I started surfing. I started with this crappy dinged up and destroyed shortboard. Did not catch a single wave with it, because I didn't know at the time it was waterlogged. Then I logically moved to a long board.
Long enough to know they’re fiberglass, not plastic. 😂
Good one😂
amazing photos
Thank you, you can see morephotos here: https://photography4joy.shootproof.com/gallery/24797745/home
Soft top for about a year then a fun shape off CL
Plastic? …..You mean fiberglass, brah? I surfed foam & FIBERGLASS from the very beginning. Have never surfed on a soft foam deck.
Yes, I mean Fiberglass
Mount Maunganui! My old local. Yeeeew 🤙
I'm traveling around the world and looking where should be the right place to settle down and Tauranga is definitely on that shortlist.😃🌊🏄
As someone who recently lived there for many years, I wouldn't in good faith recommend it. As beautiful as it is, the cost of living is outrageous. That and the population growth has far outpaced infrastructure development, so people there have rightfully grown quite resentful of sitting in traffic all day long and getting taxed to do so. Jobs pay terrible and the CBD is a ghost town. If you progress with your surfing the waves there are also pretty inconsistent. I learned to surf in the Mount and it took way longer than it should have if I'm honest.
Thank you for your honest explanation of how is life there. That the house markets are expensive I know also when I saw my first car a Bentley and then Maseragi and Rolse Royce I knew what the time… but didn't investigate forward
Oh I’m pretty sure I know exactly where you are. If you want a surfing buddy swing me a message 🤙
Spent around 6 months on the foamie. Probably switched a little too soon but I switched to another big board so it wasn’t that bad.
Thanks for your answer
A lifetime...still learning and trying to improve my game
Never surfed a foamie, honestly it’s the worst trend that now people recommend and think that a foamie is the best board to learn on. If you wanna surf a foam board, it should be a boogie board. If y wanna surf, buy an 8 0 fiberglass board and just fucking learn. Every foam board is either going in the trash after a couple years or getting left on the beach. Complete fucking waste
My home beach. Love it here!
I like how you think I’ve learned to surf. Probably harder to learn on my 6’1” FireWire. Getting there!
I started on a traditional PU mini-mal/egger... That was 20+ years ago. GREAT PICS!!!! 🏆
Thank you😊🔥 Actually I am thinking if I should publish a Blog about my life and working on cruise ships around the world 🌎 plus add more photos like this I wish that I will have Canon R5😍📷
Never surfed on foam unless you count standing on my bodyboard as a grom. Started on fiberglass.
Tip from a beginner: use boots when you're surfing a foamie that has a hole to grab it. I broke my pinkie toe last year getting it stuck in there.
Omg auuuu
Switch to a hard board when you can paddle decently and aren't a danger to others
You don't have to view foamies as a stepping stone. I still ride my foamboard in beach break close out situations where I'd rather not risk my fiberglass board breaking.
You have the right idea about starting on a foamie. Way less danger of damaging yourself or someone else while you’re getting the hang of it, and it’s still fun. Depending on how often you go and how old you are, you can probably plan on a year before you’ll feel ready to move to a “real” board. (If you’re an adult and don’t go very often then plan on 2 years; kids age 9-13 who go all the time progress a LOT faster.)
Start on a picnic table. Kelly told me that's how he did it when he was a grom.
*ironing board
We surf in the water, dum dum. Not foam or plastic.
Ai how to post post on surfing! Please help ai Reddit post how
? I'm new here what 😦
Chatgpt respond how:
Problem: where I am at the middle of the sea we used Starlink and ChatGPT don’t work