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Learn to Surf Lesson 1 - Choosing The Perfect Surfboard

By: Rodney Lister

You must cover the basics when starting out, the first few steps you will need to cover are...

1: Find the perfect beginners board

2: 2nd learn to paddle

3: Getting past waves, by either rolling or duckdiving

4: Then the fun part, catching the wave

5: Last of all, you can now learn how to pop up or stand on your board

I would like to cover these steps in a few different articles, so in this article I will start at the beginning, how to choose the perfect surfboard for a beginner. Now unless you got money and time to burn, don't go out and buy the best looking board in the shop, start out with a low quality board you can ding up.

You can get yourself a brand new surfboard after you got your balance on a big old board. So the first thing to look for is size, you want something with plenty of floatation. If the board is to small it will also sink and create more drag when paddling, the bigger the board, the more floataion you will have, and the bigger you are, the more floatation you will need.

I suggest starting out on a big board first, you will be able to get your balance faster, and then move to a smaller board sooner. Look for something above 6ft 8inches long, 7ft to 8ft is a good starting size. If you intend to ride long boards then you can go much longer look for a Malibu up to around 12 ft.

So you got your eyes on a big old board around 7 to 8ft, what's it look like... who cares? If it can hold you up that's all that matters, dings will not affect you because you wont be doing anything to tricky or tackling large waves. However while the board can look crapy, you don't want the fiberglass peeling away from the foam, if water can reach the foam, it will soak into it and weigh you down. Then you will never get the speed to catch a wave.

The bigest factor in choosing the right board is size, shape and number of fins do not matter at all. These things affect people who will be turning the board more, and you just want to stand up and get your balance, so take no notice of them. Just make sure your surfboard is at least 2 to 3 inches in thickness, and anywhere from 20 inches in width.

Most importantly when you get your first board is to get a leg rope. You might hear horror stories of the board getting dragged under then getting pulled back towards you like a bungy and knocking you out, but this will only happen in huge swell, which I hope you will not be tackling when learning to surf.

Don't even try risking it with no legrope, or an old one that could snap. You might try to grap your board whenever you fall off, but it will get away from you. Then you have to try and swim in with the waves crashing on you, it takes a lot more energy swimming in the ocean then in a pool.

The many elements of the ocean could have you swimming as hard as you can, while you feel like your going nowhere. You might even be able to see your board drifting towards you, but just before you can reach it a wave will pick it up and carry it away, yet you will have to much drag for the wave to pick you up. Even if you are a strong enough swimmer, it will take a lot of time and energy just to get your board every time.

You will need a new legrope, this is something you can keep when trading in your surfboard, so it will not be wasted with an old board. Quality is best, but any new rope should be strong enough. Make sure you get a legrope that is long enough to reach you when standing forward on the board. But don't get anything too long, if the rope is too long it can act as a bungy, pulling your board right back at you.

So you got your surfboard, its big, its ugly, but it will hold you up. Now your ready to practice, so read the next articles on how to surf, grab your friends and start paddling.

Article Source: http://www.articlemanual.com

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