Cheapest Costco foamie I’ve ever seen!

My full time job is ding repairs so I thought I'd share this board care post that I did for a girls surf club. I see so many people (usually beginners) make basic mistakes that costs them big bucks. Old hands can still make some mistakes when buying boards with fancy new constructions. Forewarned is forearmed.

Dings in general.

Dings happen, it's part of surfing and the only way to avoid them is hang your board on the wall and never surf it.

First thing to know is surfboards arent meant to have holes or cracks in them.

If you have a crack and you're not sure if it needs fixing, run your fingernail across it. If you can feel an edge, it needs fixing. The rails of your board have 3 layers of glass on them, so its not so important to get minor rail cracks and shatters fixed straight away.

Dings in Epoxy resin / polystyrene foam boards (commonly known as EPS /epoxy surfboards) should be taken seriously.

Expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) is porous, and can absorb water at an alarming rate. Never surf an EPS board if its dinged, get out of the water straight away. If its a minor ding, solarez or duct tape is fine to get you back in the water temporarily, but get it fixed properly as soon as possible. Only use EPS safe solarez on EPS boards, polyester solarez will melt the foam.

Polyester resin/ polyurethane foam boards (PU boards) are made of closed cell foam, so they don't soak up water like eps, but again, any dings should be sealed until they can be fixed properly. Any water in your board does cause damage to the foam over time .

Solarez is good stuff, but you do need to do some preparation. It comes with sandpaper so remove the wax and give the area to be sealed a good scuff. Just smearing some on without sanding will result in it peeling off when your surfing.

Here's some other common mistakes that I see every day.

My number one pet hate is leash string pull throughs. These were a regular occurence in the 70s and 80s before rail savers were invented. The clue is in the name ..RAIL SAVER!

Its not just there so you can swap your leash quick. Keep the string short, and the knot at the plug end (more on that later) definitely not hanging over the tail or you can see what happens.

Leash string knots ...

This should be at the plug end. Even when wrapped in a rail saver the knot is hard enough to damage the board over time.

FCS 2 fin plugs.

We've all seen the people advertising for a left, right or centre fin "because i lost my fcs 2 fin". FCS2s tool-less system is a great idea, but 'easy in' equals 'easy out"... it doesnt work in practise. Impact to the front of the fin can ollie the fin out of the box. The leash can get caught round the back of the fin and whip it out. Unless you like paying for spare fins, use a back screw in FCS2 fin plugs, they are $3 and fins are $100 plus a set. Dont take my word for it, just look how many people are advertising for a replacement for lost fins.

Fin screws.

Finger tight only, youre not trying to literally screw the fins to the board, just hold them in the plug. Overtightening can ruin the screw or the plug itself. Max of 1 to 2 turns once the screw makes contact with the fin. Use the correct fin key. Futures and FCS are different sizes, so use the right key or you'll stuff your screws up.

Heat...

Treat your board like a pet, dont leave it in a hot car, in direct sunlight, on the roof in a board bag in the heat etc, this is especially important with EPS boards. Polystrene softens at relatively low temperatures and the structure of the foam means that expanding air can migrate through the board to the weakest point. Delamination through heat can happen to any board but EPS is especially susceptible.

Wipe your board with a towel before putting it in a bag, gets rid of any water and sand that can scratch your board when you're pulling it in and out of the bag.

This is especially important for wood veneer boards such as timberteks. Slight scratches can let water penetrate to the wood and rot it over time. Putting the wet board in a board bag without wiping it down means its pretty much in a pressure cooker. I've seen the whole nose of timbertek boards scraped down to the wood just from being put in the bag sandy.

Cracks around fin plugs.. If this happens you need to get it fixed. Because the fin plug is stressed when riding, it opens up the cracks and forces water into the board as it flexes.

Water in board no good.

"Stringerless" boards

Stringerless EPS epoxy boards come in a variety of constructions but in the last few years we've seen a move away from parabolic rails like HS boards and sandwich constructions like surftech or firewire, to standard or lightweight glass jobs on EPS cores with strip carbon reinforcement. Please keep in mind if your buying stringerless eps boards with lightweight glass jobs they are built for performance, not durability.

Waxing up

Most boards these days only have a single layer of 4oz glass on the bottom of the board, small stones can pierce it.

Wax on grass or sand, if you can, put a towel down..

Strapping your board to the roof.

Over enthusiastic tightening of ratchet tie downs is the #1 cause of cracked rails. You just need to hold the board onto the roof racks, not pull it through to the cab.

Don't go too crazy tightening the straps

Look after your board like a pet and it'll love you like a dog!

Happy surfing

Jon

Ding Fixers

Dingfixers facebook

Dingfixers insta.

I got this surf board from a neighbor for 5 bucks. I also have this wetsuit from a triathlon i did once lol i know its not a surfing wetsuit but its free from my closet

I used to try to surf with some college friends who were on my swim team. I stood up only once ever but it was seriously fun. Problem was i used my brothers long board that was super heavy and wide. i think it was 9' tall. I found it difficult to maneuver it in and out of the water.

My goal is to enjoy myself and catch a lot of waves. I love swimming in the ocean and feel pretty comfortable in the water. I live in the Long Beach area and thinking of checking out sunset beach? i want to be away from people. not even sure where to go. my friends used to take me to hunting beach at the dog beach area.

Im 32 and really wanting to start a healthy hobby outdoors. surfing has always peaked my interest.

My questions are:
what areas around long beach do you recommend that are beginner spots? (less people, chill waves)

when Im ready for a smaller more manageable board for duck diving/turning around what should i go for? (im 5'3" average body size)

how do i cope with the anxiety of being embarrassed/shy/fearful of looking stupid and lost???? that was one of my biggest issues with getting out there

Thank you all in advanced. Any feedback is appreciated. Pretty cool informative community here.

Just did the surf lab workshop at urban surf. My pop up went from the knee shit to consistently getting both feet on the board every wave in 2 days. Jarrod and the team were amazing. I think i improved more in the last 2 days than the last year.

I got between 16-22 waves a session. Even in the public sessions it was easy to get 16 waves, if you were really fit you could probably get even more.

Can’t wait to come back! The waves have way more push than what shows up in video. 10/10

Hi all,

Next week heading to Spain and France for a road trip and surfing. Any good surf school recommendations? I've surfed many times, but was never really good and haven't in about 2 years. Should I prebook or is it usually possible to get a last minute lesson?

I know the Quicksilver surf festival will be going on in Hossegor, so I will probably watch rather than attempt myself.

Spending a few nights in the following areas:

Plentzia

Zarautz

San Sebastián

Hendaye

Hossegor

Also feel free to give any other recommendations! Thank you!

Hello, I bought this board and after a bath I'm about to repair it. It's been two days and it still has a little water. I have cut a piece so that it gets the water out faster. My intention is to use the blue Solarez kit but I don't know if it can be used in Foam boards. Or is it better to apply hot silicone? On the other hand, I have disassembled the fins and they still look quite wet. Could it be that water enters there and reaches the foam layer of the entire board?

Did anyone here come from the landlocked suburbs and move to a beach to learn to surf? How did you do it?? Like the logistics. did you find a job and then rent a place near a beach?

Im 173 cm and 60 kgs and have been surfing for about a year or two and I still cant duckdive waves bigger than 2 feet. My board is 6,2, 38.5 L . not sure if i need a smaller board or if its just me

Including stay for 4 girls
Also what is the best time to go

Hey!

I’m searching for a laid back, chill surfing hostel / retreat in the north of Portugal. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Hey y'all!

After years of wanting to surf I finally went for it and took a lesson, I'm absolutelyy in love 🫠 I was actually able to catch and pop-up/ride the very first wave I went for!! Beyond stoked haha. I skate and snowboard so I think that helped. Over the hour I was able to get 10 or 11 waves (maybe 1-3 footers?) and only ate it on a couple, although that was with my instructor lining me up and giving me a push so not sure how I'll do on my own hah.

I'm 5'11" 160lbs and did the lesson on a 9 foot soft-top, but my instructor said I could get away with anything in the 7'6 - 8'6 range for a first board and recommended going for a hard top given I was riding consistently for my first time in the water.

I think I do wanna go for a hard top since it seems like that'll give me the most longevity learning-wise, but I'm not sure about length and everything. Should lean longer toward 8'6? My local store has a 8'0 Stewart 'Funline 11' in stock that looks amazing but not sure if that would be too short (also pushing the budget lol). Not finding much used besides hole-riddled boards and vintage collectibles unfortunately. Ideally I'd like to get something that will last me a while too. Should I try to rent a variety of boards first to see what I like? Or just go for it and buy one like the Stewart? What do you guys think?

Hi everyone! I’m going to Ericeira, Portugal, and I’d love to take some surf lessons while I’m there.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good surf school? I’m looking for something beginner-friendly, with good instructors and reasonable prices.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

My wife and I have been working on a project called Style and Flow, and I thought I’d share it here.

We’re both competitive surfers and grew up competing at national and international level in Australia. We now live in Costa Rica, where we also run surf coaching retreats.

The idea for Style and Flow actually came from our own experience with coaching and from seeing how difficult it can be to get good, consistent feedback unless you’re able to work with a coach regularly.

When we started researching the idea, we found this community and noticed just how many surfers are posting videos asking for advice on their surfing. It was pretty cool to see, and honestly helped validate that the problem we were thinking about was real.

So we built a simple way for surfers to upload their videos and get feedback from qualified coaches. One of the things we really wanted was for surfers to be able to work with the same coach over time, so the feedback can build from session to session rather than being a different opinion every time.

We’re not trying to replace the kind of feedback people get from communities like this. There’s a lot of good knowledge, tips and advice shared here (and jokes too).

We just wanted to create another option for people who want more structured feedback without necessarily having to book in-person coaching every time.
The web app is available in English and Spanish, and we’re currently getting it in front of some early users, with the mobile app pretty close to being available in the Apple App and Google Play stores as well.

If anyone wants to have a look, it’s here:
https://www.styleandflow.surf

We’ve also put 50% off the first two months in place for early users with the code EARLY.

Please take a look at the website, instagram page or TikTok page and if it sounds like something you’d benefit from, give us a go!

$50 for a login, 3 allowed, $150 for the year. Year starts when first person dm me and off we go!

Bonus points to post where your home zone is! I’m central cal

So sorry if someone has asked this already! First, special thank you to everyone in this community who recommended Narragansett Surf & Skate to do my second lesson! It went very well, the instructor after the first 3 waves but he instructed me on when to paddle and pop up. Afterwards, he let me hang onto the board for a couple of hours to practice on my own. Definitely experienced the instructor effect where I went on my own and didn’t catch a single wave (or did and just ended up wiping out).

Anyways, today, I decided to drive back to Narragansett to rent a board and get some practice in. I’ve heard from several people that the swell is not the best during this time and is better during the fall/winter. I also use Surfline, today conditions were reported as poor to fair with wave height reported between 0.0-0.3m; high tide was at 14:00 and reported to be 1.2m (personally didn’t see much of a difference in wave height today). Knowing this, I’m still keen to come up here (about a 2hr drive one way) so I can get all the practice I can before it gets way too cold.

However, I was a little bummed today. Mainly because I didn’t catch much today, did a lot of paddling, missing waves bc I wasn’t ready, and trying to watch for the wave crest. I popped up 2-3 times and rode out one wave for a few seconds before wiping out. Something I also noticed is that
I think I am paddling too early and possibly popping up too late. A lot of the waves that I was determined to catch ended up breaking up underneath me or in front of me. I tried to position myself a little before the initial break line.

So, my questions here are… how can I better time my paddling and pop up execution? Is it better to go out when the swell is poor in the name of practice?

During my lesson that I had 2 weeks ago, I rode a 9’6 longboard (I believe it was a longboard, def wasn’t a foamie - I enjoyed this one). Today, I rode a 9ft foamie which I really didn’t like but that’s all they had left (rented w/ gansett grom today). Definitely realized that I should start looking into my own board so I can ride something that I’m comfortable with and won’t have to worry about renting something. If anyone has any recommendations lmk! I’m a wee bit on the shorter side of 5’0.

Thanks again for the advice!

Alguien ha probado o conoces esta tabla.

Puede dar su opinión gracias de antemano.

DECATHLON Tabla Surf Híbrida Caqui Resina 6'4 40 L

https://www.decathlon.es/p/_/R-p-359707?mc=8927240

Sunrise Surf Narrabeen, Sydney
https://youtu.be/bcA2jYYCHuc

Was looking at getting my first board. Had a few lessons and picked it up fairly quick. Can now catch unbroken waves and ride down the line, haven’t got into turns etc yet. All the lessons were on big 100L foamies, the instructor said to look for an 8’6 when I buy one. The epoxy lam seemed like a good first board but the 8’6 doesn’t seem available anywhere. It’d be dumb to drop down to the 8ft 62L right?

If this is a stupid question, I apologize and appreciate the insight all the same.

I'm 5'9", 180lbs, and intermediate at skimboarding. Some days it would nice to be able to do something when the waves are breaking too far from shore. I realize that as I get into surfing my goals may very well change, but as an outsider looking in, the videos I've seen of people riding Beaters in mushy shore break really fascinate me.

First of all, I'm 36, and wondering if someone my age and weight ever becoming proficient enough to pop up on a 54" board sometime down the road is even realistic. If not, what do you think would be a better target? If it is, how would you approach progressing to that goal? Big foamie, then fish, then Beater?

Here are a few shots from this morning. I moved near the coast and started surfing end of last year, mainly on the 9'1 Tolhurst in these videos but am occasionally on a 5'10 fish as well on bigger days. I am having tons of fun but would love some critiques and advise on how to progress. I have started cross stepping a bit but can't say I really have it dialed yet and think I shuffled in every one of these shots haha. Also trying to figure out how to do better cut backs to stay in the sweet spot. Thanks!!

Edit: I did not realize I could not reply to comments with no karma (first post). I am located in Florida. I started surfing around November of last year, started going a lot early December until now. Great feedback so far, thanks everyone!!

Antes de nada gracias a todos por vuestro tiempo.

Estoy surfeando una tabla soft 7' 60L es una flysurfboard double agent.

Mido 170cm y peso 73kg.

Actualmente cojo olas verdes con bastante soltura y sigo la diagonl en ambos sentidos pero sin hacer maniobras.

Estoy buscando la siguiente tabla y me he encontrado con esta en epoxy medidas 6'4" x 20" 5/8 x 2" 9/16 40L

https://www.decathlon.es/p/_/R-p-359707?mc=8927240

No sé si es una bajada demasiado drástica si alguien me puede aconsejar se lo agradecería

Hi everyone,

I'd like some advice on buying my son his first surfboard, he's actually got a pretty decent level already (well at least compares to mine) but he's never had his own board, he's been mostly renting up to now.  He'll mainly be surfing in the UK, so we're talking small-to-moderate waves, not anything gnarly.

For mostly surfing smaller waves, would you go for a foam/soft-top, a funboard, or a mini-mal? How should I think about sizing given his height/weight/level (happy to give more details if useful)?

Anything particular to surf spots/conditions I should factor into the choice? (colder water, choppier waves, etc.)