Don’t Get Rid of Your Funboard! Here’s Why…
Congratulations. You just landed your first air. You now stand out in the lineup, even among advanced surfers. As a shortboard shredder with your humiliating soft top days long behind you, there’s no need to look back. Right?
Not quite. Those funboards and longboards we think of as “transition boards” are actually the boards that offer all surfers the foundation needed to eventually progress to a high performance shortboard. Apart from helping beginner surfers and intermediate surfers master the basic techniques of riding waves, funboards and longboards offer the possibility of a great session in less than ideal conditions. Not convinced? Here are a few reasons you should hold onto that funboard surfboard you think you’ve outgrown.
1. You need an all-conditions board in your quiver.
While there are plenty of surfboard types (like hybrid shortboards) that claim to be “all-arounders,” none quite offer the paddle power or buoyancy of a mid-length funboard. When the surf is knee high and the conditions are windy, there’s nothing worse than being in the lineup on a shortboard watching beginner and advanced surfers on soft top boards, or mid-lengths like the Channel Islands Waterhog, snag every wave. Just because you know how to shortboard doesn’t mean that the surf conditions call for a pinched in, twenty-something liter shortboard.
2. Funboards make an unlikely, but surprisingly effective, step-up!
Sure, you may not be able to duck dive your 7’0 single fin, but when it’s firing and conditions are overhead, the extra foam, float, paddle, and planing power of a mid-length surfboard can help you get into waves earlier, set up your line, and allow you to make sections you never thought were possible. The next time a large swell strikes and paddling your shortboard in a current feels like you’re on a treadmill, give your old funboard a shot. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, and glad that you didn’t pawn it off to someone on Craigslist as a beginner surfboard for fifty bucks.
3. Designed with a good time in mind.
What did you expect? They’re called funboards for a reason. When it comes to surfboard designs, there’re a seemingly infinite number of shapes, sizes, and templates crafted for every condition. Some are made for hollow reef breaks, some for California summers, and others for displaying on walls. Funboards earned their name by (generally, though not always) featuring wide templates, low rockers, and plenty of foam. Funboards aren’t just great beginner boards because they’re designed for beginners, rather, they make great beginner boards because they feature qualities that surfers of every level can enjoy. More foam, less rocker, and wider templates mean more float, better planing, and more speed and stability.
4. Forgiving and understanding.
Right now you might be young, fit, and at the peak of your surfing, but life happens fast and before you know it, you may find yourself aging, out of shape, injured, or living in some land-locked locale in pursuit of a career, a lover, or maybe all of the above. Suddenly it’s harder to catch waves and your surfing isn’t quite what it used to be. Your trusty old shortboards now feel like grom surfboards, and that retro fish you used to reserve for small days is now the only board you own that can float your weight. Rather than lamenting your age and fantasizing about how you used to catch waves, take out that old funboard that you hopefully hung onto, and you’ll likely discover that, thanks to muscle memory, the basic techniques of surfing haven’t faded over time.
So, before you write off your mid-length funboard for good, consider all the fun you’ll miss out on. Though, if you’re reading this too late and have mistakenly gotten rid of the most versatile board in your quiver, check out our selection of funboards and grab a new one!