Surfing Waves

So thats the question, can a softboard not have a slick bottom and have the same material as the top?
Is that worst than having slick bottom or is it the same.
Thank you

Limvus think about this style slick bottom versus the grippy soft top. Friction, on top you want grip, hard board yo wax, soft board you have grippy surface and wax is an enhancing option, you need you feet not to slip as you apply pressure to do stuff.

Underneath you want some rigidity for the wave to work it’s magic not having the power distort the shape of the bottom of the board. You also want less friction as underneath you want flow of water in all that happen underneath.
Even boogie boards have the slick.

BTW the surfaces are not foam they are different material shells ealed over the foam, EPS foam can be a board of small size, no strength and if you wore skin , severe body abrasions. the outer shells provide structural strength!

Apply a little thinking and a friction surface underneath will dampen surfabilty

You have to go back to the forefathers of the current soft surfboard trend, the BOOGIE board ( YES, I said Boogie board invented by Tom Morey, not body board )

The game changer came with the "ion speed" slick bottom of the Mach 7-7. Before that boogie boards were the same material make up top and bottom.



The first Morey "Doyle" soft surfboards from the 70's, were sponge top and bottom.


So Yes, a soft board can have a foam bottom too.

jaffa1949 wrote:Limvus think about this style slick bottom versus the grippy soft top. Friction, on top you want grip, hard board yo wax, soft board you have grippy surface and wax is an enhancing option, you need you feet not to slip as you apply pressure to do stuff.

Underneath you want some rigidity for the wave to work it’s magic not having the power distort the shape of the bottom of the board. You also want less friction as underneath you want flow of water in all that happen underneath.
Even boogie boards have the slick.

BTW the surfaces are not foam they are different material shells ealed over the foam, EPS foam can be a board of small size, no strength and if you wore skin , severe body abrasions. the outer shells provide structural strength!

Apply a little thinking and a friction surface underneath will dampen surfabilty

Yeah i thought exactly that, but i found a softboard that has EPS block inside and
polyethylene foam outside (both top and bottom) which i found wierd, but i dont live in a country with many surfboard options out there so that was one i was considering. I will add an image of the board so that you can see it.

In order to help you, are you wanting to get a soft surfboard?

Those boards are pretty much toys for slightly older children!
So knowing your weight age height and level of experience may help us direct you to a good softboard option, or even a hard board of suitable size , knowing which country you are surfing in too ! We have surfers in many countries who can help!

jaffa1949 wrote:In order to help you, are you wanting to get a soft surfboard?

Those boards are pretty much toys for slightly older children!
So knowing your weight age height and level of experience may help us direct you to a good softboard option, or even a hard board of suitable size , knowing which country you are surfing in too ! We have surfers in many countries who can help!

Im from Uruguay, Im 20 and weight like 70kg im like 5"12 or something like that (180 cm).
There arent many option in softboards here, normal fiber glass board are more common but tey are too expensive here for now, i want to try on a soft top first. Since if I bought a fiber glass 6" board it will be really hard and i dont want to get a long board either.
thank you

I’ll,check the surf shops Montevideo, area or elsewhere? That will help me narrow it down , good news is at your age , weight and stuff you can push harder to learn a little shorter!.

Uruguay trip coming up e trip that is!
Been for a quick website viewing , you might have to stretch your budget a little, there are some up,7ft wave storms and a Waveblade , soft boards or you could skip,a buying into an earlier stage and buy aTorq board, ( quite a rewvof our forum people like them.
Soft boards beginning with what you showed will give you limited progress and you would soon need to,buy another better board, so,I would think money not well spent. A wave storm or waveblade will perform more like a normal board, or the Torq, you would have a hard board at the start,.
Before soft boards , everyone surfed hard boards!

The real problem is how your money suits your needs, something that doesn’t always translate well country to country
Keep,talking , if you think of trying second hand used boards, post clear pictures of what you are considering, we can help you there too!

I agree with Jaffa; I suspect that board is just a large bodyboard type. It probably doesn’t have any stringers (rod down the interior) to provide strength, it has cheap floppy fins and the bottom has been discussed. It will probably bend as soon as you try to do a hard bottom turn and will be of no real use outside of playing in the white water