Anyone know anything about surfboards/body boards/boogie boards?
 

I have no interest in surfing not to mention the ocean down here rarely has more than tiny 3 foot or less waves.

We have reefs starting about 200 yards out that we snorkel and sometimes we swim to them, sometimes we kayak to them and sometimes use pool floats to get to them.

Swimming out to them kind of sucks because we can't relax and chill between snorkels without swimming all the way back to the beach. Kayaking works great but without any decent beach launching sites it's a real hassle getting them in the ocean. Pool floats are nice once we get out but swimming with a pool float is like paddling a brick.

I was thinking a surfboard or body board or maybe even a boogie board would be a way to quickly get out to the reefs and also provide enough lift to relax on between snorkels.

I know nothing about boards, never even been on one but I see used ones of Craig's list for under a hundred bucks but I'm not sure how big or what to look for in a board that would keep me floating on the surface with all my gear on.

Hmm... well, I've only gone surfing with experienced surfers, haven't done it enough myself to be a real surfer, but...

You'll want a long board, for sure, the longer, and wider the board, the more stable. 8 feet minimum, up to 10-11 feet isn't too hard to handle once you're in the water either.

Long boards catch short waves easier too.

Make sure to pick up some "warm water" surf wax. Apply generously to the top of the board before you surf.

I wouldn't go for a boogie board. Boogie boards give more belly rash, and they're not as fun to swim with unless you have fins/flippers.

There are 305,000 results for the phrase: shark bites surfboard

http://www.google.com/search?q=shark+bites+surfboard

:)



EDIT: Good news - if you add "Florida" to the search it drops to only 60,600 results for sharks chomping on a board.



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Yeah like there are actually sharks in Florida waters. |crazy|

So I guess you don't spend a lot of time swimming in the ocean. |jester|

I dunno how it is out in Florida, but out here in California, there are known shark spotting areas (we have Great Whites out here) where the beasts visit regularly. The surfers don't frequent those areas.

Broward country seems pretty safe as far as sharks go. I worry more about getting hit by a car or stung by a jellyfish than be bitten by a shark.

http://www.beachhunter.net/images/th..._bites_map.jpg

How about a Paddle Board - although I think these are quite hard to carry around aswell.

The longer and thicker and wider the board, the more stable they are and easier to paddle...

I found this on ebay:

This one is probably too small:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Quiet-Flight-Use...item43a8d96c73

This is probably the style you want... but not at this price:
http://cgi.ebay.com/8-Bud-Gardner-Su...item48322bedc3

This one is again probably too small...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Bic-Surfboard-73...item2c5e8651fc

This is probably ideal, as its softtop, bouyant, long, wide, thick.. in fact its perfect:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Triple-X-Sup...faultDomain_0&hash=item3f0bf9e85f

On another note... I might start importing surfboards into Florida... they are well expensive over there

Yeah paddle boards are as big as my kayak. Actually even more bulky.
http://rtmkayaks.com/products/sit-on-top/tempo

That one looks like what I had in mind as all I want to do is lay on it and paddle around using my fins and hands although at 8 feet it seems longer than I would want but maybe it needs to be that long in order to float with me on it, not sure. What's up with the soft top? I've seen that on a few boards. Is that something that I would want?

One of the problems we have to we have to use a trailer to bring our kayaks and not every place has trailer parking plus some places charge us ridiculous fees for the extra axile. We can't use roof racks because both of our cars have all glass tops but we should be able to fit up to about 8 foot of board inside of the car.

http://greenguysboard.com/board/atta...1&d=1313106816

They probably do those soft top boards in smaller sizes also.

Soft top is just more comfy and will give you grip plus you won't have to keep putting wax on (surfboards are fiberglassed, add water and its like ice, so you put wax on to make it sticky).

I was wondering why wax put on boards.

There is a surf shop up the street from us that we buy sandals, sun glasses and that kind of stuff at. I always see them rubbing wax on their boards in the parking lot.

If you do get a fiberglass board - Sex Wax is the Best Wax for your Stick :)

Yep what Virgo Hippy said is spot on. Something wide and bigger than 7'6" should be ok.

They call it a fun board in some places. I use a 7'6" funboard now and its a lot easier to paddle than a short board. I'm a bout 190lbs so gotta figure that in too.

The foam ones I dont know and wouldn't trust them to last a long time. They can "crease" and when that happens they're done. Im going on 8 years with the funboard so the fiberglass lasts a while even after some dings. I bought it @ Play it Again used sports stuff for 130.00 :)

Hope that helps. Reminds me I need to get out the beach b4 the summer ends :)

I've never heard that name before but Google returns lots of results like this one that is way too cute.

Those do look nice! Not a bad price for a new board, either.

I think I would've gotten less bruises if I'd started with a fun board. :)

This one looks really nice and free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846