The 3 Easiest Ways to Avoid Damage to Your Surfboard

The 3 Easiest Ways to Avoid Damage to Your Surfboard

There are millions of ways you can ding and damage your board but this post is all about a few simple ways to minimize the most common types of damage your board is likely to face over its lifetime. Because nearly all surfboards are constructed using either polyurethane (PU) or expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam then covered with fiberglass, polyester, epoxy resin or some mix of these, boards remain extremely fragile. The most common types of damage to your surfboard are also the easiest to protect against.

When looking at the population of surfers as a whole, catastrophic damage like snapping or buckling a board is rare. When discussing the types of damage your board is most likely face, we are looking at the most avoidable actions that cause them to occur in the first place.

1. Laying down your board properly is probably the easiest way to prevent the board from incurring rail dings, nose dings, tail chips or worse. Your board is light, resulting in the ability for wind that is seemingly not there to blow over your board or for you or a friend to carelessly bump into it, knocking it over. Simply, choose to lay your board down (wax down, unless it’s in the sand) each time your moving it versus leaning it against something and you’ll save yourself a ton of heartache and dollars spent at the ding repair shop.

2. Tying a Short Leash String is crucial to protecting your board from damage. When losing your board in larger, more powerful surf the pressure applied to a long leash string will act like a hot knife on a stick of butter, slicing through the tail of your board. By shortening your leash string, you allow the leash’s “tail saver” to protect the board when pressure is applied. It’s an easy rule to abide by, so make sure to check your leash strings and adjust if necessary.

3. Keeping your board out of the sun will not only help cosmetically preventing your board from yellowing, but it will extending it’s surfing life. By exposing your board to direct sunlight or extreme heat you increase the risk of delaminating the board. Delaminating is essentially where your board separates into two layers where the harden glass layer separates from the softer foam layer, creating a bubbling or hollow affect underneath your feet. So, remember to not leave your board in your baking hot car or laying in your backyard without some kind of protection.

For a more complete overview of the most common types of surfboard damage read our blog; What Are the Most Common Types of Surfboard Damage? 

If it’s too late and you’ve already damaged your board and want to attempt repairing it yourself, try reading our complete How to DIY Ding Repair.

And if you want to simply plan ahead because you know avoiding damage to your board is something that’s just not possible, consider covering your board with a Surfcare protection plan.