Learning to surf can be exhilarating, it can also be confusing. One of the most important aspects of learning to surf is finding the right surfboard for a beginner. If you don’t choose the right board, you will spend more time in the water struggling instead of out catching waves and learning.
Is A Fish Surfboard Good For Beginners? Fish surfboards are not typically recommended for beginners. If a beginner chooses to use a fish, it is best to go with a hybrid over 7ft for balance. It will be less challenging getting to waves on a fish with a longer board. It is recommended to choose a longboard for beginners.
Fish surfboards are excellent surfboards for many reasons. Though not the preferred board for beginners, they do offer great advantages to more learned surfers. Before making the fish your first surfboard, take a few things here into consideration.
Fish Boards For Beginners
Nicknamed fish because of it’s fishlike appearance. The fish boards came about in the 60’s and 70’s when surfers were starting to create their own boards. Steve Lis created the first fish surfboard and it gained popularity and is now one of the industry standards.
Steve made the fish out of a longboard that had broken in half. He created it for the hollow and thick reef breaks of San Diego. It held speed and had an ability to move across flat surfaces while having the volume and width of a longboard.
Fish boards can be shorter than a shortboard and between 6ft and 7ft tall with some hybrids reaching up to 8ft tall. The retro sizes tend to be on the smaller side and the hybrids generally have a little more length to them, which gives them great speed.
If you were to start on a fish surfboard as a beginner, a hybrid fish board would be your best bet. Hybrid fish boards in the 7ft to 8ft range would be best. Hybrid boards still have good flotation and are a little longer to glide well and get you to your waves quickly.
Beginners are most often advised to use a longboard because the length, volume, speed, and width offer buoyancy and stability that other boards do not. To learn surfing, one needs to be able to paddle quickly from wave to wave and stay afloat. The only way to learn is to practice in the waves and get to as many waves as possible.
While practicing in the waves, a beginner needs to have the ability to stay afloat, paddle well, pop up, and quickly get to the next wave to practice again. This is best done with a long board that has high buoyancy and stability, giving it the flotation the beginner needs. If you are in the water struggling to stay afloat and do not have enough space to pop up, you are not learning much.
The quicker you can learn your skills such as paddling, popping up, and foot placement, the quicker you will be moving towards an intermediate level. The more you sit in the water or struggle with footing, the longer the learning process will be. If you can get from wave to wave with speed and get your feet on the board, you will be a golden surfer in no time.
Fish surfboards tend to be shorter than what is needed for a beginner to correctly and quickly learn the basics. They are an excellent intermediate board and even a perfect board to transition to a shortboard. Many experts say that every surfer should own at least one fish among their boards after learning to surf.
Hybrid fish boards do offer more volume than a shortboard and wider spacing for feet positioning and pop up. If you are looking to choose between a shortboard and a fish for your first surfing experience, definitely go with the hybrid fish board. It will deliver and outperform a shortboard for a beginner.
Design Of A Fish
Fish boards are typically shorter and have two fins in the tail (end of board) and are wider between rails (sides) than other boards. These boards are very thick and offer space for foot placement and can do well for your pop up.
Fish boards have better maneuverability than its cousin the longboard and have more volume than a shortboard. Because of its width and thickness being similar to a longboard, you will be able to quickly. You can also catch smaller waves than you would have with a shortboard.
Everywhere you look when shopping for surfboards, you will find the largest selection of different designs with the fish board. It is said that the fish and its hybrid family have the greatest selection of designs to choose from. When shopping, the many different varieties definitely catch the eye.
Fish Board VS Longboard
Beginners are almost always advised to start on a longboard. The longboard will meet all of the criteria you need in a surfboard to hop in and learn the waves well. Longboards have high volume for buoyancy, length to glide, width to pop up, and a flat rocker for easy paddling.
Some argue that the fish surfboard, the hybrid version in particular, can do well for beginners. It has more length and volume than shortboards do, which beginners need. It carries a good width and rarely ever has any rocker. Since the fish was derived from a longboard, it normally carries a higher volume and has great buoyancy as well.
While the goal when learning surfing is to learn the waves well, eventually beginners move up in experience, thus needing to transition to new boards. If you have started on a longboard, you might want to learn a fish at some point in time so that you can transition to a shortboard for your future surfing adventures. If you began with a fish, you can transition to a shortboard as opposed to going from longboard to fish to shortboard.
Ability to Catch Small Waves
One thing that is great about a fish is its ability to catch the smaller waves. On a day when the waves are small and mushy, a fish can still catch the waves. Other surfers will most likely be packing it in for the day and heading out, while fish surfers will still ride away.
During the summer months many surfers prefer the fish because of its ability to work with mushier waves. They allow for extra paddle strength and have a swallow tail which gives more speed. Surfers can catch many of the waves they wouldn’t normally be able to with a different board.
Portability
While this is not usually a recommended feature to look at while looking for your first surfboard, it does matter if you are limited in transportation. Fish surfboards tend to be shorter than a beginners longboard. They are able to be transported on airlines and smaller vehicles and are much easier to carry.
The Signature Tail
The signature tail of the fish surfboard is called a swallow tail. Water is able to flow past this tail easily creating the opportunity for planned speed. Shapers have created a very deep V in the tail to enhance the ability of the swallow tail on a fish.
Swallow tails are on many surfboards but the fish boards are unique in its different varieties. Quad fins give a tighter turning radius because of its fins being further up on the board. A twin fin set up gives more looseness and speed in the water. The tri fin is an added back fin which slows the board down giving more stability and more controlled turning and maneuverability.
Pros For Beginner Use
- Fish have better maneuverability than longboards, foamies, and minimals
- Greater speed than longboards, foamies, and minimals
- Large array of different designs to choose from
- Can surf small waist high head high
- Different twin, tri fin thrusters, and quad versions are available
- Easy to carry and transport
Cons For Beginner Use
- More challenging to catch waves than with longboards
- Less waves caught to practice on
- Less volume and buoyancy than longboard to stay afloat
- Not able to glide as well through water
- Less stable to get footing correct
- Not able to surf in bigger waves or above head high
In short a fish surfboard is not best for beginners. A longboard is the preferred board for beginners for many reasons. Although, some surfers have started out on a fish board and prefer that method for learning. These surfers may have struggled unnecessarily and taken longer to learn than if they had used a longboard.
There will always be a difference of opinion on any subject, it is up to you to decide which advice to take. Either way, what is important is being out with the waves and enjoying your time with the ocean. Hindsite, you may look back and have done things differently, but at least you had a great time and have wonderful memories.