👉 Surfboard Volume Explained: Find Your Perfect Liters!
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- 👉 Surfboard Volume Explained: Find Your Perfect Liters!
Not sure what surfboard volume is or why it matters? In this video, I break it down in the simplest way possible-no overcomplicated maths, just what you need to know to pick the right board for your surfing! Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or experienced surfer, understanding volume can make a huge difference in your wave count and performance.
🔥 Covered in this video:
✅ What surfboard volume actually means
✅ How it affects paddling, stability, and turning
✅ Choosing the right volume for your skill level
✅ Common volume mistakes surfers make
If you want to go deeper, check out [LINK] for more in-depth info!
📌 Like & Subscribe for more surfboard breakdowns and surf tips! 🌊🏄♂️
#surfing #surfboards #surfboardvolume #surfcoach #learntosurf #surftips
SURFER TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️ Surfboard Volume Challenged By 40-Year Shaping Legend Glenn Pang
• SURFER TRIGGER WARNING...
Love the sound of your voice when you get technical!
Thanks Brice🙏🤙
I spent my 30s not looking after my health, eating unhealthy and drinking every weekend, put in a ton of weight, started to lose that love of surfing, because it was becoming a struggle. My litres was about 33 and it crept up each year. Now I’m in my early 40s, lost loads of weight, back on 29 litre surfboards and absolutely love every surf I have, which is most days. Keep surfing and stay young and healthy 👍
Awesome! Well done, Paul; I wish I surfed daily; you're lucky. The conditions are so fickle where I live unless you're willing to drive around a lot 🤙
You are completely correct, great video! I have 5 decades of surfing too most of it competitively, I weigh 180 lbs. I like a 5’-7” board with quite some volume. It’s wide and a little thick, but it paddles well. It gets under waves great and turns on a dime. Generally speaking it will ride 2’-10’ faces good. Anything bigger or smaller I need to change boards. After 3 hours of surf, I switch to a bigger board to catch the same amount of waves, but I’m not doing the same type of high performance surfing. I just switch to flow mode, which is basically longboard style riding. A good day is 30-40 fun waves. Unless it’s big. Thank you for helping surfers to understand surfboard design, most surfers don’t understand how everything works together in a board. You have explained it nicely. Fortunately I design all my own boards, which allows me to be at the top of my game!
Thank you & thanks for your insight🙏🤙
Great video as always Mike!
Thanks David🙏
12:45 you mention that great video by T&C legend Glen Pang. A great watch, people should search it out. To your point, Glen sort of dismisses (or deprioritises) volume. While Glenn shapes a lot of boards that go all around the world, for context, he does have an eye to shaping boards to be surfed in Hawaii, where plan shape then size are really the key features. Personally, for everywhere else out of Hawaii and perhaps Indonesia, I think the priorities should be purpose, plain shape then volume, and you use your volume for ease a paddle. Thanks again for the video Mike. Great content as usual.
I agree; I love those videos with Glen Pang. I put a link in the description. I want to make some more videos about Plan shape, bottom shape rocker, rails etc 🙏🤙
@ please do - despite living in an era where access to information is no longer the privilege of the few (pros and industry insiders) it’s great to get the perspective of people who have traversed two or three (or 4 - lol) eras in surfing. There are nuances that you will offer that you can only get from experience. It’s funny I forget which point in time in the video it was , but there were a couple of reels from a more solid day and I could instantly see it was a longer period swell - not necessarily bigger waves but a bit more powerful swell and the cado seemed skatier and harder to control underfoot - this is the where you intend to surf a board influences design decisions.
Interesting video ❤. I do think that volume is the first and most important metric to look at when choosing a board but it's not the whole picture. I'd ptobably look at the characteristics in this order of importance, most important to least.
Volume, width, rocker, length, outline, thickness, construction/weight (wrt how the board surfs), bottom contours
Obviously a lot of these features interact eg. a wider board will have more volume.
Not really a hard rule but just a way I think about it🤔
Yes, I agree 👍 more videos are coming on the other topics and tying them all together🤙
Volume is just another metric, same as the traditional trio of length, width and thickness - each on its own is not very useful - but the more information you have to hand, the better an assessment can be made. So, whilst just being fixated with a certain volume is misguided, I think those who dismiss volume as being useless altogether are being very short-sighted.
The other thing about volume is that with so many boards bought online it is helpful in forming an assessment of the boards overall character. Back in the day you would take a board out of the rack and size it up under your arm etc. but with bricks and mortar shops so few and far between in many places, I'd say the majority of boards are now bought having never been held by the purchaser, so volume is a very helpful tool in choosing the right board for you.
I agree 👍
Nice one Mike! Thanks for posting, always looking forward to your next instalment.
Do you think one day boards will have a “buoyancy” reading? I’m no scientist but it could be a useful measurement. I’ve been mostly surfing my 5’10 Mashup and thought my 5’10 spitfire might be a struggle in the weak waves (2 litres less). I took it out the other day and it flew…..paddled better than the mashup and I didn’t notice the loss of litres at all. The spitfire is now staying in the van!
Thanks, Ryan; it's amazing how the plan shape and the volume distribution + foil can make such a big difference. My Cado paddles much better than my Evo, same length and volume both very full-plan shapes. I sold my Spitfire for €50. It was hammered. 🤙
Love the deep dives on technicalities Mike - that’s cool you use to shape. And were you sponsored by Etnies? I’m an ES fan boy from my skateboarding days.
I’ll go to the grave with my mega volumed boards 😂 but ironically what had me riding ‘longer’ boards during the ‘boards got shorter’ period in the early 2000s was surfers neck.
I started having pain from having to hold my head up (due to the lower volume and shorter height of board). That’s why I love Rob’s shapes - more volume under your chest, so you can keep your head down more when you paddle. Neck stretches also help.
Hey Travis,
Yes, I used to make boards. Nicky and I worked out it was actually stretched out over 12 years or more.
Etnies sponsored me for years after I stopped competing. I love the ES stuff as well.
I still have one pair left and some clothes they are older than my son😂
Maybe I should bite the bullet and go longer. I have a neck issue, too. I don't think phones help.🙏🤙
@@surfingtipsandtricks super cool man, be fun to shape a board one day (I’ve never). Yeah I got a pair of ES Koston 1 reissues last year cause they are my favorites (goal to skate again but the body is like no way bro lol). Etnies back in the day were awesome.
Yeah my neck issues have cleared up a lot. Try a simple stretch routine as well, that helps me a lot. We never stretch our necks so even just doing a bit really helps. Resistance ones and then just holding ones.
Funny I have clothes that are very old too - older the better lol. I was sponsored by Nixon for a bit which was cool.
@@TravisVarga I would like to see your surfer's neck routine, that would make a nice vid?🤙
@@surfingtipsandtricks oh that's a great idea, writing it down mate. thanks
As someone whose level of surfing is regressing to that of a very low level intermediate, I came up with the theory that the volume of my board in litres should match my age. Having just turned 60, that is a lot of board😂. Seriously though, I do find my choice of volume is dictated by how much neoprene I’m sporting ( currently 5/4 boots , hat , gloves herein Wales)
@@chrissimon3809 I love that calculation😀 yes, all the clobber makes a difference, and there is a lack of flexibility. And more volume can help with that, too🤙
So good! Same age and experience (albeit fatter). Must catch waves to have fun, first and foremost. Have to put the ego on the shelf, and aim for fun. Subbed.
Thanks, Fun all the way! It's hard to put the ego away; I find it harder enough to catch waves in a crowd, even on the surfboards that I'm riding🤣🙏🤙
I’m 42 years old. I prefer between 40-50, but I ride longer boards (CI M23, CI MiD and TJ Twinzer) and the sort
Nice🤙
Can’t wait to try the cado and tj twinzer!
The Twinser looks fun 🤙
I picked up a twinzer on release. Such a fun board
perfect point ... paddling ou surfing sharp?
🙏
I was considering getting a Revo but based on your comments I think I'll give it a miss and hang onto the Evo. I can paddle that and catch waves easy on it.
Hi Mark, it's not the Revo. It's me😂 I should have gone up a size. My Evo is 32.3L, and for some crazy reason, I went down a size. It's a great board, and I will surf it, but I need to be lighter and fitter than I am right now😂 bear in mind that it's higher performance than the Evo. It's still loose and fast, but not like the Evo. If you do get one, keep the Evo too🤙
Good to see a fella in his 50s ripping, with surf stoke and keeping young and showing age doesn’t mean anything. 👍
Cheers bro🙏🤙
From my very limited experience, it seems that a soft top fomie board is heavier and does not float as well as a glassed board. This makes me think that a soft top is more dense than a glassed board, so the same volume does not mean the same floatability. Is this true?
Thank you.
It depends on the manufacturer. Some soft boards are light, but they can take on water and become heavy if they are older.
I have a Decathlon 5’4” mini Simmons that is very light and buoyant, but a JOB Skipper I have feels heavy and spongey.
We have owned hundreds of surf school soft boards, and they start off nice and light and buoyant, but as they get worn and take on water, they gain weight and start to die. So, for longevity, if looked after, a hard board will stay more buoyant over time.
Softops are safe and work well for beginners and early intermediates.
A heavier board, hard or soft, is going to sit in the water more. It will have more momentum once it is up to speed because of its weight, but it is also harder to control.
I love riding soft boards🤙
@@surfingtipsandtricks Thank you!
Agree with everything you have said, but you didn't mention what type of waves the board is designed for!!!! My grovel board for weak days, Seaside has 2 more litres than my high performance short board, the Omni then my step up s-boss goes up two more litres( same litres as my Seaside grovel board) and my double step up, the mini mid 6 is another two litres again!!!!!! If I am feeling lazy or surfed out I have a mid-length Seaside n Beyond that has similar volume to my double step up!!!!! Thou if surfs small i ride as a twinny!!!!! In saying all that I have two Omni's an inch different in length and the longer one is great for padding but when the surf is really good I struggle to get the rail to bit, hence to much volume and being a high performance short board I want grip and bite. So the shorter one is my go to high performance short board. I also have two Seaside's and inch different in length but the shorter one rides great but I struggle getting into waves where the inch longer one is much easier!!! Its a little tougher to duck dive but i only use it in smaller weaker waves so I don't have to go deep duck diving!!! In weaker waves I like the ease of catching waves so the longer one is my go to!! I recently had 2 years out of the surf due to injury, operations and rehab, it has taken just over 12 months to go from a ma l with 60 litres, to a mini mal with 50 litres to a mid length with 40 litres to now back on my high performance short board with 35 litres!!!! Volume, lots to it!!
Yes, okay, but not everyone has as much cash as you. And some surfers don't want that much hard wear hanging around. I think I waffled enough, and maybe I would elaborate in later videos. It's already 15 minutes long🤙 cool; your jets, too many!!!!! 🙏🤙
I have invested in a large quiver, but I can't justify 2 Seasides; you are a lucky, blessed fella🙌
@@surfingtipsandtricks FYI all boards bought where second hand! Some where bought for as little as 20% of retail price with 50-60% of retail more the norm!
@ okay 🤙
Nelly!
Nel, Nelly, Nelly nudger 😂 looking forward to that Too Fish review🔥🤙
@ thanks mate, it just dropped! Right before my brain exploded thankfully lol
@ I will check it out now🙏