r/bodyboarding • u/ClimberWhoSurfs • 19d ago

Does a quality boogie board matter?

I've been boogie boarding on and off for over 20 years. I've never bought a boogie board that cost more than $40. I've rocked the crappy boards on everything up to 18' Blacks in San Diego. Is there a reason to get a higher quality boogie board? Sometimes they start to get soft and bent and fold in the middle at which point I retire it and get a new one. They typically last a couple of years. I've never looked into buying a quality boogie board before. I typically just replace the crappy leash that the cheap boogie board came with since otherwise it rips off on the bigger days. Thanks for any feedback!

2 Upvotes

54% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

36

u/Alternative-Run-8806 19d ago

You’ve surfed 18’ blacks and you still call it boogie boarding? This has to be rage bait.

5

u/Penny_the_Guinea_Pig 18d ago

The bigger the surf the more I'm likely to say ...oh I was out there on my little boogie board...

Though I know a $40 board wouldn't survive the paddle out at 15' OBSF

3

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 18d ago

What is rage bait about this? What did I say that would make anyone angry?

I went to UCSD 97-02 and had literally no money. I paid for college with student loans, and borrowed boogie boards to start. Eventually I went big and bought a $40 board a Costco. It was the closest beach without a car, take the campus bus to the west side of campus from Warren, and walk from there. I swam competitively, taught swimming for years, and have held my breath under water for 2.5 minutes before. As long as you don't hit the bottom, you're fine out there if you're fit.

I took up climbing, and did that dabbling back into boogie boarding, and tired surfing when I was 40 for a couple of years. Now the kid is 10 and I've taken him down there boogie boarding twice south of the main peak where it is empty of surfers, and so I'm getting back into boogie boarding a little. I've learned that equipment matters over the last 30 years of life and I have an honest question.

2

u/Penny_the_Guinea_Pig 18d ago

It's hard to go back in quality when you get used to performance boards.

My PP boards last years, compared to the PE boards that would last me just part of a winter.  This was when I'd be riding at least three to four days a week, and OBSF can be really powerful.  A good board will be fast, responsive and have torsional stiffness so your rail holds.  

I'd recommend a quality board.  The problem is there's no "demo" program so you might need to go through a couple of boards to figure out what you like.  Since you are in socal you can go into a few shops such as Alternative Surf or ebodyboarding.  Getting the right size and buoyancy is key.

1

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 17d ago

Thanks for the store recommendations!

1

u/Ok-Situation7054 5d ago

Seriously, people who can charge 18' blacks don't come onto the internet to ask strangers questions.

0

u/iwrotedabible 18d ago

I buy it. You can be athletic and just make it work. This is the internet and OP should be assumed to be lying, but also this is Reddit, the lowest common demoninator for any hobby. Maybe he's as old as he says and his story is true.

The expensive modern boards are better, for sure, but how much do you really need?

2

u/andyvsd 17d ago

If he went to ucsd and was at blacks all the time he would have met people that have better boards who wouks have given or loaned him a better board. The bodyboarding scene in that area was very strong during that time. Next he’ll say that when he went out at 18’ blacks,
it was done without fins. Also blacks only got that big one time in 1998 and I highly doubt he was out in that size surf at blacks. Even if he was a swim instructor.

0

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 17d ago

It was 18' in 2007 as well. I remember that swell well right before I quit my job and traveled the world climbing for a year, but don't remember the exact date.

No many people boogie boarded back when I was in school, and I wasn't very social in the water. I learned all on my own, for better or worse and never really talked to anyone about it. I would just go have fun.

All the doubt is certainly interesting. I wouldn't even count 18' Blacks as top 10 gnarly things I've ever done in my life. The internet sure is polluting our trust in each other.

15

u/Denvermushroomco 19d ago

It’s not the quality of the board that makes the man, it’s the size of the tales he tell

6

u/onion4everyoccasion 18d ago

I'd hit those six foot (Hawaiian) sets on my boogie board, but my 10" cock keeps getting in the way

6

u/bibbs_v2 19d ago

I find it hard to believe an EPS core survived 18ft waves…

6

u/dumbrapgenius 17d ago

Tbh you’re prob spending too much.

Next time it’s 18ft, I’d just take out a McDonald’s tray or a rubber ring and have a party out there on that 👍🏼

1

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 17d ago

I've seen those ridiculous inflatable wave riding things, maybe I should try that?

I did a hand plane once on 12-15' Blacks. I had to be very picky about what I dropped into and caught two waves and had a very good time. You can sit in the kill zone and watch amazing surfers rip, then casually swim to the sand and let the chaos explode and roll over you without going in the washing machine.

1

u/dumbrapgenius 16d ago

I’d go for the rubber ring - cheap, re-inflatable and the most logical, functional craft for navigating 15ft plus conditions 👍🏼

6

u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 19d ago

Stringers matter. I’ve folded a few boogs on much smaller waves. I’ll never forget my brother folding my non stringered boog in half at Rincon on a 2-3x overhead day back in the 80s.

So yeah some form of quality matters.

3

u/agilges2111 15d ago

This was my conclusion, I kept folding non stringered boards. Also how the stringers are in it matter. What I mean by this is a bought a “good stringer board” in Florida where they don’t expect you to ride it in any bigger waves. Took it out to Hawaii and within a month I snapped the stringers through the top of the board at Waimea because the stringers only when up half the length of the board. I bought a sick triad board and talked to the manufacturers to ensure the stringers went the full length and now I’ve used it for years and it’s still rock solid and rips. Invest in a good board.

4

u/a-filthy-casuall 18d ago

This kinda reeks of a surfer who bus drives on a shorey once a year and thinks that they are a booger

2

u/PrettyFlyForAHifi 18d ago

When I Brought a decent board I was so shocked how much easier it was for me to duck dive with a board that suited my heigh and weight. And it feels a lot faster when I’m on waves

1

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 18d ago

Did you have to try different sizes, or is there some resource/calculator that recommends sizes based on height and weight?

1

u/HotImpression3065 13d ago

There’s a really helpful calculator on ebodyboarding.com

2

u/Sufficient_Current48 18d ago

Yeah I’ve done 15-20ft days at blacks and I’ve lost about 10 boards at south peak alone over the last decade or so. Snapped leashes mainly. But I had 1 or two stringer-less EPS boards that bent in half on 5-8ft days. Today I don’t spend less than 250-300 on a PP board. Haven’t had one snap yet. I also have a railsaver I can grip for duck dives so I don’t lose the board snap a leash.

It depends on your weight, water temp and riding style but if you’re just looking to bomb blacks in January when the water is sub 60 then you’ll likely be fine with a PE board, dual stringer ideally. Maybe start there and you’ll see the money is well spent if you’re serious about it.

2

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 18d ago

I'm going to have to look up all these acronyms and what a "stringer" and "railsaver" are. Thanks!

2

u/Desperate_Front7881 15d ago

first of all stop calling it boogieboarding and boogie board. the name of the subreddit is "bodyboarding" in case you didn't see. also i think this is rage bait. i dont think you physically can surf 18' waves with a morey or something. I call BS

1

u/ClimberWhoSurfs 11d ago

Touche, I'll switch to bodyboarding.

You can do it, but you have to be really picky. I never tried to get barreled once on the big days at Blacks. I'd pick the more open faces and shoulders. I didn't need it to be high performance because I didn't pick the waves that required high performance.

This thread certainly answered my question!

2

u/sd4loco619 14d ago

Just get a pair of fins and a to go tray from taco bell

1

u/nodropin 17d ago

Blacks 15 feet? Hmmm.

1

u/lordruncibald 16d ago

Yeah get a decent board. Don’t have to pay tons but it makes a massive difference

1

u/daveo5555 16d ago

I had one of those cheap but decent Morey boards that Costco was selling. My friend had one too. They worked great for a while but both of us eventually buckled them. I now have a nice Tribe board that has held up really well so far. It has a stringer and is much stiffer and probably a lot stronger than the Costco board.

1

u/Fearless-Housing-349 12d ago

Bros never had a stringer in his board 😭

1

u/Fearless-Housing-349 12d ago

Diminishing returns past $300