BodyBoards for Surfing

Bodyboards (often called boogie boards) offer unlimited thrills of riding the surf and are fast becoming extremely popular bodyboards including popular brand morey bodyboard. Tired of staring at the surf from a beach chair? Why don’t you try body boarding? This fast growing trendy water sport is a fun variant of surfing. You can enjoy all the thrills of traditional bodyboarding surfing with certain modern techniques, such as:

• spinning
• reverse direction changes
• cutbacks
• aerial moves (if the waves are strong and big enough)

Bodyboard Parts:

Deck: Top surface of the boogie board where you ride Slick bottom: Bottom side of the body board that has smoother or slick material like Surlyn (used in golf balls) or HDPE (High Density Polyethylene)

Tail: The rear end side of the body board either in bat or crescent shape. The bat shape is the one with round shape on the middle pointing outside. The crescent one has square corners with ‘U’ shaped connector.

Channels: Gouged-out surface are on the bottom side that reduces contact with surf water and provides increase speed and better control

Stringer: A metal straight rod which is inserted into the body board for stiffness.

Nose: The front of the body board where you hold grip to

Rail: The sides of the body boards are referred as rails. It’s usually a ratio like 50/50 or 60/40. The 50/50 rail is faster and more stable compared to a 60/40 which has more control and makes easier manoeuvres. The 60/40 body boards are very common

Mesh: A wire-like plastic part inserted into the core construction of body boards for enhancing projection and durability. It’s used by few manufactures like Morey Body boards

Template: Also known as the overall shape

Rocker: refers to the flatness of body board surface. The nose shaped curve is going to keep the nose off the sea level, but the tail should be flat and the board shouldn't move more than one inch. Too much rocketing will decrease the speed. The rocker shape will change depending on the material used between deck, core and bottom. Most Bodyboard will change the shape to a reverse rocker making the nose to dive into the curl of a wave (usually when Drop Knee riding). Keep your body board in a cool place and store your board on the nose to delay the reverse rocker from happening.

BodyBoards: Steps for Selecting One

Follow these essential steps to choose the best body boards:

• Choose a body board with a smooth surface. Some cheap ones have porous surfaces. These tend to waterlog easily and become heavy. They are made from foam type of polyethylene.
• Check the tail of the board. A beginner must use a board that has an inward-curving tail and a downward slope.
• Ensure that the board sits flat on the ground and does not rock to and fro. Feel the body board for flex by placing the rear end of the board against your stomach and grabbing the nose. The more the flex, the better will be the performance of the body board. Flat board is good for high speeds. The ones with slight rise (not more 1.5 inches) on the nose and tail provide better turning on rides.
• Wider boards are designed for smaller surfs and the narrow one for larger surf... Wide boards are recommended for heavy riders who are small in size.
• The length of the board should be less than one inch of your belly button from the tail point when upright position. To enjoy the big waves choose one inch below or one inch above for smaller waves.

BodyBoards: Styles and Features

We offer a wide range of good quality body boards that are made of light-weight, durable and water resistant materials. They have detachable wrist leashes that keep the board close to your body in case of a spill. A choice of ‘crescent’ or ‘bat-shaped’ tail provides the cheap bodyboard differing directional control and grip. Crescent tails offer better control while riding steep waves. However, if you are the kind of body boarder who likes to slide around, a bat shaped tail is what you need.

BodyBoard Accessories:

• Leash Plug: Anything that is at least 4 inches long and go through the built-in hole in the bodyboard (maybe a screwdriver). Usually body boarders prefer to have leash about 8 inches down from the nose of the board in the center. Some adjust the leash about 6 inches from either side based on their length or foot.

• Wax: It’s used for better grip of the board. It’s recommended that you don’t wax the entire deck or nose surface of the board so that you body can be in the middle for 360 turns or your hips to have contact to the tail for prone riding.

• Swim fins: They help in all manuearues of bodyboarding for steering, moving towards waves, paddling away.