My First Surfboard

In June, I got my first surfboard. It was a birthday present from Ed and the boys and was definitely the last thing that I expected to take up residence in our house. After all, I had only surfed for a sum total of 6 days at this point and it seemed a bit premature to invest in a brand new surfboard. But after our first trip out to Rockaway, navigating the logistics and the crazy traffic along Flatbush Avenue, we realized that this was doable - that we could manage to surf in Brooklyn. All we needed was a surfboard. We could rent boards from the local surf shop, but that would mean that we would have to wait until the shop opened at 10am. Owning our own board would give us a bit more flexibility as to when we went surfing (and also ensure that we could make it out there, have a good session and get home in time to pick up the boys from school).

Enter my new 8'6" NSP longboard (22 5/8" wide and 3" thick). It's an epoxy board that's a lot of fun to ride. You can see the board's construction here. It has enough volume to make it pretty forgiving for a beginner, especially for those of us who may not have a chance to get in the water on a consistent basis, and good for days when the conditions are smaller. The volume helps to make the board more stable in the water and easier to paddle, giving me a little bit more wiggle room as to where I sit out the back. At the same time, it's a pretty responsive board that I can maneuver. I've also ridden the 8'2" NSP and also had a lot of fun on that board. While it's four inches shorter, it has a similar volume as the 8'6". Therefore, it offers similar stability in the water as the 8'6" but is much more maneuverable due to its length.

Once the board was delivered, the next step was figuring out just exactly how to get it from the front door of our building into our apartment. It arrived packaged in a big, long box. I tried dragging it into the elevator. I think about half of the box actually fit into the elevator. I then tried carrying the box up the stairs but it wouldn't cut the corners of the stairwell. Crap. I had visions of our surfboard residing in the lobby of our building. Maybe I could install a rack somewhere along the hallway? Maybe one of our downstairs neighbors would house our board for us? I finally stripped all the packing off and tried the stairs again. This time, I made it. Phew.

Here's a good article for beginners looking to buy their first board.