How To Choose The Perfect Surfboard: A Complete Guide for Every Level

June 14, 2025

The explosion of surfing over the past several years has also resulted in an explosion in choices of surfboards. Whether you are a seasoned surfer looking to upgrade your quiver or a new surfer wanting to build a quiver, choosing the right surfboard can make a critical difference in your surfing experience. With so many sizes, shapes, materials, and styles available, it can be both exciting and overwhelming to choose your next magic board.

This guide is designed to give you some direction on where to begin the research and to give you some valuable resources to help you make the right choice.

Why Choosing the Right Surfboard Matters

Your surfboard is your most essential tool in the water. The right board can improve your wave count, paddle power, turns, and overall enjoyment. On the other hand, the wrong board can hinder your progress and leave you feeling frustrated.

Attributes such as outline shape, length, fin setup, and construction can drastically affect how a surfboard feels and performs under your feet. It is critical to understand what you’re looking for and why before making a buying decision.

1. Match Your Surfboard to the Wave Conditions

The waves at your local break may be very different in size, shape, and energy compared to the waves you see the pros riding or the waves at the surf destination you are planning a trip to. As such, one of the most critical elements to choosing your ideal board is understanding the waves you will be riding and matching the attributes of the board to the wave.

This is also the reason why all experienced surfers have a quiver of boards to choose from. Don’t fall for the marketing hype of the latest board release; no board is truly a one-board quiver. Unless you surf the same wave at the local wave pool and never anywhere else.

The wave conditions vary depending on your location, the time of year, and the prevailing weather conditions. An experienced surfer adapts their surfboard choice to the conditions of the day. The perfect board for a hollow, barreling, overhead-high wave is not going to be the perfect board for a waist-high, onshore beach break.

2. Honestly Evaluate Your Skill Level

When you walk into a surf shop or your local surfboard shaper’s place, it is important to be honest with them and yourself about your current skill level. From a shaper’s point of view, we find that people often overestimate their ability. If you have video of your surfing, have it ready to show your local shaper. Their knowledge of the local conditions combined with an accurate idea of your current experience and skill level will help them to suggest or design a board suited to your needs.

Beginner

If you are new to the world of surfing and still trying to establish the basic skills, your priority needs to be choosing the correct break to learn at and a focus on board attributes for ease of paddling & stability. For beginners, the perfect board attributes may be:

Soft-top surfboards: Great for safety, comfort, and ease of use.
Longboards (8-9+ feet): Offer more stability and catch waves more easily than shortboards.
High volume: More buoyancy means easier paddling and more stable balance.

Intermediate

Once you have a grasp on the basics of reading waves, paddling out to the lineup, choosing waves, paddling in, popping up, and trimming open faces, it is time to begin the process of learning to turn.

As your skill and confidence grow, you’ll want a surfboard that allows for more maneuverability while still offering some stability. As a beginner, volume is your best friend; as an intermediate surfer, you will begin to sacrifice some buoyancy and stability for more maneuverability.

It is also a great time to start experiencing and experimenting with different board shapes & styles. In our experience, lower intermediate surfers tend to gel better with small wave and groveller style boards. They usually have a lower entry and exit rocker, a wide point that is forward of centre, softer and more forgiving rails, and more volume for the length, making them easier to paddle into a wave but still having the size and outline that facilitates learning turns.

Advanced

Advanced surfers are usually searching for the board that is going to help them continue to level up their surfing. An advanced surfer knows what board attributes they like and don’t like; they have a keen understanding of their ideal volume range for the prevailing conditions. Their focus turns to obtaining that X-factor that’s going to help them surf to their absolute potential.

This is where attributes such as construction material, board stiffness, rail definition, fin-box placement, and other similarly nuanced factors come into play. An experienced shaper that understands both your surfing skill & style as well as your local conditions is invaluable in helping you choose or shape the perfect board for you.

3. Understand Surfboard Volume and Dimensions

Surfboard volume is a metric of buoyancy that has been adopted in recent years to help surfers make a more informed buying decision. Volume (measured in litres) is one of many important factors to consider when choosing a new board.

Beginner and intermediate surfers often ask themselves and other surfers what the ideal volume range would be for them. We have not discovered a foolproof formula for determining the ideal volume that can be applied across all people and skill ranges. However, below we will outline a few ways you can begin to determine your ideal volume range.

As a general guide for mid-lengths, fishes & shortboards:

Beginners should look for boards with a volume that is at least equal to or greater than their own body weight in kilograms. A 60 kg person should look for a board that is at least 60 L in volume.
Intermediate surfers will likely have the largest range because this is the level of experience where you make the largest gains in strength, endurance, and skill. For lower intermediate surfers, a volume that is approximately ¾ of your body weight in kilograms is a good place to start, knowing that it will come down proportionate to your increase in skill. Mid to advanced intermediate surfers will be looking to use a board volume that is around ½ to 1/3 of their body weight in kilograms.
Advanced surfers will already know their ideal volume range for the style of board they are choosing.

Many of the established surfboard companies will give you a guide to their suggested volume for your skill and weight for each model of board they offer. Take this suggestion with a grain of salt, and if in doubt, choose a board with a little more volume rather than a little less.

4. Choose the Right Surfboard Shape

The outline shape, rocker, and bottom contours of your surfboard impact how the board performs in the water. As surfboard design improves, there is a lot of crossover between different styles of board. Below is a very general overview.

Common Surfboard Outline Shapes:

Longboard, Mal, or Mini-Mal: Long, wide, and thick. Ideal for small waves, cruising, and nose riding.
Mid-length: Mid-size hybrid that balances stability with performance.
Shortboard: Narrower and thinner with a pulled-in tail. Better suited for aggressive turns and fast surfing in powerful waves.
Fish: Shorter and wider than a standard shortboard, often with a swallowtail. Great for smaller, mushy waves or the pursuit of maximum speed.
Groveller: A mix of shortboard and fish, combining maneuverability & float to perform in less than ideal conditions.
Gun: Long, narrow board designed for big wave surfing.

5. Pick the Right Material

These days there are several surfboard construction materials to choose from. Not all boards will be offered in all construction types. Each has their pros and cons, and when choosing a new surfboard, it’s important to understand how each of those factors will impact your surfing.

Popular Surfboard Materials:

Soft-top: Exterior foam construction with a foam core that is usually reinforced with a timber stringer.
Polyurethane (PU): Traditional foam core with timber stringer(s) and finished with a fiberglass exterior. Offers a smooth ride that is less impacted by surface chop.
EPS Epoxy: Lightweight, buoyant, and very responsive. Has a tendency to sit more on top of the water than PU Poly, and can be impacted more by surface chop.
Carbon fiber & modern composites: Whether a full wrap or a reinforced stringer, carbon is becoming a very popular material in modern performance surfboards.
ExoFlex: Combining the benefits of PU Poly’s smooth ride with the pop and projection of EPS Epoxy, ExoFlex’s proprietary carbon leaf springs strike the perfect balance for performance in all conditions.

6. Set Your Budget

New surfboards range from $500 to $2000+ depending on the style, construction materials, and the brand. Your budget will often determine whether you’re looking for a new or used board. A quality used board may be the same cost as a lower quality new board.

In the new board space, it is common that your cheapest boards are foamies. PU Poly boards are often lower cost than the same model in EPS Epoxy, with carbon wrap boards being the most expensive.

Pro tip: buying, selling, and trading used boards can be a safe and cost-effective way for beginner and intermediate surfers to trial a large range of boards to help them identify the size, type, and construction of board that suits their surfing the best.

Final Thoughts: Your Perfect Surfboard Awaits

Choosing the perfect surfboard is a personal journey, and there is no “one-size-fits-all solution.” A one-board quiver makes for a terrific marketing line, but in reality, a surfer needs at least a couple of boards in their quiver to cover the conditions they encounter throughout the year at their local breaks.

Carefully considering your skill level, wave conditions, body type, and surfing goals, you’ll be well on your way to finding a board(s) that helps you progress and enjoy the waves more than ever.

Remember, the best surfboard is the one that you have the most fun on and keeps bringing you back to the water, and that is different for everyone.

Happy surfing!

At Campbell Designed Surfboards we know surfing and we know our surfboard technology is second to none. We are so confident in our surfboards that we're offering a MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE if you don't love your new surfboard.

Head over to our SURFBOARD page or reach out to us for a free on-site consult to help you choose your next magic board.