Tofino Surfing - Surfboards
Learn about the different types of surfboards, when to use what and what works for surfing Tofino beaches.

Surfboards come in all shapes and sizes. The shape, size and weight of a board affects it’s performance when in the water and riding waves.  It’s important to know what is the right surfboard for you and for the wave conditions in order to make the most of your surfing experience. Here’s a quick summary of the basic essentials of surfboard design.

Longboards
Longboards are wide boards ranging from about 7’2” upwards in length, with rounded noses and usually a single fin in the back. Longboards are perfect learning boards: they float well, making them stable when standing up and riding waves, and they paddle faster, making them an easier board to catch waves with, especially small and slow waves. If you’re new to surfing, then renting a soft-top longboard is a great way to learn fast and develop a smooth surfing style. These boards are the blue and red boards seen all over the Tofino shore break The soft top does two things: it provides a cushion for preventing any surf-related injuries for you, and other surfers around you and it does away with waxing. A longboard will make small days super fun.

So, if you’re new to surfing and would like a stable board that floats well or if the day is showing small waves a longboard is a good choice.

Our longboard: affectionately called Brutus.

Shortboards
Shortboards are high performance boards that are around 5’8” to 6’10” in length, and have pointed noses, thinner rails, and more rocker (the bend in the length of the board). Intermediate and advanced surfers like these boards because they are more responsive for turns, and power moves. They are, however, less buoyant than longboards, meaning they will be slower to paddle, making them more difficult to catch waves with and maintain speed once you’re riding the wave. This makes the shortboard a challenge for any beginner surfer.

You’ll see a lot of surfers in Tofino using shortboards. On bigger days, a shortboard makes it easier to duck dive under incoming waves and get to the outside of where the waves are breaking.  Some beaches, like Cox Beach, will create heavy surf with little or no breaks between the sets. Only a shorter board, or very experienced longboarder, will be able to penetrate this surf to reach outside sets of waves. As duck diving plays a huge role in a surfer’s ability to feel comfortable and in control in the ocean, a shortboard becomes a great asset to experienced surfers.

So, if you’ve got a few rides under your belt and would like to make it easier on yourself to get outside try a shorter board. You don’t have to go crazy short at first, take your time, rent a couple of different boards, and find the right length for you.

   
Friend's shortboard, the cleanest board we could find.

Fishes
Fishes are shortboards that are very short, thick and wide. They range in size from 4’8” to 6’0” in length, are about 2-4 inches thick, and from about 18-22” wide in the middle!  Fish shapes give easy paddling, and are very responsive. They are seen occasionally in Tofino in medium surf, however they have the ability to catch waves easier than a shortboard and shred any Tofino wave that isn’t strictly a small, longboard wave.

Funboards
Funboards are shorter board, about 7'3"-7'8", that have a much wider, rounded nose, giving them the volume for easy paddling, but unlike their longboard sisters they come with three fins and edges that are a little sharper to cut in to waves and turn more efficiently.  This makes for a board that will catch waves easily like a longboard, while giving you a bit more performance to manoeuvre like a smaller board.  It’s no surprise how they got their name!

Eggs
Eggs, like funboards are a wide board, shaped almost like the name suggests.  The size of eggs typically range from 6’4” to 7’2” in length and have  a small “V” shaped tail equipped with a single fin.  These boards are easy to paddle and stay afloat fairly well giving you added help to catch surf, especially small or weak surf.

Hybrids
Similar to a funboard, a hybrid is in between a longboard and a shortboard with more volume in the nose, right on down to the tail. These boards come with a three-fin system for easier turning capabilities, and provide good boards for the more experienced beginners.

The GoTofino hybrid board.

Guns
Guns are big-wave surfboards designed strictly for huge surf. They are designed like shortboards, but range anywhere from 7’2” to 12” and up in length! These boards are buoyant and paddle fast for catching those massive Hawaiian reef breaks, but manoeuvrable once you’re up and riding.  You won’t see a lot of guns in Tofino. Our surf doesn’t get quite that big thankfully. Have you seen Waimea Bay in Hawaii?? Scary stuff for most normal humans.