There are 3 main types of material that boards you can get surf boards made from. These are Foam (or foamies), Fiberglass and Epoxy boards. You can also get wooden boards, but these are like gold dust and often very pricey. When you surf Fuerteventura you might not see too many of these.
Foam boards are basically made for beginners and newbies to surfing. They’re manufactured out of foam and often wrapped in a denser foam or rubber. They tend to be thicker, longer and wider than other boards too. Foamies are made like this for a number of reasons. As they are for beginners the boards need to float well and must be very stable. They also need to be hardwearing and a bit more durable than usual as beginners tend to spend a lot of time falling off. Finally, foamies are softer. So when you do wipe out, you’re not going to K.O anyone, or at least you are less likely to. Foamies tend to have different fins too.
Fiberglass boards are also made from foam, but they are very different to beginner’s foamies. The designs are totally different, they weights are very different and so is the performance. Fiberglassed boards are basically carved from foam and then wrapped fiberglass. This gives them strength, a harder outer shell and seals the foam core. These kinds of boards are the more popular type of board. The foam core is very workable enabling endless variations when it comes to shapes and sizes. There are a few board shapers here in Fuerteventura who create fiberglass boards so check them out when you’re here.
Lastly there are Epoxy boards. These are basically plastic molded things. They are getting a bit more popular these days especially with beginners, as they are pretty much indestructible. They’re made similar to other injection molded plastic stuff like pens etc. So much so that Bic actually manufacture surfboards. These kinds of boards are often heavier than glassed boards and they are very hard! So if you do decide you want one, be very careful.
If you are learning, then start on a foamy and progress from there. You probably wont need the foamy for very long at all, maybe just a few lessons. I went with the surf schools here in Fuerteventura as a beginner and use a foamy for less than a week before buying a fiberglass board, For me it was more economical to pay for lessons than buy a foamy and sell it a week later. Personally i’m not so keen on epoxy boards, but if you are a bit clumsy then maybe they’re good for you as fiberglass boards are fragile.
http://www.surfinginfuerteventura.com
