Why You Should Add a Mid-Length Surfboard to Your Quiver

Are you currently experiencing a plateau in your surfing skill level? If so, then maybe you should experiment with a mid-length surfboard for a while to see if that doesn’t give you the breakthrough you’re looking for. Here’s why. 

Typically, as a surfer progresses from the beginner to intermediate level, they will move from a longboard directly to a shortboard. The high-performance shortboard allows the up-and-coming surfer to ride bigger/steeper waves, add new skills like the duck dive, and work on challenging maneuvers such as cutbacks and floaters. As exciting as this transition stage can be, many people will experience a major setback in their surfing ability that can last months or even years. 

At some point, most surfers decide to either stick with shortboarding or go back to longboarding based on their particular style and wave preference. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, as many surfers are able to surf both longboards and shortboards extremely well, but specialization is far more common. 

Isn’t it odd, however, that very few surfers spend time surfing the board-lengths in between? Wouldn’t that ease the transition from longboard to shortboard and make for a better all-around surfer in the long run? 

Although mid-length surfboards—boards in the 7 to 8 foot range—were popular in the early 70s (see Gerry Lopez at Pipeline), that was mostly due to the fact that high-performance shortboards hadn’t quite flooded the market yet. But as surfboard technology and materials drastically improved over time, high-performance shortboards became ubiquitous, and mid-lengths fell by the wayside. 

In recent years, however, it seems that mid-lengths are finally garnering the attention they deserve, thanks to professional style masters like Joel Tudor, Torren Martyn, and Leah Dawson, who have all but perfected the art of mid-length riding. Not only do mid-lengths allow these surfers to express their unique style and grace on smaller waves, but these boards perform exceptionally well in bigger surf too. 

In my opinion, it makes far more sense for a beginner/intermediate surfer to move down board sizes in small increments, rather than jumping directly from a longboard to a shortboard. For someone who may be hesitant to paddle into an overhead wave on a 6 foot board, a mid-length provides a few more inches of security by allowing the surfer to catch the wave early (before it becomes critically steep). 

As Surfer Magazine notes about mid-lengths, “they are an especially nice option for people who frequently longboard but feel that when the waves bump up to head high-plus that there is enough push for them to have a go on a smaller board.”

Mid-lengths allow for an entirely different feel in bigger surf while affording the surfer an opportunity to work on important “big-wave” skills like pumping down the line and exiting the wave early and under control (as not to get caught inside by the following waves). Once you’ve mastered the mid-length, then you can move down to the high-performance shortboard without experiencing the same unpleasant plateau.