Today let's take a look at the always fun Mid-Length. The Mid-Length surfboard has become increasingly popular in the last few years and if you look at most lineups these days & you’ll notice a lot of surfers on midlength surfboards. Modern mid-length surfboards have a lot going for them and are great choice for almost any surfer, as they work well for all surfing levels.
What's a Mid-Length?
Mid-length surfboards sit roughly between 7 and 8 feet long and sit between 9' Longboards and the funboard / shortboard. The idea is to balance the paddle power and ability to generate speed (a la longboards) with a fun carving feel on the wave face (shortboard).
Types of Mid-Lengths
Single-Fin - more traditional design and relies on smooth transitions from rail to rail.
Quad - Allows for increase speed and the ability to use in larger surf
Thruster (or 2+1) - Reliable and solid under foot, but still with plenty of performance
Twin - A bit more drive and looser feel than the single fin.
Hull vs. Concave Bottom
You can basically classify the bottom contours into two main categories, hull and concave. Now you can research this topic as in-depth as you like, so I will attempt to cover the difference at a very high-level.
Hull - Boards with no concave to them at all. In fact, their bottoms are convex or Vee bottoms all the way through from nose to tail. The bottom lets the board sit in the water instead of planning on top of it. Generally not good boards for beginners.
Concave - Essentially all other Mid-Lengths. Concave's are designed to get your surfboard planing on top of the water. To generate speed you use your fins a little more and surf the board with the rails, rocker and fins all together.
If the idea of combining easy paddling and fun carves, then a Mid-Length is up your alley and there's a model for you.
Next week we will look at Shortboards, which fall into a size range ranging from about 6'8 and below. Then I'll move onto the topic of fin types (single, twin, thruster, quad, bonzer).
Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them ASAP.
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