Published on April 23rd, 2018 | by Alex Mauer

How to Choose a River Surfboard

I grew up riding river waves on a bodyboard. In 2007 I finally started to ride river waves on a surfboard. Over the years I have ridden pretty much everything you can imagine! Surfboards shapes for the ocean, bodyboards, wakesurf boards, skimboards and I have even tried to surf a fast food lunch tray.

Design, Volume and Shape

When choosing a surfboard for the river the most important thing to think about is design. Would you rather surf a board shaped for the ocean or a board specifically shaped for a river? Don’t get me wrong an ocean board could do the trick just fine. I surfed on them for years. But nothing will beat a board shaped specifically for the river.

Volume is the next thing you want to think about. Volume of a board is really important because it is a board floatation. Most river waves are pretty mushy and a higher volume board will surf better and ride more waves than a lower volume board. A lighter construction and overall weight can help add to the volume of a board.

Nothing beats a board shaped specifically for the river.

Shape of the board is equally important. A lot of river waves will require a shorter board with proper nose and tail rocker to fit into the wave and surf well. From my personal experience a nose rocker should be anywhere from 3”-3.5” and a tail rocker from 1”-1.5”. You are also going to want to look for a little wider tail. A board with a wider tail is going to allow for more push while on the wave. Which means on a smaller and softer wave, your board will stay on the wave better.

One Board Quiver?

Would you rather surf a board shaped for the ocean?

A lot of people are looking for the answer for the one board quiver. There are really not many boards out there that will meet all these specifications and surf pretty much any wave you will encounter. The Badfish Sk8 is one of the few boards that I have found to be a perfect answer to the one quiver board. I ride the 5’ which is a whopping 48.5 liters. It has perfect tail and nose rocker. I know that it will surf the powerful high performance waves (like River Run Park, Boise and Bend), it will surf the mushier waves that require the higher volume (like Glenwood Surfer Left and other local small waves) and it will definitely surf big waves (Glenwood Surfer Right, Pipeline and Lunch Counter)

So I go back to the question everyone river surfer should ask themselves … Would you rather surf a board shaped for the ocean? Or, something shaped specifically for the river? Something that will perform well no matter what wave you end up at? It’s a no brainer!

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Alex Mauer When I was 12 my dad gave me a boogie board. He told me to go play in the river next to his apartment. I have been playing in the water and helping pioneer the river surfing scene in Colorado ever since. I have a bucket list of waves I want to surf around the world! I love to play in the water and will try and surf anything! Surfing is surfing no matter what you are riding, short board, long board, SUP, boogie board, pool toys, lunch trays ... you name it I will try and surf it!