{"id":10,"date":"2026-10-03T03:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/soft-top-or-hard-board-choosing-a-board-for-your-first-sessions\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T03:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:49:07","slug":"soft-top-or-hard-board-choosing-a-board-for-your-first-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/soft-top-or-hard-board-choosing-a-board-for-your-first-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft-top or hard board: choosing a board for your first sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most surf lessons use soft-top boards: long, wide boards with a foam deck. They are chosen for good reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Stability:<\/strong> more length, width and volume make the board easier to lie on, paddle and stand up on.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Safety:<\/strong> a soft deck and flexible fins hurt less when you and the board meet in the white water.<\/li>\n\n<li><strong>Catching waves:<\/strong> a bigger board floats higher and picks up small, broken waves more easily.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When to move on<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stay on a big board while you are still learning to catch waves on your own and stand up reliably. When you can ride along the face of unbroken waves, a slightly shorter board, or a longer hard board such as a mini-mal, can be the next step. Change one thing at a time: a board that is much smaller can mean fewer waves and less fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are not sure, hire before you buy and ask your instructor which board suits your weight, fitness and the waves where you surf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beginners learn faster on a big, stable board. Here is why most lessons start on a soft-top, and when to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-swellora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}