The surf wax is the cheapest but most important part of the surf gear. The wax comes in different shapes, colors and flavors. In addition to the temperature, which wax you use also depends on your taste.

Wax Varieties

The trick with surf wax is to always have an optimal hold. There are different degrees of hardness - for different water temperatures. Tropical wax is relatively hard and has the optimal consistency at a water temperature of over 25 degrees. If you were to surf with a cold water wax in such temperatures, the wax would melt off your board on the way to the beach. The tropical wax is too hard at a water temperature of 15 degrees and therefore offers no support.

Most manufacturers also have a base coat (base wax) which is very hard. This is then needed as a basis to optimally apply even softer wax. Specialty topcoats are relatively new to the market. Their main characteristic is that they are very sticky and they often come in different colors

grow board

The wax is to be applied to the standing area and prevents slipping off the surfboard. It doesn't matter whether you start from the back, above, in a circle or in a zigzag, the main thing is that you put enough wax on the board. There are even YouTube videos showing you the best way to wax the board. We recommend the cross grid method in each case: parallel lines at a distance of 1 cm over the entire area, repeat several times with a rotation of 45 degrees. After 3x8 passes, the bumps form as if by magic.

Many surfers add extra wax to the rails to keep them from slipping when duck diving or standing up. In principle, wax should be applied wherever you don't want to slip off. With longboards, it may well be that the board is waxed all the way to the tip so that walking on the board is not slippery. Shortboarders only need to grow the two small standing areas, there is nothing to be gained by walking around on the board. (Snowboarders are discouraged from waxing the underside as this will affect the board's gliding.)

peel off wax

How long the wax stays on the board varies. If you're surfing in the Caribbean and not wearing a lycra/shirt/wetsuit, you're careful not to get sand on the wax. Should this happen anyway, simply peel off the wax and apply new one. Wax and sand is like sandpaper and lying on it bare-chested leaves lasting memories.

But if you surf with a suit anyway, a portion of sand can give you additional grip. So it's entirely possible to surf a season without putting the wax on.

wax comb

This is always used when the wax becomes too smooth and slippery. Simply roughen it up again with the comb and you're good to go. There is usually a scraper on the side that is not jagged, with which you can remove the wax again. Very sophisticated combs have a rounded short edge for the rails and a bottle opener for the beer.