Buy and sell used surfboards in Bali

Start with the litres, not the length

Most people start with a length, because a length is what a board is called. It is the least useful of the three numbers. Two boards can both be 5'10" and be twenty per cent apart in float, which is the difference between catching waves on a slow morning and watching them go under you.

The number that decides it is volume, in litres, and it comes from your weight and how you surf rather than from your height. A rider at 75 kg who is still learning wants something near their own body weight in litres. The same rider three years later, surfing the open face, wants roughly half of that. Nothing about their height changed.

Get the litre range first, then use length, width and thickness to decide how those litres are arranged. That order is the whole method, and it is the order the volume finder further up this page works in.

Work out your litre range

What the length is still telling you

Length is not useless, it is just second. It sets how early the board starts moving when a wave lifts it, and how much room you have to move your feet once you are up. Longer paddles in sooner and holds a line; shorter turns in a tighter space and takes more speed to work.

• 7'0" and over: learning, or wanting the highest wave count on a small day. Paddles into a wave early and forgives a late pop-up.
• 6'4" to 7'0": standing up consistently and starting to angle down the line. One board that covers most of what Bali does in a week.
• 5'8" to 6'4": riding the open face and turning. Below this, length stops describing the board and outline takes over.
• Under 5'8": a fish, a groveler or a twin, chosen by outline and volume rather than by length. A 5'6" fish can float more than a 6'2" shortboard.

The bands overlap on purpose. Somebody at 90 kg reading the second row is looking at a different board from somebody at 60 kg reading the same row, and the litres are what tell them apart.

Width and thickness, and what each one costs

Width is measured at the widest point and is usually written in inches and eighths, as in 19 ¼". More width is more planing surface, so the board sits higher and gets going in weaker waves. It also makes the board slower to roll from one rail to the other, which is why a wide board feels stable in a straight line and stubborn in a turn.

Thickness is measured at the thickest point, usually near the middle of the stringer. More thickness is more float under your chest while you paddle, which is what actually gets you into the wave. It is also the measurement people quietly add when they want more volume without admitting to a wider board, and it is the one that most changes how a board feels when you try to sink the tail.

Two boards at the same volume can put those litres in completely different places. Foam spread wide and thin under the chest paddles well and turns off the rail; foam kept narrow and thick sits deeper and holds in steeper water. That is why the litre number is a starting point and not the whole answer, and why it is worth reading the width and thickness on a listing rather than only the length and the volume.

Tail and fins, briefly

The tail decides how the back of the board releases. A wider, squarer tail holds more area behind your back foot, so it keeps speed in a slow section and pivots sharply. A pulled-in tail sinks more easily, which is what you want when the wave has real push and you need the board to hold rather than skip.

Fins matter less than the outline and they are the one part you can change after you buy. A thruster is the safe default. A twin is faster in a straight line and looser through a turn. Before you buy a used board, check which fin system it takes and whether the fins are included, because a set is a real cost on top of the board and the boxes are not interchangeable.

Fin systems, and which fins fit which box

Size the board for the waves you will actually surf

A board is chosen against a specific set of waves, and the honest version of that question is not what you hope to surf. It is what you will be surfing most mornings on this trip.

Bali gives you two coasts and a season that decides which one works. The west coast beach breaks are sand-bottomed and forgiving, and most of the year they are where a visitor surfs. The reefs on the Bukit are a different proposition: the take-off is steeper, the water is shallower, and a board that felt fine at a beach break can feel like too much foam the moment the wave stands up.

If you are here for two weeks and most of your sessions will be waist to head high on sand, size for that. Buying the board you want for the one big day costs you the other thirteen. If you already know you are going to the reef, that is the case for a second, narrower board rather than for one compromise board that does neither well.

Where the boards are, by area

Once you have the litres, pick the shape

Shape is the name for how those litres are distributed, and it is the fastest way to narrow a search once the number is settled. Four cover most of what a visitor to Bali is choosing between.

• Funboards: float and stability while you are still catching more waves than you turn on.
• Midlengths: one board that works across most of what a week in Bali offers, and the shape most people underrate.
• Fish: short, wide and fast in waves that are not steep enough for a shortboard.
• Shortboards: for surfers already riding the open face who want to turn off the bottom.

Why buy the board used

A surfboard loses most of its resale value in its first year and then holds fairly steady, so a two year old board in sound condition is the best value on the island by some distance. That is true anywhere. What is specific to Bali is why the boards are for sale.

Most of the supply here is leaving. A board is usually being sold because its owner is flying out, not because they are upgrading, and a flight date is a deadline the seller feels and the buyer does not. It is also the reason this site asks sellers when they leave and shows it on the listing, which no other listing site asks for.

The trade-off is that you are buying a board nobody has inspected for you. SurfPoint takes no payment and handles no shipping, so the ten minutes you spend with the board in your hands is the whole of the quality control. It is enough, if you know what you are pressing on.

The ten minute inspection, before you hand over money

Be honest about your level

Every sizing table asks how you surf, and almost everybody answers one step above where they are. It is the single most expensive mistake in this whole process, because the answer moves the litre range by more than any other input.

A useful test is what happens on an ordinary day rather than on your best one. If you are still mostly in whitewater and standing up is the hard part, you are a beginner and you want a lot of foam. If you get to your feet nearly every time and are learning to angle along the wave instead of straight to the beach, you are improving, and you are not yet the person the shortboard tables are written for. If you ride the open face, turn off the bottom and pick your own sections, you are intermediate, and you can start taking litres away.

Underestimating yourself costs you very little. A board with a few litres too many is easy to surf and easy to sell on. A board with a few litres too few costs you the waves you would have caught, and nobody improves by not catching waves.

Volume by rider weight, with the numbers

What to do next

Put your weight and your level into the volume finder further up this page and note the range it gives you. Take the low end and the high end, not the middle: the range is the answer, and a board anywhere inside it will work.

Then filter by that range rather than by shape, at least at first. It is the fastest way to find out what actually exists on the island in your size, and it turns up boards you would not have searched for by name. Message the seller, arrange to meet, and take ten minutes with the board before you agree a price.

Browse used surfboards for sale in Bali