Why do surfers put wax on surfboards?

Why is it important to wax your surfboard?

Beginners’ guide to surfing

Read Time: 5 Minutes

I remember when I first started surfing. I bought my first board and thought it was beautiful – then I read about how much wax I needed to smother all over it. I thought it equated to defacing my board.

I think it’s safe to say I was in the minority, but even so it’s not completely abnormal to come across a beginner surfer who’s entirely unaware that they need to use wax. And when I say need, I mean need – it’s not an option. Without wax your board will feel like an iceberg, and even if you have the smoothest pop-up on the planet you’ll very quickly slip straight off it. 

Wax provides traction for not only your feet when you’re actually standing up surfing, but also for your body when you’re paddling around. There’s a reason it has hardly changed in 60 years – because it is effective. While surfboard technology is advancing at a rate of knots, wax remains the same as it was half a century ago.

So before you head out on your brand new board, make sure it’s well and truly coated in wax. There are a few details you need to know when it comes to waxing your board, but just how particular a surfer goes about it is down to the individual. A few of the general rules include: make sure your board is clean before you wax it; apply a base coat, often using a criss-cross method, to begin with; and don’t press too hard.

The base coat sometimes raises a few eyebrows among beginners, but the reason behind it is basically that it will give your top-coat something to stick to aside from the board itself, and will help your wax job to last longer.

Once you’ve gone through this process, your board should be full of small bumps of wax. If you’re worried about doing it incorrectly there are plenty of instructional videos on YouTube to help you out, but in general you don’t need to stress too much – just as there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to wax a surfboard, and even if your first wax job isn’t straight out of the textbook it’ll still more than likely do the job.

When you go to buy wax you’ll notice that there are a number of different types, and not only in terms of brands. The most common brand you’ll come across is Sex Wax – named as such basically for shock value many years ago. Within this brand, however, as well as all other brands, you’ll notice boxes of many different colours. These different types of wax pertain to how soft they are, which in turn makes them more or less suitable for different water temperatures. The reasoning behind this is relatively simple – in warmer waters wax has a greater tendency to break down and fall off your board, so if you’re surfing in the tropics you’ll need a firmer wax to prevent this from happening. In contrast, in colder waters it’s not such an issue, so a soft wax which is easier to apply is suitable. It’s pretty straightforward to figure out which wax is most appropriate because most brands will have a water temperature range written on the box, so make sure you know what sort of temperature the waters you’ll be surfing in are before you purchase your wax.

When you open your first box of wax you’ll notice that it smells pretty potent – and for most surfers, it’s a smell they love. That does not, however, necessarily mean you want to smell it all the time. Wax is – unsurprisingly – sticky, meaning it can very easily find its way to places where you don’t want it – perhaps most notably your car seat. Make sure you don’t leave the waxed deck of your board leaning against things which the wax is likely to stick to, particularly when it’s hot.

When it’s hot wax will melt pretty easily and can very quickly turn into a big mess. Often this happens when boards are left in cars on sunny days – the wax melts, begins to run and turns into a cesspool in your car. Avoiding this is pretty simple – don’t leave your board in the car or the sun. 

Maintaining a good wax job is an ongoing process. It isn’t as simple as applying a base coat and a top coat and leaving it for the indefinite future – you need to take care of it. Many surfers have wax combs, which kind of look like a spiky hairbrush, and which help out in the maintenance or removal of wax. What is wax maintenance, you might be wondering? Basically, over time the wax on your board can lose a little traction, and rubbing a comb over it can help to rough up the wax already on your board and make it a little more effective.

Wax is an essential part of your surfing arsenal, but fortunately it’s far from the most expensive. A box will generally only cost you around six bucks, but even so some people like the challenge of making it themselves. Doing this isn’t overly complicated, and while we won’t give you a cooking lesson, the basic formula is some beeswax, coconut or any other fragrant oil, and tree resin if you’ll be surfing in cold water. Mix and heat this up in a cooking pot until it’s a liquid, then let it rest for a few hours to dry, and voila – you’ve got your own wax.

If you ever want to be able to stand on your board for more than half a second, wax is a pretty key component. It is, quite literally, the glue that holds you to your surfboard, so make sure you don’t forget about it before heading out into the water or you’ll quickly find yourself slipping around like you’re on ice skates.