Surfing Apply Paraffin or Wax on Surfboard
Surfing Apply Paraffin or Wax on Surfboard: We will offer in this article some useful tips to wax the Surfboard. The wax or paraffin on our surfboard will be responsible for giving us the grip we need to surf. As we will know, surfboards come with a resistant fiberglass finish but at the same time, it is very slippery with water.
Let’s go for the practical tips to wax the surfboard.
>>BEFORE APPLYING THE PARAFFIN ON THE SURFBOARD
We must go to a Surf Shop to buy the appropriate paraffin or wax. There are different types, on the one hand, we have the base that is only used to give a stronger first layer and on the other hand, we will have the common paraffin available for different temperatures. Usually, the temperature ranges will be the following:
Tropical paraffin: if the water in which you will surf is above 23 ° C.
Paraffin for Warm Water: for water temperatures between 20-23 ° C
Paraffin for Tempered Water: If the water in which you will surf is between 15.5-20 ° C
Paraffin for Cold Water: if the water in which you are going to surf is between 10-15.5 ° C
The next thing will be to remove the existing paraffin. If the table is new you must omit these steps, otherwise, we advise you to apply them.
So, to remove the old paraffin we will expose our surfboard to the sun, when heating the paraffin it will be much easier to remove it since it will be softened. We will remove the old paraffin with a comb that we can find in any surfer’s swimsuit or with a smooth and rigid plastic slightly scraping our surfboard. We will avoid pieces with ninety-degree ridges that could damage our surfboard.
Finally, we will clean the surface of the surfboard with turpentine and alcohol. We must be careful with these products because they can damage the graphics of our table and affect their materials, for this we will never apply acetone.
>> APPLY THE PARAFFIN ON THE SURFBOARD
If your board is a longboard, wax all the top, from the tail to the tip. If you have a shortboard, fill two third of the table starting with the tail. It is advisable to make this first layer with the special base paraffin.
We will practice circular movements with paraffin, in a straight line from tip to tail or crossed. Each one uses his preferred technique, the objective is to distribute the paraffin uniformly on the board without leaving any holes.
Apply the paraffin until mounds begin to form, the surface of the board should be rough with a kind of balls or mounds. To do this, use the pointed part of the paraffin. Depending on the size of your table, you may need to have a complete paraffin block so that the first layer is well seated.
We will continue waxing our surfboard with a second layer of normal paraffin suitable for our temperature of use. If you prefer you can apply this paraffin of a different color to distinguish the two layers.
>> FINISHING THE PARAFFIN ON THE SURFBOARD
For a good finish, we will comb the board making diagonals. The combs for surfboards are made of rigid plastic, we will find them in our Surf Shop or in the swimsuits of the surf brands. With the hairstyle of the table, we will eliminate the possible imperfections and we will distribute the paraffin.
In future sessions, we will use the comb to re-distribute the paraffin in the areas of greater support, since the paraffin that had been crushed and lose grip in those areas. We can apply more paraffin suitable for our temperature and then comb if necessary.
Finally, we can spray the board with water. In this way, we apply cold on the surface while resting the table and so we get the paraffin to harden and grip much better.
