Foam is your Friend

Keiller · September 24, 2026

As someone who would likely only be called an intermediate surfer by the most generous of people, I’m always looking for ways to improve my surfing. Despite only being able to get in the water on the weekends, there’s been two times in my life when I’ve noticed a big jump in my shortboarding ability.

More foam under the chest, same volume

The first time was when I switched my daily driver from a 5’10 Channel Islands Sampler that has a volume of 31 liters, to a 5’8 Hypto Krypto that also has a volume of 31 liters. The big difference with the Hypto Krypto was essentially just that it had a little bit more foam under the chest so it paddled a bit better. As someone that’s 5’5 and 160 lbs and definitely a little top heavy, it felt like it made all the difference in the world. All of a sudden I was getting into waves a fraction of a second earlier and even if I took off late and ended up taking the stairs on a few closeouts, it still seemed like I was making way more waves. More waves = more fun, especially with where I’m at in my surfing journey.

Fish volume and wave count

The second time that I noticed a big improvement in my surfing was when I got introduced to the beautiful world of fishes. Ironically, I bought my first fish off of Facebook Marketplace, because it was a bit longer; I thought this was going to be my step-up for Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Hilariously enough, this was a 6’2 Rusty Dwart with a volume of 39 liters. The Dwart doesn’t look like a typical fish (it’s kind of a roundtail with some wings on it) so it took me probably a good couple months of surfing it to realize that it would actually fall into the fish category. And if we’re being honest, it’s really only because a better, more seasoned surfer called it that. But I digress. The first time I rode the Dwart was at a beginner break in Pacifica, California called Linda Mar. As usual for Linda Mar, about 90% of the waves that day were closeouts. These were waves I wouldn’t normally take off on, but since I hadn’t had a wave in like 30 or 40 minutes, I decided to send it on a closeout and take-off. To my surprise, I didn’t get pummeled. And weirdly enough, I didn’t get punished for any of the next 5 closeouts I took off on. To be fair these weren’t amazing rides, but man did this board fly. I could pop up, set my line, maybe get a quick turn off, and then kick out, no worse for wear. Being able to take off just a bit earlier on the wave and have a split second longer to set my line was great for my surfing. It’s true that I can’t duck dive it the way I can duck dive the Hypto Krypto but it’s served me well at some pretty sweet waves, including a recent surf trip to Maui. The homies might try to humble brag about how little volume they’re surfing compared to you, but the perfect surfboard for most people is gonna be the one that meets them where they’re at and keeps their wave count high.

Find a volume that keeps your wave count up

Put in your weight, how you surf, and the waves you ride. The Setwave calculator gives a documented volume range and shows every adjustment.

Calculate my volume

A closer look at fish surfboard volume.