Bodyboarding in the surf

What it is

For the price of a decent meal you can be riding waves the same afternoon, which is why bodyboarding remains the most accessible way into surf. Bodyboarding is the art of riding breaking waves on a short, rectangular foam board, lying or kneeling on it rather than standing, propelled by swim fins and the power of the wave itself. Faster to learn than stand-up surfing and brilliant fun from the very first session, it gets beginners actually riding waves in a way that can take surfers weeks to achieve.

The low barrier is the whole point. The board is short, buoyant foam, you lie prone and catch the wave with a few kicks of your fins, and you are riding almost immediately. There is no difficult pop-up to standing, no long balance learning curve, just the immediate, addictive thrill of being shot along the face of a breaking wave. Children and adults pick it up together, and a modest board plus a pair of fins is all the kit you need.

It scales surprisingly far, too. Beyond the beginner thrill, skilled bodyboarders ride steep, powerful waves and perform spins, rolls, and aerial moves that rival anything in surfing, and the prone position lets them take on hollow, heavy waves that stand-up surfers avoid. So it works as both a casual seaside thrill and a serious wave-riding discipline.

The honest trade-off is the sea itself. Breaking waves, currents, and especially rip currents are genuine hazards, and the main skill that keeps you safe is understanding the surf, not riding it. Learn to spot a rip, swim competently, and respect the conditions, and bodyboarding delivers more fun per euro than almost anything in the water.