Surfing & Waterskiing | Sports & Leisure Classifieds

Despite the cold waters around the UK, both surfing and water skiing remain popular national hobbies for many. In recent years, it's become increasingly cool to take up surfing and water skiing has been popular for many years in this country.

Numerous people are, in fact, taking up surfing and water skiing as regular hobbies rather than just practising them for a couple of weeks when on holiday. But, to do this most people will need to set themselves up with some equipment and some accessories. So, what do you need?

Essential and 'nice to have' accessories and equipment for surfers and water skiers
Before making any purchase here, either for water skiing or surfing, make sure you work out who will be using the equipment. It may sound obvious but people will not all fit into the same pair of water skis or manage to control the same size of surf board. It is important to use the right size and kind of equipment with these hobbies otherwise they just won't be as enjoyable. Using equipment that doesn't fit correctly could potentially lead to an accident.

Buying equipment for surfboarding is relatively simple. People need a board to surf with and something to wear. If surfing in the UK then a wetsuit is probably the best option as it will keep out some of the cold! Not all boards are equal here so make sure you buy one that suits the level of experience and size of the person that will be using it. As a rough guide a surf board should be at least around 6+ inches longer than you are tall.

Beginners to surfing or children often find that using a soft surfboard will help them learn. These boards are made from buoyant materials which makes it easier to actually ride a wave. And, as they are soft they will hurt less if (or should we say when!) the surfer falls on them. The next stage up is the pop-out board which is a mass-produced board that many new surfers like as it is relatively easy to control. Many surfers also choose to have their boards custom made. One thing to bear in mind here -- cool as they may be, shortboards really won't do beginners any favours and are best suited for more advanced surfers.

On the accessory front with surfing there are really only two key accessories -- board wax and a leash. The wax basically gives a better grip on the surfboard and the leash will attach the board to a leg so if a surfer falls off it'll be easier to find the board.

Water skiers again have one main piece of equipment to buy -- the water skis. Some people buy a pair of skis and some people opt for a single slalom ski. Water skiing 'newbies' may find it easier to learn on a traditional pair of skis -- some will have the facility to let the skier slalom ski later in any case. Again, a wetsuit will be a good investment here given the average temperature of UK water!

In general terms water skiers will go faster with shorter skis and slower with longer skis. Most water skiers use a combination of their weight and the speed with which they are comfortable to assess the right sizes of skis to buy. It is also important to find a comfortable fit with the bindings that will be purchased here. This is quite an important safety issue as if the bindings don't hold then the skier will come off the ski.

Some water skiers want a standard type of ski but some, more experienced, skiers may want to do something more complex such as slalom water skiing. In basic terms a hard (i.e. not very flexible) ski will go fastest and a more flexible ski will be better for slalom type moves although it won't reach the same speeds on the straight. Anybody that wants to do water skiing tricks will probably need specially designed trick skis.

There are various accessories available here -- getting a bag to store your skis in will be particularly useful as this will help protect them. Other options include gloves, vests / life jackets, ropes and tubes.

Buying surfing and water skiing equipment and accessories second hand
This is one of the most common ways of picking up surfing and water skiing equipment and there are always plenty of options when it comes to finding second hand items. The reason that selling second hand is so popular with surfers and water skiers is probably down to the fact that serious enthusiasts often outgrow their equipment relatively quickly and may therefore upgrade. Selling their old equipment or accessories will simply recoup them a bit of money to spend on new kit. And, there are still a lot of people out there that might take up one of these sports, buy the equipment in a fit of enthusiasm and then decide that it's not really for them or that they don't have time. Buying equipment under these circumstances can be a bargain as the chances are it won't have been used that much.

Many people worry about buying second hand goods online because they can't actually see them. But, this shouldn't be an issue -- the buyer simply needs to remember to ask the right questions. Firstly, find out why the seller is selling. Then ask if the equipment and / or accessories are in good working order. Ask if they have all their parts and if everything fits together OK. Ask if it has ever been damaged and / or repaired and if so how was the repair made. If possible get the seller to show a couple of digital photos of the equipment -- this will show the general condition and quality.