Stick to Your Board With Surfboard Wax!

People who don't surf sometimes wonder how in the world surfers are able to continue standing on their board while they shoot through powerful waves and across the top of the ocean's water. The trick is a simple one: surfboard wax!

Surf wax is a sticky substance that you rub onto your board in order to make your feet stick to the board. Normally you want to rub this stuff on in little circles, but as long as it gets on the board and makes the surface sticky, you're good to go. Sometimes you might decide to rub it up and down, to the left and right, or whatever seems best at the time. The bottom line is that you end up with a sticky board surface to plant your feet on so you don't fall off while you ride waves.

How often you add more wax to your surfboard depends on how many waves you catch, how messy the waves are, even how hot the sun is. Once you grab two or three waves and slip right off, usually ending up flying through the air without your board, you'll realize that your wax is no longer very sticky, and you need to apply more.

You don't have to get out of the water to add more wax to your board, though. Inmost swim suits and board shorts is at least one pocket. Keep a bar of wax in there, and you can rewax your board while you're still in the water. Just slide off of your board and hold onto it while you wax it up. You don't even have to worry about losing your wax in the water because it floats! Unless, of course, a strong current carries it away!

Surf wax is basically made with beeswax and coconut oil, although other chemicals and varying amounts of those chemicals are used by different surf wax companies. These companies hire scientists to find out how to make their wax the most sticky, and to "bump up." Making wax bump up adds traction to your board's surface, not just stickiness, which makes for an even better ride.

Next time you go out for a surf, be sure to put some surfboard wax in your shorts and make your board sticky!