Is One Surfboard Enough For a Quiver? I Gave It a Shot
When I quit my job, packed all my belongings into boxes, and purchased a one-way ticket to Rio de Janeiro back in 2021, I knew I had to travel light. I had grandiose plans to budget backpack around the world, hopping planes, buses, taxis, boats, and trains, schlepping my bags around tropical, sun-beat city streets. As I was mapping out what to pack for an extended time abroad, I scanned the rack of surfboards in my garage, wondering which, if any, I should bring. Is one board enough? Should I bring a fish as well? What about a step-up? I can always buy one in Brazil…
As I checked in for my flight in San Francisco, the airline employee asked me how many boards I had in my bag. “Just one,” I replied with hints of both confidence and doubt. The lone board in the bag was a brand new 5’7’’ Hypto Krypto. I’d never ridden one before, but it seemed like the solution to my problem. It was small, compact, and, in theory, could cover the widest range of conditions I would encounter on my travels. The thin, rounded-pin tail could hold in a barrel, and still maneuver reasonably well when you put your weight on it, while the bulky midsection and nose could float me on those small, mushy days. I was about to find out if the one-board quiver was actually possible.
At first I hated the Hypto. Having never ridden such an odd shape before, I felt like my surfing had gone backwards a decade. I’d be lying if I didn’t consider selling it. My weight distribution was off, I was bogging my turns. But I had no choice but to keep riding it. And eventually I got used to it, even learning to love it. It held its own in board-splitting sand bars at Postinho in Barra da Tijuca, but also could generate speed in knee-high mush at Arpoador.
I’d never been the type of surfer to have a large quiver anyway. For better or worse, something about getting rid of things and having less physical items has always activated the pleasure receptors in my brain. I hate having too many clothes, one pair of shoes is all I need, and I’m perfectly happy with my decade-old, un-flashy Nissan hatchback. I still play the same guitar I got when I was five years old. And, in any case, it’s not like I was ever rolling in money if I wanted to stockpile boards.
These factors spilled over into my surfing. As I watched some of my friends compile all the brand-name models in their quivers to cover every type of conditions possible, I was content with just a few, my trusty-old fish, a shortboard, and the 6’4’’ that I learned to surf on, which somehow 16 years later, is still in one piece and has become my step-up.
And as good as it is for the environment to consume less surfboards, my one-board quiver was really not so virtuous. It was more out of necessity. Long-term travel with a lot of boards is a pain in the ass and, when you get to rarely frequented surf locations, it becomes essentially impossible. I reminisce about riding crowded city buses with my board in Brazil, hopelessly begging Uber drivers not to cancel when they saw my surf bag, strapping my bag to the top of tuk tuks in Sri Lanka, shoving it into small luggage spaces on Indian trains, and the time it almost flew off the roof of a taxi van. Having a proper quiver, like those deep coffins you see pros traveling with, would have simply been impossible for my journey.
That one-board voyage to Brazil morphed into two-and-a-half years and counting of travel. I survived the first eight months with just that Hypto Krypto. I formed a bond with that board that became more and more intimate as I learned its curves and tendencies. While the trip stretched on, my quiver grew a little, but remained small. For several stints I still had just one board. Other times I had two, and for a brief time I even had three.
I made a quick stop at home to add my old standard 5’10’’ shortboard to my bag, then I sold it at a fire-sale price to a gregarious local in southwest India. I picked up a 6’6’’ DHD step-up for the Mentawais, then sold it in Bali. I went to Madagascar with just my original Hypto Krypto, and reluctantly parted with that sentimental board, worn and sun-kissed with many battle scars, and gifted it to a newfound friend from the island.
As a result, I arrived in Mozambique with no boards at all, but still managed to get a few very memorable tubes on a funky rental. And finally, I picked up two boards in Durban, South Africa for half the price they’d cost in the U.S., took them on a curious detour to surf in Lebanon, and 10 months later, as I type this essay in the Costa Rican jungle, those are still the two boards in my quiver – a somewhat fishy 5’7’’ and a 5’10’’ performance shortboard.
Sometimes I wonder if my stubborn minimalism has negatively impacted my surfing via my board-deprived quiver. Since embarking on this trip, there were definitely occasions when I wished I had more boards – something with more foam, a little longer, or a different tail. Sometimes I’m left wondering, would I have made that barrel with a different board? Wouldn’t my snaps be tighter if I shelled out money for one of those Pyzel models that John John rides? Maybe there’s an ounce of truth to that line of thinking. While the one-board quiver was admittedly limiting at times, especially when encountering real surf in Indonesia, after dragging my board bag around 15 countries, I’ve learned that for the vast majority of days, it’s perfectly fine.
The one-board quiver is not for everyone. But for me, it was a practical, serviceable, and affordable solution. If I were wealthy and not so averse to accumulating things, maybe I’d be singing a different tune. But I’ve found the two-board quiver – a good-wave board, and a faster, flatter, small-wave board – is a superior solution and still relatively practical for transport. As I limit my quiver to the amount of surfboards that I can realistically travel with, I admit that I do dream about the next board I’ll get when one of the two in my bag inevitably snaps. That day will come. We’ll see how soon.
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