The Inertia Shares: A Bodysurfers Guide When To Use a Handboard

The Inertia is a go to source for hot topics, insider tips, and off the wall humor with in the surf industry.

Therefore, when the great debate to bodysurf with or without a handboard/handplane arouse writer Thomas Leitch took to the platform to share his perspective.   

Read the full article HERE 
Or if you're looking for a taster read below...

"How we find our joy in the ocean is as wide and diverse as the craft available to experience it.  It comes down to personal choice; do you want to keep things plain and simple or do you want greater maneuverability, harder hold, more control? And there’s no right answer. 

Handplanes allow surfers to catch waves a little easier, kick a little less, trim a little longer and have greater control on the wave’s surface. Where a bodysurfer may struggle to get onto and maintain a full-faced, high tide roller, a handplaner will be able to use that plane to pick up the wave, drawing their upper body out of the water, creating less drag to better utilize the wave’s minimal power. 

There is no arguing that handplanes make bodysurfing easier on numerous levels. But they aren’t training wheels, a hindrance to shed when talents are achieved. Everyone the least bit interested in bodysurfing should try them out, perhaps just to get them started, possibly as a lifelong preference, certainly to experience the profound difference they make. 

However you approach it, keep an open mind. Whatever you decide, there is no right or wrong – it’s all bodysurfing – plane and simple."