Who can afford a quiver anymore? Gone are the days of the $200 bro-deal. The $400 factory shape now goes for closer to $600. The handcrafted, resin-tinted single-fin that we all yearn for goes for upwards of $800, $1,200, or $1,400.

We’re still surfers, right? And as surfers we don’t have $1,400 to pay for something that we stand on, now do we? Which is why it’s advisable for all of us to deconstruct this rather silly notion that the “quiver is essential.” It’s not essential. It’s a luxury. And sometimes it’s just plain silly.

What we really need is three boards. Three. Tres. Trois. Lucky for you, we’re about to go all service-magazine on you and tell you what those three boards are:

1. Something to ride small waves on. Make no mistake: In this author’s opinion, every surfer needs to own a longboard, and needs to know how to ride a longboard, but this author also knows that he doesn’t live in a vacuum, that some people don’t like riding longboards, and that there exists on the market today no shortage of boards that can be ridden in small waves—fish, eggs, discs. So we’ll leave it at this: Own a board wider than 20 inches on which you can catch all manner of small waves without making exaggerated “O Faces,” kicking spastically, or wiggling your body in such a way as to make people wonder if you are seizing.

2. Your prototypical, standard, run of the mill 6’0”. Or 6’2”. Or 5’ 8”. Or whatever length your shortboard is. We were going to say that this board should be a thruster, and that you should be able to ride it in waves stomach-high to several feet overhead, but the kids love their quads and bonzers these days, and we don’t begrudge them that. So get yourself a shortboard, something that you can ride day in and day out when there are waves. When people ask you what kind of board you ride, you won’t answer, “Oh, anything.” You’ll answer, “I ride ______.” Fill in that blank. Make sure it’s right for you, for where you live, and for what sorts of waves you actually surf day in and day out.

3. The board that will let you imagine that you are riding very large waves. In actuality, you are not going to be riding very large waves. You are going to be riding waves that are only double-overhead, maybe a little bit bigger, but one day this winter, a big swell is going to come, and you’re going to need a board to ride these waves at the area pointbreak. Err on the side of too big. Maybe 7’0”. Possibly 7’6”. Probably not 8’0”. Definitely not 9’0”, unless you’re planning on flying from Waimea to Mavs to Todos. And you’re not planning on that, now are you? No, you’re not.

[by Brad Melekian via Surfer Magazine]