In our review the foamie that has begin ubiquitous in every surfing lineup.
We’re talking about the Costco Wavestorm and why it’s a great beginner surfboard but is also option of the intermediate surfer.
What was once only for Costco members is now available to everyone via Amazon.
They carry both the blue and the rasta designs.
Curious if you should use a leash with your Wavestorm or if you should wax your Wavestorm?
We answer Wavestorm frequently asked questions here.
Wavestorm Surfboard From Costco Review
We have 2 boards to choose from. An 8′ foamie and a 5’6″ foamie.
Wavestorm Surfboard Review
Summary: It’s got plenty of float. It’s fun. Wear a leash and you will have a great time.
We say get it.
The Wavestorm surfboard from Costco is a good option for both the beginner surfer who wants to step into surfing without shoveling out a lot of money for a board and for the experienced surfer who wants a fun, foamie board to compete with all of the other foamie boards in the the lineup.
Here’s our review:
- Priced currently around $200 (more for the rasta design), the Wavestorm is a relatively cheap surfboard to start to catch waves.
- At 8″ long and 2″ wide, the Wavestorm’s volume makes it a wave-catching machine. The hourly wave count of the experienced surfer is sure to increase.
- The Wavestorm has so much float it’s tough to imagine it can’t support the weight of anyone capable of driving themselves to the beach. What the actual weight limit is, we don’t know.
- Costco states that the board will support a surfer as tall as 6″ and 200 pounds. More experienced, heavier surfers will probably do just fine on it.
- Cheap is a two-sided coin. Yes, it costs less, but its overall construction is not meant to last for more than season or 2.
- It gets waterlogged, then heavy, then then gets less responsive fast. The Wavestorm is big sponge waiting to get a hole so it can soak up a ton of sea water. It’s not a matter of if, but when this will happen. This is less of concern for the beginner surfer than it is for the experienced surfer who will expect more responsiveness from the board.
- The big fins are very bendable which make for a less responsive ride compared to foamies that have firmer FCS fins and the like. Again, this is a problem for the experienced surfer, not the beginner.
Wavestorm 5’6 Original New Modern Swallowtail Surfboard
At 5’6″ and 4.8lbs, the Wavestorm Swallowtail was built to have float and turning ability.
This is a great board for anyone looking for a small foamie and/or if you want to graduate from a bigger foamie.
The Origin of the Wavestorm Surfboard
The Wavestorm first became available at Costco in 2004.
They were originally priced at $99, a fraction of what you would pay even for a used surfboard at that time.
They were the perfect, bad / good, cheap foamie surfboard for kids and new surfers alike.
At a length of 8″ tall and 2″ wide, and plenty of volume for float, the Wavestrorm has almost has no weight limit it can’t support.
Kooks and groms took to the Wavestorm like fish to water, and soon more experienced surfers like Jamie O’Brien (JOB) surfed the Wavestorm in waves of consequence at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii.
See the video below where JOB is dropping into the wave on a Wavestorm at the 21-second mark.
JOB surfing Pipeline on a Wavestorm may just have been the start of the foamie surfboard industry.
We should give the Wavestorm its due. It was instrumental in three respects:
- The Wavestorm made surfing more accessible to many a newbie surfers due to its cheap price point and availability.
- The Wavestorm opened the doors for the foamie surfboard industry to start to make more and better foamie surfboards for both the new and experienced surfers.
- The Wavestorm, with all of its imperfections (or perfections, depending on your view) bought a different type of fun to the line up for some experienced surfers who want to handicap their performance with a mediocre board for the fun of drawing different lines on a wave.
Want to know more about the Wavestorm? We have you covered with these Wavestorm FAQs.
