Tools

Volume
calculator

The float in a board is measured in litres. Too little and you sink and miss waves, too much and it will not turn. This works out the volume that suits you from your weight, how you surf, and the waves you ride. Then Luis shapes a board to it.

The single biggest factor. Be honest, it only helps the board.

Comfortable paddling in, catching unbroken waves and starting to turn off the top and bottom.

Only a small nudge. A little more float is kinder past your forties.

Foz do Arelho on a small day, or Nazaré and Peniche with size in it.

This gives you a sensible starting volume, the same way a shaper does a first read before adjusting for you. It is a guide, not a rule. The right board is volume in the right places, the rocker, the outline and the fin set as much as the number, which is Luis's job when he shapes yours. Numbers here are set to standard shaping practice and Luis fine tunes them to his own boards.