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The Wavestorm Classic Longboard ($260) has been on a pretty wild ride since it first hit Costco shelves in the early 2010s. Initially the source of much derision in lineups everywhere due to its popularity with beginners as a low-cost alternative to a fiberglass surfboard (and previously available at Costcos everywhere!), the Wavestorm quickly gained a cult following as an antidote to the performance-centric surf experience. Jamie O’Brien has famously ridden one at heaving Pipeline for laughs. You can watch hundreds of Wavestorms get caught up in the carnage of the yearly Slamarack Fest highlights. It was even famously profiled in a 2017 piece in the New Yorker.
All this to say, for as much ire as a good ol’ Wavestorm draws at surf breaks, the board also tends to be at the very center of efforts to add a little levity to surfing.
For my part, I’ve had a Wavestorm in the rafters of my garage for years. It’s great for teaching friends, splashing around with the kids. or getting a few waves on myself. All told, I’m pretty familiar with how the Wavestorm Classic goes on a wave. But for this test, I set all this history aside to dive deep into the finer points of why a Wavestorm works the way it does.
Bottom Line: The Wavestorm remains one of the most affordable foam boards on the market. And while other foamies may have a leg up on overall performance, the fact is the quirkiness of the Wavestorm’s overall feel on a wave makes it an ideal fun-forward option for any surfer to have in their quiver.
Related: Best Beginner Surfboards | Best Soft Top Foam Surfboards | More Surfing Reviews
My Experience with the Wavestorm Classic Surfboard
As mentioned at the top, I’ve had a Wavestorm in my quiver for probably close to ten years. Historically, I’ve gravitated to it in specific circumstances – trying to teach someone to surf, to have something to bring with for a family beach day, or when conditions are onshore and I’m just trying to get in the water. The relative affordability of the Wavestorm Classic makes it a great foamie to have on hand for these purposes. But, for this test, I wanted to get the thing out in more ideal conditions with an eye for what about the Wavestorm has made it such a cult classic.
Over the last few months, I’ve taken advantage of some fun late summer and early fall waves around coastal Orange County. While I haven’t taken the Wavestorm out on days it’s absolutely cranking (mostly because it’s pretty tough to duck dive), I have put it in a variety of conditions from womping shorebreak to mellow days at San Onofre.
Getting re-accustomed to the Wavestorm Classic from my normal quiver of boards – especially when I haven’t ridden it for a bit – typically takes a wave or two. But, from experience, I can say that choosing to paddle out for a session on a Wavestorm has the unintended benefit of completely changing my expectations during a surf. No longer am I concerned with how my turns will look on a Surfline cam rewind (which ultimately ends in disappointment). I’m just out there to have fun, go fast, and just see what this quirky board can do.
Key Specs & Design Elements
Wavestorm Classic ($260)
Length: 7′, 8’
Dimensions (8′): 8′ x 22.4” x 3.25”
Volume: 86L
Fins: Thruster
Construction: Foam body, three wood stringers, slick HDPE bottom, foam deck, screw-through fins
Pros: Affordable, user-friendly, very buoyant
Cons: Hard to turn
The quick and dirty dimensions of the Wavestorm Classic are 8′ long, 22.5” wide, 3.25” thick, with a volume of 86 liters. It comes with a standard set of three flexible plastic fins that screw through the board, and a leash that connects to a mounted webbing strap.
The board’s outline carries that width from the midpoint up through a pretty wide, round nose, and going from midpoint to tail, the outline gets pulled in a bit, but not dramatically. The rocker profile of the Wavestorm Classic is pretty flat throughout with a slight flip in the nose. All of these design elements are pretty run-of-the-mill for a standard beginner-friendly midlength. A lot of volume equates to paddle power and catching more waves. The egg-shaped outline devoid of any dramatic curves prioritizes easy down-the-line surfing over maneuverability. And a fairly flat rocker minimizes drag and maintains speed.
But outline, rocker, and volume are where standard board design sensibilities end. A look under the hood at any Wavestorm reveals that from nose to tail, the rails are not foiled, and that they instead come to a hard edge. Not to get too into the weeds on board design, but if you look down the rail line on most shortboards and midlengths, you’ll notice they’re curved and make a sort of C shape from the nose until somewhere right around the fins, where the tail will have a rail line with a hard edge.
This is because the way water flows around a curve, something called the Coanda effect, actually helps give you hold in the wave face, whereas hard edges will generally release. Think about a modern shortboard doing a turn on a critical section. A curved rail profile allows the board to hold through the bottom turn, but once it hits the top of the wave, the tail with its hard edge easily releases, throwing spray.
This explains some of the funny idiosyncrasies you get when transitioning from your daily driver to the Wavestorm Classic for the first time. The Wavestorm gets into waves early and has almost no drag, so you can fly down the line with minimal effort. But, if you try to draw a bottom turn the way you would your shortboard, it’s going to release and you’ll slide out. Again, mastering the quirk of the Wavestorm is part of its appeal.
What I Liked About the Wavestorm Classic
Durability
What the Wavestorm Classic lacks in performance, it makes up for in overall durability – constructed with three wooden stringers, an inner EPS core, and an outer waterproof foam skin, the Wavestorm Classic can arguably stand up to more use and abuse than a typical fiberglass surfboard. The Wavestorm I’ve had for about a decade, while discolored from sun exposure and wax, is still going strong with probably at least another decade to go.
Cost
I mentioned earlier that the Wavestorm Classic remains one of the most affordable foamies out there. Back when they first hit Costco shelves 15 years ago, they were famously 99 bucks and probably the cheapest out there. The current MSRP is around $260, which isn’t bad, especially considering fins and a leash are included. These days, Wavestorm has been replaced in Costco stores by a Gerry Lopez foamie made by California Board Company that retails for $150. We found in testing the Gerry Lopez to be a bit flimsier and to have less volume than the Wavestorm Classic. Read more in our Best Beginner Surfboards guide here.
Drawbacks
Hard to Upgrade
One of the selling points of the Wavestorm Classic for true beginners is that it comes with fins and a leash – everything you need to get going. But, for an intermediate or advanced surfer looking to experiment with different fin setups and such, the fact that you can’t use FCS or Futures with the screw through fin system is not ideal. That said, Wavestorm does offer sets of Bonzer fins and a Single Fin as upgrades.
Low-Quality Leash
One thing that’s certainly worth upgrading right off the bat is the leash that comes included with the Wavestorm. An extremely budget design, it uses simple nylon paracord to attach the middle section of the leash to the board itself and to the ankle cuff on the other end. This floppy design doesn’t keep the leash away from your feet while you surf, and often results in the leash being stepped on or wrapping around your foot as you pop up – not ideal to say the least. Beginner or advanced, this is something we recommend upgrading as soon as you buy the board (here’s our guide to The Best Surf Leashes).
Not Ideal for Advanced Beginners
I chose to focus most of my testing on looking at what an experienced surfer might get most out of adding a Wavestorm to their quiver. I mentioned that Wavestorms have some funny idiosyncrasies that become noticeable when driving down the line or trying to hold a rail in the water for a bottom turn. These unexpected quirks are part of the charm of the Wavestorm Classic, and can be fun to get dialed if you know what you’re doing.
But, for beginners looking to learn how to begin to draw lines on the wave face, a board that doesn’t do these things especially well can be frustrating at best, and at worst, lead to bad habits. The Wavestorm Classic is a great option for true beginners all the way up to more experienced beginners who point their nose down the line and go straight. If you’re hoping to experiment with top-to-bottom surfing, though, you’ll want to first transition to more responsive equipment. Then, come back to the Wavestorm and use what you’ve learned to overcome some of its performance deficiencies.
Final Thoughts
Love it or loathe it, the Wavestorm Classic has carved out a place in surf culture – not because it’s high-performance, but precisely because it’s not. It’s big, it’s soft, it’s a little goofy, and sometimes it feels like trying to ride a mattress. But it catches waves, it goes fast, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously – qualities that are surprisingly easy to forget in the hyper-competitive world of modern surfing.
Sure, you won’t be doing roundhouse cutties or vertical reentries on a Wavestorm, but that’s kind of the point. It’s a reminder that surfing doesn’t always have to be about progression, performance, or looking good on a cam rewind. Sometimes, it’s about laughing when you slide out, sharing waves with friends, or just getting wet on a day when you’d otherwise talk yourself out of paddling out.
In a lineup full of glassed-over seriousness, the Wavestorm is a floating middle finger to the idea that fun needs to be high performance. And honestly? That might be the most core thing about it.
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