How to Choose the Right Board for Indo

Picking the Right Board for Bali & Beyond

Booking flights? Organising accommodation? Sorting out your visa? All important stuff. But if you're coming to Bali soon or planning on exploring a variety of breaks across Indo, there’s one thing that can make or break your trip—your surfboard quiver.

At Nev, we know how much it matters to be riding the right board for the waves you’ll be surfing and having the right dims for your level of experience. Whether you're having a crack at your first real reef break or organising your yearly Indo trip, we’re here to help you pick the perfect board for the waves you're planning on chasing and how you’d like to surf them.

Understanding the Wave Conditions of Bali and Indonesia

Before choosing a board, it helps to understand what you’re about to paddle into. 

Bali and the Indonesian archipelago offer a wide variety of wave types—from punchy beachies and mellow points to fast, powerful reef breaks. When choosing a surfboard for Bali or anywhere in Indonesia, keep in mind that these waves tend to hold a lot more power and are generally heavier than your average beach break back home. Most of the popular waves in the region have more energy and more intensity than what you're probably used to surfing at your local. When you’re in Bali or Indo you’re not going to need extra foam to generate speed, but you will want a board that feels reliable and responsive underfoot, holds through critical sections, and can handle the extra dose of power.

When choosing your board, keep in mind you might end up visiting one of the surf spots below:

• Uluwatu – Long, powerful walls, a bit of everything thrown in.
  
• Keramas – Fast and hollow, world-class on the right day.
  
• Bingin – Super mechanical, tight take-offs, makeable tubes.
  
• Canggu – Fun-sized waves, rippable walls, a variety of consistent beachies.
  
• Desert Point / G-Land / Lakey Peak – More serious waves, longer barrels, waves of consequence.  

The takeaway? Don’t bring the wrong board..

Match Your Style to the Right Board

When you’re ordering a fresh new board from Nev, you’re not just grabbing something off the rack. All Nev Future Shapes surfboards are built in Bali and made for Indonesian waves. All boards that we build are made to order and designed to improve your performance and maximise your stoke. Here’s a quick breakdown to help you choose the right model:

1. The Quiver Essential – For Everyday Performance & All-Round Travel Quivers

If you want a board that can handle everything from fun sessions at Canggu to punchy peaks in Lombok and beyond, go for a high-performance shortboard that gives you the versatility and reliability to paddle out at almost every surf spot you pull up to.

Try: Ripable or Retro Rocket

These models offer speed, drive, smooth rail transitions, and enough spark to throw some spray and flow through critical manoeuvres with precision.

2. The Step-Up – For When It Gets Serious

Planning to surf Uluwatu on a solid swell? Or maybe you're hunting waves across Sumbawa or Sumatra? You’re gonna want a step-up that holds its line in fast, challenging conditions.

Try: Neva Surrender or Neva Neva

Built for bigger surf and paddling into fast breaking waves. Extra foam under your chest, slightly more length, more hold, and the kind of board you need when you're wanting early wave entry.

3. The Barrel Hunter – For Tube Pigs

Dreaming of scoring an all time barrel at Padang Padang or getting deep in the tube at Desert Point? You’ll want a board that holds tight and shoots through the curl.

Try: Ripable or Neva Surrender or Retro Rocket

All offer excellent down-the-line drive, hold in the face, and the right rail foil for staying in the sweet spot.

4. The Flow Master – For Styling Carving and High Lines

Prefer smooth fluid turns, down-the-line flow, and drawing clean lines on fun sized waves? Whether you enjoy surfing with a more relaxed style, or just love the feeling of trim, a fish, mid-length, funboard or longboard will become your new go-to board.

Try: Sub Moonfhish or Neva Neva or Funshape or Be Long

Each of these boards offer glide, flow and style. Great for cruisy days at Old Man’s or rolling reefs when you want to switch gears to a more rhythmic and relaxed frame of mind.

Some Tips & Advice Before You Order

• Think about where you might end up surfing. Planning to surf onlyin Bali? Or doing a full Indo strike mission? Make sure your quiver reflects your travel plans.
  
• Don’t oversize or under-gun. Indo waves are powerful—you don’t need extra volume, but you also don’t want to be under-gunned. Get the right shape and dims for the waves you'll be surfing, your level of experience and your level of fitness.
  
• Consider adding a colour finish or spray. It's optional, but it might give you a bit of a mental edge and boost your stoke in the lineup.
  
• Get a custom if you need something more dialled in. If you've got a specific idea in mind or want to tweak the stock dimensions a little to suit you better—we can fine-tune a board file just for you.
  

Ready to Order?

All of our boards are made to order, right here in Bali. That means when you place your order, we’ll shape and build your new board from start to finish.

Whether you’re flying into Denpasar in the next few weeks or planning your next Indo surf trip a couple of months in advance, you can order a new board before you arrive and we’ll deliver it straight to your hotel or villa once you’ve checked in.

So when it comes time to pack your bags, don’t just bring any old board—have the right one ready and waiting for you when you arrive.

Explore the Nev board range and get your quiver sorted before you land in Bali.