“It’s all about wax for me, I love the feeling of wax under my front foot. I feel so connected to the board in terms of the feel. I also like to surf the same board I kite on and a front foot pad rips up your knees when surfing so I’ve never really progressed any further.” —Ben Wilson
“Pad plus wax! Only wax gets slippery way too quickly. I find it pretty annoying, especially in the heat”.—Jalou Langeree
“I always prefer a big deck pad over wax. For me, having to wax your board all the time gets old. The wax always pools to different places on your board which I find pretty annoying. I really like how pads help keep the board in good shape especially if you’re doing airs, it helps take a lot of pressure off the deck. I feel better about really sticking my landings with a pad, with wax I don’t have as much control and grip for a lot of the strapless tricks. I will say for cold water and times when you have to use booties, pads can be harder to use than wax. A lot of times I wax on top of my pad when using booties if I’m having trouble gripping with them.” —Reider Decker
“Call me old school, or just plain old, but I still prefer wax over a deck pad. The deck pad is very nice and convenient for keeping the air game in check, so I keep a full deck pad board around for river sessions here in the Gorge or really small days when I’m be trying airs more than true wave riding. But I still prefer the feel of wax over the feel of EVA under the feet. Not to mention really enjoying the ritual of waxing up a board while watching the waves before a session. Don’t forget to wax your stick, bra!” —Jason Slezak
“I much prefer a deck pad on my board. I know people like to be old school and say wax allows you to feel the board under your foot more, but I have no problem knowing where I have the board under my foot with a deck pad; I’m used to how the pad should feel under my foot. I also like to know my foot won’t slip out on me after the wax wears down or moves. Coming down from jumps and doing any hard or fast turns on the wave, I like knowing I have some reinforcement that doesn’t need touch ups throughout the session. That being said, wax can be helpful when I’m wearing booties, but I just throw some wax on top of the pad and that works great. Another plus of not relying solely on wax? I’m not running around before every session desperately seeking wax. I get to just rig up and get out!”—Gage Fitcher
