3 steps to surfing supremacy

1. Floats some and gets 'em: Circle One Bamboo Mini Mal
Once you level-up past the massive foam rubber planks you'll use if you get surfing lessons (which, by the way, are a good idea), pick up a mini mal. They're floaty enough to get going in smaller surf, yet also manouverable enough that you can start to work on your turns and think about bigger waves. Circle One's Bamboo Laminate tech and reinforced rails make this board light, stiff and -crucially for newbies - durable. You know, for the many times you'll drop it, fall over on it, clonk it while turning around in the car park, and so on.
from £350, surfdome.com

2. Warmer than a buttered otter: O'Neill Psycho 3 If you've ever wondered what it feels like to be an otter, this is a good starting point. Compared to the stiff, clammy, ill-fitting hunks of neoprene you'll have been issued at surf school, O'Neill's Psycho range of suits are astonishingly warm and comfy, Even the thinner 3/2mm suit should be warm enough year-round in this country thanks to its new 'Technobutter' neoprene, which also makes it super-light (just over 1kg) and stretchy. It's just a shame they don't make one with an otter's tail.
from £300, onelll.com

3. Very unseemly: Alpinestars HD shorts
You need to get up to speed on surfer-speak. When World Tour surfer Nathaniel Curran says the development of these HD boardshorts was 'insane', he doesn't mean the Alpinestars team forced him to spend four months in a sensory deprivation tank listening to Aphex Twin. He means that he's surpised at how much tech they managed to cram in, making the HDs non-rashy, super-stretchy, quick-drying and seamless-all very sane things for a garment that will spend most of its time sopping wet and next to your skin.
from £30, alpinestars.com