The filters I run before I sell or buy any surfboard

Updated 2026-09-19

Before I sell a board, I ask whether there is another board I would always choose over it, whether I could get another one later if I needed to, whether it has a flaw I cannot get past, and whether I still love riding it. Before I buy one, I ask a matching set of questions in reverse. Running both sets against every board is most of why the quiver went from 54 boards to 29.

The selling filters

These are the questions I run against a board already in the rack, whenever I am deciding whether it stays or goes:

• Is there a better board I will always choose over this one?
• Can I get another one if I need to later?
• Does it have a flaw I cannot overcome?
• Have I had my fun on it, and is it time to let it go elsewhere?
• Do I not love it?
• If I saw this board for sale right now, would I buy it?

That last question does the most work. A board sitting unused in the rack, that I would not buy again today at the same price, is a board that has already answered its own question. It is not a bad board. It is just not my board anymore.

The buying filters

Before a new board comes in, I run a shorter set of questions the other way:

• Is it a bargain?
• Can I get it later, or is this a genuinely limited window?
• What board will it replace?
• Will I actually sell that board?

The last two matter most, and they matter together. A new board that does not clearly replace something already in the rack is how a quiver grows past the point of being useful. If I cannot name what comes out, I am usually better off not bringing something in.

Why a short list of questions works better than a rule

A hard rule, like a fixed number of boards allowed in the rack, does not account for how differently two boards can earn their place. A rule would have forced an early decision on some of the boards that ended up staying the longest, and it would have let some boards linger that the filters caught immediately. Asking the same handful of honest questions against every board, instead of applying a fixed cap, is what actually got the quiver down from 54 to 29 without losing the boards that still do a genuine job. The filters do not care how long a board has been owned or what it cost. They only ask what it is doing right now.

The buying side works the same way in reverse. Most oversized quivers do not happen because someone buys one bad board. They happen one reasonable-sounding purchase at a time, each one easy to justify on its own, until nothing in the rack has a clear job anymore. Naming what a new board replaces, before it arrives, is the one habit that keeps that from happening again.

The desired boards list

Separate from the day-to-day filters, I keep a short list of boards I am still curious about and would consider if the right example came up: a Campbell Designed Big Cam, a Keyo Fish, a Neuvo Camino Thunder Egg, and a Lovelace Twiz. None of them have specs attached yet, just the brand and model, which is usually how a board sits on this list until an actual example turns up and gets measured against what it would replace.

One board earmarked for a trip

One board on the list is not on the desired list at all, since I already own it: the Jim Banks Revolution is marked to take on the next overseas trip, ahead of whatever else makes the bag.

Questions people ask

How do you decide what to sell first when a quiver is too big?

I start with the board I would least regret losing, using the selling filters above. The clearest sign is a board I have not reached for in months that I also would not buy again today at its current price.

Do you ever regret selling a board?

Occasionally, which is exactly what the "can I get another one later" filter is meant to catch before a sale, not after it. If the honest answer is no, I cannot replace it, that alone is sometimes reason enough to keep it a while longer.

What stops a quiver from growing back to 54 boards?

The buying filters, applied every time, especially naming what a new board replaces before it arrives. A board that does not clearly replace something already in the rack is the exact pattern that built the oversized quiver in the first place.

Why keep a wishlist if you are trying to own fewer boards?

A short list of specific boards is not the same as buying on impulse. It gives me something to compare an unplanned opportunity against, so a board only comes in when it actually beats what is already doing that job.

For the story of how the quiver actually got cut down, see the purge and how many surfboards do you need. The full desired and dream lineup lives on the wishlist and dream quiver. For the numbers behind every sale, see what 121 surfboards cost and sold for. More on the sell hub.