Color choices are usually a personal choice for a first board. Nothing wrong with that, eye candy is good but as you skills and passion grow you will care more about performance, comfort and easy maintainence . The more time you spend on it the more you will feel a need to make different color choices. After your first board some things you will notice why you might reconsider repeating those choices are:
Temperature- dark colors get hot, unloading a dark board from your roof rack after it’s been roasting in the sun can burn you. The dark colors can also lead to delamination which will destroy your board. Delamination happens when your board is left out in the sun, off the water which keeps it cool. Boards shouldn’t be left out in sun in temps over 80*. A light colored board will hold up better. Dark colors scratch easily, white also hides ding repairs. When stored or transported on a roof rack it’s the bottom of the board that is getting the sun, a white bottom is best. Wood and bamboo are beautiful but also heavier and can delaminate more easily, it’s tougher to keep beautiful and to repair. A board sock or bag to keep sun off your board while on roof is a good idea. High end boards come with one or two valves to prevent air pressure from cracking the board when it heats up. Cold weather paddlers May prefer a black deck pad to keep feet warmer. Yogis can burn their back on a dark deck pad in summer sun, splashing water on it will help. Also, high visibility colors on the water are good for safety. Boaters can’t always see you, particularly near sunrise & sunset but also on foggy days. Red is the hardest color to see in low light. Use high visibility colors for your life vest/ clothing/ or dry bag under the deck bungee cord is an easy solution. I had my board painted distressed white w a blue chevron stipe and orange boarder. Shark Zen long sleeve performance shirt in high visibility yellow is my sunset paddle go to.
