A surfboard suitable for wave riding. The surfboard includes a buoyant blank chaving opposed top and bottom blank faces, a pair of rails extending between the opposed top and bottom blank faces at blank face edges. A midline axis extends between a nose region and a tail region and divides the buoyant blank into port and starboard regions, each of which extend between the midline axis and the rail on port and starboard sides. A first reinforcing element associates with at least one of the faces of the buoyant blank wherein the first reinforcing element is disposed substantially within an intermediate part of the port region and extends generally along that region between the nose region and the tail region. A second reinforcing element can also be used.