RealSurf Surfers' Forum

just curious as to how many of you ride a skateboard ... i have just started again after a break of about 15 years ... skated like mad between the ages of 10 & 19 & then got too worried about breaking bones & that sort of stuff (broken bones = less surf time) ... but i have been wanting to start again for a few months so i got myself a nice. old skool set up & have been skating all over the place mainly after dark.

was just curious for those of you that also skate - do you think it helps your surfing at all?? personally, i doubt it.

Sidewalk surfin is one of my passions. Im not into all those flips and crap, just bowl and ramp skating. . Bowlriding and riding high is very similar to riding high on a wave on my fish and doing burt slides helps speed up the transition between turns on a wave on my shortys.

Also on fishes and logs it has developed my style by me applying the quirky bodymovements such as my hand positions when i stall and leg and knee angles when noseiding and turning. Airs on shortys are also influenced by my skating and it had helped me become more coordinated when doing them.

I just love it and it is so much fun.

I broke my foot in a few places the other week and am out for another 5 weeks in the water

Funny you mention skating after awhile. My son has recently gone mad about it so I dug out my old skateboard from 1978, the one that I got after the chicargo trucks wore out on the old one, brought a cheapy from K-mart for the deck and put my old school trucks on it. Goes like a beauty although my son and his mates have trouble with it since it actually turns and they think it is unstable. Got a good hill out the front so Sunday arvos when we get home the skateboards come out and the familiar call of CAR! rings out around my suburb. I love it.
We used to ride through town when we were kids and the place was empty on a Sunday. You could ride from Town Hall down to the Rocks on those really smooth footpaths and in those days with no shops or even pubs open you had the place to yourselves. Couldn't imagine it now.

street surfin'...

vert ramp skatin' - no airs, just big reo's...

street slalom skating - longer skatey, bigger wheels, tighter trucks...big, long drawn out, faaaaaaast carves...

tandem skating with my 4 yr old daughter - two skateys, the ol' catamaran style....she loves it !!

I go skating every morning before school now down at the local park and Im loving it. Starting to do indy airs out of the bowls and some other stuff that doesnt make me look like a total chop.

on my next trip to geelong - i'll get you to teach me .....

My little bro and his grommy mates have all started to skate and love it to death starting a little revolution of skaters up our way.... although with the skating come other habits that arent approved of...

Any made it down Alexandra st at the roy.

No I haven't....................... but did leave some skin there.

pig champion wrote: was just curious for those of you that also skate - do you think it helps your surfing at all?? personally, i doubt it.

I agree with you pig champ, 'normal' skateboards are ok for practicing airs, but not for flowing turns. There are some new boards trying to change that though, including ours, http://www.smoothstar.com.au.
Smoothstar really does feel like surfing and you can generate speed without needing to push. So you just cruise around making as many turns as you like. cheers.

haha, atleast it was sort of appropriate.

wanto wrote:i skate the bowl sometimes when its flat. don't do any flip tricks tho, just like going fast and doing grinds and stuff.

thats my style too wanto ... love old skool skating ... i appreciate guys that can do the flip tricks, but it just ain't my thing.

I have been skating for 16 years now. Started when i was 10.

General balance and board control on a skateboard will help your surfing for sure. People are doing backside ollies and pop shoveits on surfboards these days! Some people even do flips on surfboards!

Im a technical skater, block tricks, rails, flips to manuals etc. Occasional stair set and ill hit a few skateparks here and there. Love riding mini ramp doing long grinds etc.

I beleive skating will also help your airs in surfing. General feeling of getting air and sticking with the board is acheived in skateboarding and there is no reason this cant be pushed onto surfing. Sure its a different feeling on a surfboard then a skateboard but its all relevant at the end of the day.

Same as snowboarding, first time i tried it i fell down sure but withing a couple of hours i was catching the t-bar up to the top of perisher then flying back down the hill carving and popping ollies. Its all about general board control..

Look at Danny way, professional skateboarder, awesome surfer, snowboarder and motocross rider!

My whole passion was skateboarding growing up, then a little later i got into surfing and i love them both equally, they both offer me a different feeling. Now that im getting older and my bones are f*cked from all teh years of skating im pushing more towards surfing now, ill never stop skating but surfing is much easier on your bones and offers a nice sense of spirituality aswell.

Thats me.

have killer old skool 70s original fibreglass skatey. goes sick. like a small version of those longboard ones getting around now.

agc, no spirituality in skating?? i've seen god a few times after hittting the deck on some big big hills. one time i saw purple for a week ... trippy, i tell ya.

Hehe Clif ok maybe you're right!

One of the worst injuries in skating is rolling your ankle.. once you do it good and proper your ankles will never be the same! I fear rolling my ankle again because it will also put me out of surfing for a while.