Chances are, you might know someone who loves to surf and snowboard. I’m one of those people! I love both sports because they give me the opportunity to spend time outside, get fit and improve at a sport I love. I started off with snowboarding and learned to surf later in life. I thought I’d be able to pick up surfing fairly quickly because of my snowboarding ability. However, this wasn’t the case for me. I started wondering, is this the case for everyone? How transferable are the skills from one board sport to the next? I decided to investigate.
Are surfing and snowboarding similar? Depending on who you ask, surfing and snowboarding are not very similar. Many athletes report that their surfing skills are not very transferrable to snowboarding, and vice versa. That being said, there are a decent amount of similarities. Let’s explore the ways in which surfing and snowboarding are similar to one another!
Transference of Skills From Surfing to Snowboarding and Vice Versa!
I grew up an avid snowboarder and skier. I actually preferred skiing because I could go faster on skis, but I could still definitely hold my own on a snowboard. As a kid, I spent many hours on mountains with my dad and sister carving up slopes, taking some tumbles and generally having a ton of fun. I felt comfortable and confident boarding.
Years later, when I was considering surfing for the first time, I assumed that my snowboarding skills would transfer to a surfboard. The two sports certainly seem similar, right? However, I found that my snowboarding skills were not as transferrable to surfing as I assumed. While snowboarding prepared me well for what to do once I was standing on my surfboard, it didn’t prepare me for everything else surfing entails. I quickly realized how much surfing has to do with everything outside standing up while riding a wave. I had no idea how much time was spent paddling out to sea, reading the waves, choosing a wave, standing up, falling properly, etc.
As mentioned, I found that my snowboarding skills were transferrable to surfing once I was standing up and riding a wave. Once standing on a surfboard, both sports require similar balance and form to ride sideways, and to a certain degree (snowboarding more than surfing)to use your body weight to guide and navigate yourself on the board. For these reasons, I believe my snowboarding skills transferred to the surfboard and made surfing feel a bit more natural to me than it did to non-snowboarders.
That being said, there are definitely differences between how boarders and surfers ride. When I first started surfing, I had to break my snowboarding habits and re-train my body to put more weight on my back foot. When I snowboard, I always keep my weight balanced equally between each foot. Sometimes, when I snowboarded in powder, this changed. However, when you surf, it’s not good to have your weight equally distributed between each foot. Proper weight distribution for surfing requires more weight placed on your back foot. This change sounds subtle, but muscle memory can be tricky! If you put your weight on your back foot while snowboarding, your board will want to turn around, will point straight down the slope, and you’ll go flying down the mountain. If you put your weight equally balanced on a surfboard, the tip of your surfboard might catch the water, sending your surfboard straight down into the water and you crashing forward.
We all know the highlight of surfing is catching a beautiful wave and riding it out. However, even though the highlight of surfing is riding a wave, it certainly isn’t all surfing takes! I personally think the most challenging and technical part of surfing is catching the right wave and popping up. It’s often challenging (yet still fun!) for beginner surfers to time find and catch a wave, let alone pop up from their belly to a stable standing position. If you’ve ever snowboarded or are familiar with the sport, you may understand that no part of snowboarding prepares you for this! Many surfers and snowboarders report feeling that surfing and snowboarding required entirely different skill sets.
Many other surfers and snowboarders felt the same way I did when they were learning. However, once I got better at surfing and was able to stand up on my board with more ease, I actually started finding more and more similarities between surfing and snowboarding.
Once you’re comfortable standing up on your surfboard, or comfortable cruising down a slope on your snowboard, the feeling of riding is very similar. There’s nothing quite like the rush and bliss you get when you’re riding a wave or a slope with the wind whooshing past you.
Regardless, many surfers love snowboarding, and many snowboarders love surfing! Yes, there might be a learning curve when you start each sport, but the challenge is part of the fun.
Similarities and Differences Between Surf Culture and Boarding Culture
Like any sport, the physical act of surfing or snowboarding can be seen as merely the main unifier for a specific culture! Surfing and snowboarding are both sports with extremely vibrant cultures that can add to a surfer or snowboarder’s love for the sport.
First things first though, as with any group – be it a sport, team, university, state, county, or even country, there is a tremendous amount of diversity within any given culture. To speak about a culture is to generalize, so it’s always important to take any description of a culture with a grain of salt!
That being said, surfing and snowboarding both have vibrant cultures that athletes are constantly growing, creating, and adapting. Surfers and snowboarders both have a stereotypical “look” – perhaps tan, bleached hair, barefoot, etc. for surfers, or perhaps baggy clothes, matching snow suits, and big goggles for snow boarders. Snowboarders and surfers also both have their own slang and lingo, and they’re also both considered to be fairly laid back, chilled out, and relaxed cultures.
The list could go on and on, but what’s important is that each sport has a strong culture that brings the athletes together and builds community! Whether the cultures are more similar or different, it’s hard to say, but both are equally awesome to be a part of.
Related Questions
Is it Harder to Learn to Surf or to Snowboard?
This is a great question, but also a really tricky one to answer! Most people find that it takes longer to become good at surfing than snowboarding, but this is definitely not a general truth. The answer all depends on how comfortable you are as a swimmer, how good your balance is, how much you enjoy speed, how strong your arms and legs are, the list goes on and on. I also think it has a lot to do with… as I like to say, how much you mind crashing or splashing! Some people pick up surfing extremely fast, and others don’t. There’s no set timeframe for learning, and no way to determine which is easier to learn.
What are Other Sports That are Similar to Surfing and Snowboarding?
There are definitely other sports that are similar to surfing and snowboarding. These fall under the category of board sports. Some board sports, in addition to surfing and snowboarding, include skateboarding, longboarding, skimboarding, water boarding, sandboarding, kite surfing, carveboarding, balance boarding, and more!
Are There Any Travel Destinations Where I Can Do Both?
If you’re an avid snowboarder and surfer and you’re planning a vacation around your hobbies, it can be really difficult to choose which one to prioritize. Luckily, there are a few locations where you can surf and snowboard on the same day! The first place that comes to mind is Southern California. In Southern California, surfing and boarding on the same day is what’s called the “California bubble”. I advise staying in LA as a midpoint and driving from there to your surf and ski spots. Some good surf spots close to LA would include Venice Beach or Malibu Beach; and some snowboarding spots would include Big Bear or Mt. Baldy. Big Bear is known for being one of the best places to snowboard in California! Have a great vacation.