As someone who longboarded before they learned to surf I know firsthand that if you’ve got the fever for one board sport, chances are you’ve got it for more. And chances are you might be on a learning curve for the next board sport you try to pursue. But just how similar is this board sport to another?
So is surfing similar to longboarding on a skateboard? The steering mechanics, comfort with speed and general balance of surfing is extremely similar to longboarding.
How Are The Steering Mechanics Similar?
Longboarding and surfing both feature long boards. However, the difference in length is significant. The average skate longboard is 41 inches and the average surfboard length is closer to 78 inches. In surfing, you steer with you back foot instead of your front foot like you do in longboarding, but how the board responds is surprisingly similar. In that way it’s actually more similar to snowboarding but the same general rules apply. As an experienced downhill longboarder I found the adjustment to steering with your back foot surprisingly smooth after the first few tries.
How Does The Balance In Surfing and Longboarding Compare?
Though the materials and makeup of the boards are very different, the fundamentals of balance are extremely similar. The biggest difference is the material each of these boards rides over. Surfers rely on the surfboard’s buoyancy, or ability to float, which comes from its density. The board is less dense than the water underneath it. Longboards on the other hand simply rely on the board to handle the riders weight and wheels to enable forward motion. However the balancing act of a longboard’s “bendy” plywood that allows it to turn or carve is very similar to the heel/toe balance a surfer must perform when balancing on a surfboard.
How Does Comfort With Speed Help With Surfing?
If you’ve longboarded, chances are you’re an expert in bombing hills and navigating what’s known as speed wobbles. Speed wobbles are when your board is moving faster than your legs can handle, causing the board to wobble back in forth, usually ending in a nasty wipeout. As a longboarder becomes more experienced with higher speeds, he or she becomes more comfortable with the speed. This is crucial for surfing becomes one of the first skills a surfer must learn is how to navigate the tremendous speed one can experience when dropping into a sweet wave.
Is A Surf Stance Similar To A Skate Stance?
Like skating, both your feet must be centered on the width of the surfboard. Your feet arches should be positioned equally on each side of the stringer. Not standing up with your feet centered will most likely make you fall on the side on which you put more weight. Like almost every board sport, you have to figure out if you surf goofy or regular.
A “Regular Surfer”, surfs with their left foot forward on the board. A “Goofy Surfer” surf with your right foot forward. Skate stances abide by the exact same terminology. In most cases, surfers ride with their strongest foot (the foot you play with in soccer) at the back of the surfboard. However this isn’t always the case. For instance, I’m right foot dominant in soccer and ride goofy in both longboarding and skateboarding. A trick to figure this out is to have someone push you gently in the back. The first foot you instinctually put forward to stop you from falling will most likely be the one you put forward on the surfboard.
What’s The Biggest Difference Between Surf and Skate Stances?
The biggest difference here is where your feet go. On a longboard there’s not much wiggle room, your feet must be past each foot’s respective trucks towards the center of the board, so that they dip into the bendy board’s concave design and activate the ability to turn the board.
For surfing, this isn’t always the case. On longer boards you actually want to be closer to the back of the board, with your back foot just beyond the skeg (the fin on your board) with your front foot at a shoulder’s width apart. This directly differs from longboarding, where one has to be in the center of the board’s length no matter how big the board. I should know, I’ve bombed many a hill on the Loaded Dancer and Longboard Larry Komodo, both above average sized longboards built for dancing and cruising. Smaller boards on the other hand, are better for powersliding.
What Is Powersliding?
When a longboarder becomes truly comfortable with speed and balance they learn the ability to powerslide. Powersliding is when you “push” your board 90 degrees across the road at a considerable speed, so your wheels are no longer spinning and start skidding. The friction makes you lose speed very quickly, an effective way to slow down or stop. This longboarding skill is essential when one begins to skate down steeper hills for long periods of time as they serve as a brake to navigate obstacles and turns.
How Does Powersliding Factor Into Surfing?
The ability to powerslide is a skill that directly factors into the surfing skillset. When surfing even small waves in the white water, surfers practice moves that are referred to as Bottom Turns and Cutbacks. A Bottom Turn is when the bottom turn is the most important maneuver in surfing. For many, it represents the foundation of surf riding because it is the first turn on a wave after dropping in, and it allows you to channel the speed and momentum towards the open face ahead of you. The bottom turn is the bottom line. It is where it all begins.
While the motion of doing a Bottom Turn is extremely similar to the motion of powersliding, the Cutback is much more similar in concept. The cutback allows you to reduce the speed with a by taking the surfer back from the shoulder into the pocket of the wave and repositions him in the energy zone. This is almost identical to the “brake” a powerslide activates before continuing down a hill.
How Do The Materials of Surfboard and Longboard Compare?
Longboard decks are typically made from plywood: anywhere from two to eleven layers, each of usually 2 millimeters (0.079 in) in thickness, composed of birch, bamboo, maple, koa, or oak wood. The concave is the bend across the width of the deck and effects how a longboard reacts to the force of your foot when turning and how your foot stays locked in. In general, the concave on longboard decks has a direct effect on the toe-heel energy transfer your foot communicates to your board.
Modern surfboards on the other hand are made of polyurethane or polystyrene foam covered with layers of fiberglass cloth, and polyester or epoxy resin. The result is a light and strong surfboard that is buoyant and maneuverable. While both boards are made from lightweight, mobile material, why those materials in particular are used is fundamentally different.
Is Surfing On A Longboard Similar To Skating On A Longboard?
Don’t let the word association fool you, surfing on a longboard is still surfing and is not fundamentally closer to longboarding than surfing on any other board. However, finding your ideal board length is essential in figuring out your ideal balance for surfing. For instance, longer, wider boards are better for getting a feel for waves when you’re first learning especially if you’re on the taller side. Over time, you’ll likely move down to a shorter, lighter board that has better mobility when carving waves.
What’s The Fundamental Difference Between Surfing and Longboarding?
Though there are a number of similarities between surfing and longboarding, there are a few quintessential differences. We’ve already gone over a few, the difference between materials and the difference between riding over land and sea. The first difference is how each board travels. To longboard, one must travel to the top of a hill and ride down it or kick and push.
To surf, one must mount the board, paddle beyond the break, wait for a wave to crash, pop up and drop into it. There is absolutely no popping up in longboarding as one is already “up” the entire time one skates. Surfboards also have no wheels and instead skid across the water’s surface tension unlike skateboards, which absolutely need wheels to move.
Do You Also Carve In Surfing?
Why yes you do! Carving allows you to change your line and direction in open sections of the waves. When you carve, you put your weight and power on the surfboard’s rail. In other words, you bury the rail in the water, draw an arc and stay in the curl. Carving in skateboarding/longboarding simply refers to the small turns the board makes without moving the board to a 90 degree angle.
How Easy Is It To Learn How To Surf If You’ve Longboarded Before?
As I mentioned in the beginning of the article, I was an overly dedicated longboarder long before I learned how to surf. While there were many fundamental differences, I noticed that my general sense of balance, comfort with speed and knowledge of steering mechanics with board sports accelerated my learning compared to my peers who lacked longboarding experience.
The sensation of popping up onto a board was completely new to me. I practiced popping up over and over again on the beach until my feet were lined up perfect every time. Then it was time to hit the white water. The term white water refers to smaller waves that tend to crash closer to shore, where beginners ride their first waves. It’s where I first got the feel for how a surfboard is both similar and different from a longboard. For one, popping up and making sure your feet are perfectly aligned in real time was very different to skating, where your feet are in perfect position at the beginning of the ride.
I found the process of doing a bottom turn very similar to the motion I did when doing a heelside stand up slide on a longboard. Once must bend their knees, and rotate their arms and legs simultaneously to turn the board with you. But the biggest similarity came when I hit my first big wave. On a hill, you have some time to prepare yourself for speed, but a wave crashes in an instant. The only reason I was able handle the speed of dropping into a 10 foot wave was because I had paid my dues navigating speed wobbles as a longboarder. It was amazing to see the skillsets of two board sports work together in harmony and I encourage every longboarder to carve up both land and sea.