What I Love About Soulboardiy Surfskate Decks

When I got into surfskating, I was new to all board sports. I had only been longboarding for about eight months before I stepped onto a surfskate.

I was looking at everything from a fresh perspective, without having any idea how a surfskate deck was “supposed to” look and feel.

The more surfskates I rode, the more it became clear what I was looking for in a surfskate deck. They were all things that seemed very obvious to me. And I was confused as to why all the other surfskate companies weren’t building surfskate decks this way.

After experimenting with all these decks, I stepped onto a Soulboardiy. My immediate thought was, “This is exactly what I’ve been saying a surfskate deck should be all along.”

Here are the aspects of Soulboardiy decks I love:
 

Excellent Foot Placement for Both Feet

Most surfskate decks I’ve tried are between about 9.5” and 10” at their widest point. And typically, that widest point is somewhere in the middle of the deck, where neither of your feet are placed.

In contrast, Soulboardiy is 10.25” wide and it widens at front and rear to give you perfect foot placement for both feet.

This gives me a lot of room to work with and keeps both my heels and toes on the board. This makes for every responsive rail-to-rail heel and toe movements.

A lot of surfskate decks narrow at the tail, and many of them have swallowtails. I’m not a fan of this because when I ride a surfskate, a lot of the pumping and carving are driven by my back foot. So I like having a nice wide tail, which makes pumping and maneuvers more efficient and effortless.

The foot placement on Soulboardiy decks also accommodates a variety of different stances. They also give you plenty of room to move around and shift positions.
 

Perfect Concave

The second thing I love about Soulboardiy decks is the concave, which is just perfect for me.

Most of the surfskate decks I’ve tried are on the flatter side. This makes my front foot slide around when pumping aggressively.

On the other side of the scale are Smoothstar decks, which have very deep concave. This deep concave gets uncomfortable for me after riding it for a while.
 

Convex Tail

One special feature you’ll find on Soulboardiy surfskate decks is the convex tail. When you look at it from behind, you’ll notice that it curves downward on the sides. This is the opposite of what you’ll find on most surfskate decks.

I have both and I ride the Carbonyx more than the Revolution.

The Revolution models are vertically laminated lightweight bamboo and paulownia core, with ash and biax fiberglass laminate.

The Carbonyx model adds strips of carbon within the deck layers, which criss-cross the deck. This enhances the torsional flex by making it more flexible, but also giving it more rebound.

What that means is that on the Carbonyx, even though the torsional flex is greater and the board is moving more, it snaps back to its original shape quicker. This means that it actually feels tighter and snappier than the Revolution.

In contrast, the Revolution has a little less torsional flex but less rebound, which gives it a bit more of a softer feel.

I loosely compare it to the difference in feel between the YOW Meraki and the Carver C7 surfskate trucks. Although the YOW Meraki has a wider range of motion—and therefore has a further distance to travel to snap back to center—since the spring is tighter, it snaps back faster than the C7. So the C7 feels “softer” than the Meraki.

I would bottom-line it by saying for me, the Carbonyx feels a bit more like a “performance” deck and the Revolution feels a bit more like a “cruiser” deck.

The difference is noticeable, but not so huge that you’ll be disappointed by either choice. Both decks will give you everything you need and want in a surfskate deck:

• Perfect foot placement for both feet.
• Perfect concave, either for easy cruising or sharp performance riding.
• Incredibly comfortable.
• Versatile enough to do anything imaginable on a surfskate.

So be confident in your decision, knowing that you can’t go wrong either way.