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Surfskating, Skateboarding, and Longboarding Compared
Skateboards are for tricks. Longboards are for cruising, downhill racing, or freeriding. Surfskates are for surfing the street.
Surfskating continues to enjoy a growing following of enthusiasts around the world.
Since the late 1990s, when the first surfskate hit the market, surfers and skateboarders alike have discovered how fun and addicting it is to surfskate.
Surfers love surfskates for surf training. But all board enthusiasts love the feel of surfing on land, which can only be fully experienced on a surfskate.
If you’re new to surfskating scene, you may wonder what the differences are between skateboards, longboards, and surfskates.
Skateboards
The primary purpose of a skateboard is to perform tricks. Skateboards are much shorter and have smaller wheels than either longboards or surfskates.
Most importantly, skateboard trucks allow for only one dimension of movement–back and forth on the kingpin access. This means they have much more limited range of motion than surfskate trucks.
Regular skateboards are also designed for cruising because they require constant pushing with your foot to maintain momentum.
Longboards
Compared to skateboards, longboards typically are longer, they have bigger wheels, and their trucks provide a wider range of motion.
Longboards can be designed primarily for one of three styles of riding: cruising, downhill racing, and freeriding (doing tricks/dancing).
Compared to surfskates, most longboards are simply about cruising and speed. Because they don’t have the unique front truck that surfskates do, they can only carve on flat areas in larger arcs. They don’t give you that surfing feel.
Surfskates
What sets surfskates apart from skateboards and longboards is the special surfskate truck system.
Surfskate trucks add another dimension of motion to traditional longboard trucks. They allow the front truck to swivel from side to side, which gives riders an increased range of motion and the unique surfing feel.
The trucks on a surfskate make it possible to make tight, sharp, and smooth turns that can’t be replicated on a skateboard or longboard.
When you surfskate, you don’t have to push the ground with your foot like you do on a skateboard or longboard. In addition to giving you tighter carving, they also allow you to propel the board by pumping the nose side to side.
Why choose surfskating?
Surfskating is neither skateboarding nor longboarding. It is in a category and has a unique feel all its own.
If you’re a surfer, you’ll love the way a surfskate mimics the feel of surfing on land. In fact, you’ll probably want to use a surfskate for surf training.
If you’re a skateboarder or longboarder, surfskating offers a completely different feel and style of riding. It’s something you have to experience for yourself.
My video course for beginners, “Surfskating for Non-Surfers,” gives you step-by-step instructions in a live instruction format.
To choose the right surfskate for you and your riding style, get my free Surfskate Selector app now.
I’m confused about 1990s being given as the start date. I looked up “surf skating” after hearing a reference to surf skating on a TV show recorded in the early 1960s.
Hi Catharine, you’re right that “surf skating” in a general sense has always been the roots of skating. However, the release of the Carver C7 surfskate truck in 1996 opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the style. These formal “surfskate trucks” are much easier to perform surf maneuvers on than anything anyone was playing with in the 1960s. So it’s a good point to clarify, I’m just referring to the birth of the first formal surfskate trucks, as defined by adding a lateral sway arm to lean of a standard truck.