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The Vision and Mission of Surfskate Love
My vision and mission with Surfskate Love are to:
- Eliminate as many barriers as possible to make surfskating more friendly and accessible to beginners,
- In order to grow surfskating as big as possible.
And I do this because I love sharing the joy I feel on a surfskate. Surfskating makes people happy! And the world could use more happiness.
I have a particular soft spot in my heart for beginners. Having come into this sport as a total newbie myself, both to board sports in general as well as surfskating, I know how hard the journey is, on many fronts—from choosing your first surfskate to feeling embarrassed by your kooky wiggling.
My experience is that this is not a beginner-friendly sport, for many reasons. Because one of my deepest core values is inclusiveness, I would like to help change that.
When I came into this sport, my only frame of reference was longboard cruising. I had never surfed in my life when I stepped onto a surfskate for the first time. I had no skill on a longboard and even less on a surfskate.
All I knew is that pumping and carving—no matter how stupid I looked—felt amazing compared to pushing straight on a longboard.
I was immediately hooked. I bought a couple more surfskates to experiment. I was approaching this thing with total beginner’s mind. Everywhere I went, I shared my surfskates with people. I was just having fun, and I wanted other people to have fun, too.
Everyone who tried one said the same thing: “I’ve never seen that. I gotta get one!”
I was confused as to why the category was still so small after 25 years. Of course, I was absolutely naïve to many things about skateboarding trends, and I still am and have a lot to learn.
Even still, I wholeheartedly believe that more can be done to grow surfskating. And to that end, I’m going to continue doing the things I say should be done in this space.
For the past 17 years, I have been a freelance writer and content marketer. In short, I explain things to people for a living.
It seems that “marketing” is a dirty word in skateboarding. My take on marketing is that it’s simply about eliminating barriers for people through education.
And everywhere I looked in surfskating, all I saw were barriers in the buying and learning process for customers, and I saw very little education from the companies.
All surfskate companies have essentially the same marketing strategy: Hire great riders to ride their boards and make videos of them.
Okay, that’s a good first step to show me a vision of what’s possible with your product. But I’m not a great rider, nor will I ever be, so that’s not super helpful for me.
Where are your educational videos explaining how to choose your first surfskate?
Where is your Surfskate Selector? (Smoothstar and YOW now have them, but they didn’t when I started. To this day, Carver’s only board selector is an image in reference to the length of surfboard you ride. My surveys show that 64% of my audience are non-surfers, so that image is completely worthless to us.)
Where are your educational videos showing beginner non-surfers how to ride?
Where are your educational videos showing people how to adjust and maintain your trucks? (Carver came out with the C7 in 1996 and in 2023, mine is the only video I can find on YouTube on how to adjust it. YOW spent 5 years on research and development of the Meraki, and still has no videos on how to maintain it and fix common noises in it.)
I’ve been perceived as critical in this space, and understandably so, because I have been. And I haven’t done a good job of explaining my intention behind it: to help surfskate companies grow so the category grows.
I have not communicated that well, and I’m going to do my best to communicate that intention better in the future. Whether or not I’m right on any point, I’m genuinely trying to be helpful, both to surfskate companies and to riders.
If I’m critical of companies, it’s because, given my personal experience in this process, I’m all about being a consumer advocate. I know how to put myself into the shoes of newbie non-surfers, because that’s exactly who I am. And my experience getting into surfskating was very frustrating, for many reasons.
My take is that surfskate companies charge their customers a lot of hard-earned dollars for their products, and those customers deserve to know what they’re buying.
Furthermore, the challenge in this space is that there are so many surfskate trucks that all feel and perform much differently. So you can’t talk about any one truck on its own merits. Each surfskate truck has to be compared within the context of all of them to get a complete picture.
My core intention with all my educational content is to save you time, money, and hassle as a consumer so you don’t have to spend the money I have to figure this thing out.
To that end, here is where Surfskate Love goes from here:
- I will continue producing educational content on how to choose your surfskate, ride your surfskate, maintain your surfskate, and upgrade and customize your surfskate.
- I will continue doing anything and everything I can do to remove barriers for beginners and make this a more beginner-friendly sport.
- I want to get out of my own way as much as possible and get more qualified people in front of the camera. So I will be working with qualified riders and surfers to give you educational content from their perspectives, both tutorials and reviews.
- When I have the resources for it, I want to create a free online community with at least the following features:
- Local Surfskater Finder: Input your location to connect with skaters in your area.
- Local Surfskate Spot Finder: Input your location to find cool surfskate spots posted by other surfskaters in your area.
- Beginner-friendly forum.
- Expert’s Corner: A panel of experts to answer people’s questions, participating with the community in various formats (forum, webinars, podcasts, etc).
- I’ve also played around with the idea of a surfskating podcast where I have surfskaters all over the world share their stories.
To my supporters, I appreciate you more than I can say. The daily messages I get from you make it all worth it.
I welcome your feedback and ideas on how we can grow surfskating and improve the category for everyone, and especially for beginners. I look forward to working with you to make surfskating better for everyone.
Sincerely,
Steve Palmer
Founder of Surfskate Love
I’m a 61 year old man that has surfed since I was 10. I gave up skateboarding in my early/mid 20’s but discovered surfskating. I’ve fallen in love with riding bowls and half pipes on my surf skate after surfing or when it is flat. I stumbled across you and love the stoke and positive vibe you always project…..pimpin’ stoke! I have a Surfskate Love t shirt and a couple set of the bushings you sale. As a young surfer I had a bit of elitist attitude. As an adult I am a strong believer in whatever gets you in the ocean, park, on a bike, or whatever the activity then do that regardless of skill level. the winners are the people who get off the couch and step into the arena. Sorry this is so wordy I just want you to know I’m sure there are a lot of people like me that admire and appreciate what you do. Mahalo my friend.
I got into longboarding a little over a year ago with no prior skateboarding experience. After a year I stumbled upon your videos and website, then used your surfskate selector to buy my Carver Tyler 777 (which I love). I appreciate all you do, and look forward to seeing where you grow from here.
Thank you for all the work youve been doing and content you put out Steve! I’m 38 and like you was new to surfskating – pretty much the same experience, the moment i felt what pumping and carving was like vs pushing, i was hooked. Fast forward 1.5 years and my partner and i are doing slides, dropins, and bowls, and have 10 boards between us across 4 different brands and sizes, many because of reviewing your material. And with your wheels!
Keep up the fantastic efforts, and thank you so much
Hi Steve,
If it were not for you, I would not have ever fallen in love with surfskating. I am 50, and I have never skated or learned any board sports. Your videos made all the difference in the world. I own 5 boards and I have even built a custom one myself. I have been giving boards as gifts to family members and to friends because I would love for others to feel the love I have for surfskating. Thank you for all your hard work and I hope you message spreads across the world.
Best wishes,
JJ
Hi, paolo from Italy here, 56. I totally share your same feeling. I used to ride a skateboard in my teens years. During the covid, in order to avoid getting crazy, I bought myself a longboard and eventually switched to surfskates. It took me 6 or 7 decks to get the right one for me, because either board was too short, wrong wheel base and so on. When I found your surfskate selector, it was very enlighting. I greatly appreciate your effort. I’ve bought Surfkate love wheels and bushing too and they really work amazingly, you immediately feel that lot of research was done to improve them.
Thanks for your big commitment to surfskate. We love this sport!
Ciao!
Don’t listen to the naysayers! No need to explain yourself. You have the overwhelming support and appreciation of the surfskate community. Your efforts took a 60 year old traditional vert skater like myself from the hum drum of occasional longboarding since my later forties, to understanding exactly what a surfskate was. I was watching your videos for the greater part of a year admittedly with some skepticism over what seemed at the time like a gimmick as far as the concept of a surfskate. The experience the boards deliver (I’m all the way in for Carver) has been paradigm shifting. I skate all the time now.
Your tireless effort and personal expense in purchasing the ridiculous amount of boards you did for your own study, interest and dissemination to the public deserves any financial compensation I hope you increasingly and deservedly find.
Your consolidation and simplification (for the consumer choice process) of your proprietary wheels for example is next level. You took an innumerable about of variables involved in the wheel market offerings and through colaboration and exhaustive research, demystified the subject for many. Thevreviews of the product end-result speak for themselves. The Riptide colaboration has been a welcomed success as well; once again making a somewhat confusing subject simple for the target market, which is an art unto itself.
People get in to stock trading and crypto “Just for the money” and that of course is understandable; it’s the intended purpose, but the still-obscure surfskate market? That’s a ridiculous charge a very few have made against you and I wouldn’t waste anymore time engaging them on the community pages. You have enough supporters at your defense. Keep doing what you love.
Steve, your wealth of knowledge and inspiration has been invaluable to myself and the community. Its been a long adventure starting with a 2×4 board and metal wheels as a youngster, to modern state of the art surfskates.
You are at the forefront of bringing surfskating to a worldwide audience, and I support you in your endeavors. Ultimately, surfskating is a celebration of the spirit, and we all look forward to continuing the ride on this journey!
Great job on this, Steve. Your community truly values you and what you have done for the sport. I don’t think I would have had the courage to get on a board – ever – if it hadn’t been for your videos! Thank you so much for this labor of love.
You are doing great job man! Keep doing’ this. You are my inspiration. I am on surfskate since August last year every day. Watched all of your videos. I share your point of view for almost all aspects of surfskating however we differ in some. E.g. longboard pumping ride is perfect kind of submax exercise for me, better thand surfskating on long stuff like 777 or others. I also don’t share the lack of your optymism concerning curfboards – I think their front truck is brilliant and the whole board ideal for low speed maneuvers like infinity loop. Having contact with SurfskateLove and your vids allows me to verify my own riding experiences and make my surfskate scope wider. Looking forward to hear from your 🙂
I’ve been a skater my whole life but started falling behind due to age and balance on the traditional skateboard used for street and ramp. I’ve got a few longboards and eskates too. I heard about surfskating and the more I searched your name came up again and again. It was your video journey in the bowl from wiggling to full blown carving that made me wake up. In an effort to improve balance and have some fun (47yo) I used your selector and landed on a smoothstar. I hear you! The feeling on a surfskate is amazing. Now I dream about the next bowl and the next board. I wish I found this sooner. Your content is tip top! Cheers Steve.
Steve, F**k the haters. I’m 51, skated in my teens, saw your videos and immediately got out my old popsicle board and tried to surfskate, little did I know I needed new trucks, or the surfskate adapter. I watched your videos to help me pick a board, I went with a carver CX superslab. I absolutely love it, been going to all the local parks. I am ready for the community surfskate finder. I’m usually by myself and I know there has to be some older cats like me around here that want to share the shred with others.
Thanks again Steve, you are appreciated
I’m 54 with two replaced knees. Had to give up my past sports. Picked up paddleboarding first and got a big longboard to land paddle when the sun sets too early. You convinced me to get a surfskate (via your videos). I’ve now got 3 (Cx on a greenroom, Meraki on an Omakase, and C7 on an Adam xl). Also have some pumping longboards (GBomb, Bossa, and Subsonic)..
I’ve been following your social media information for quiet some time now. I bought many of your products. All I can say is I really appreciate everything you do for the fellow surfskate enthusiast like me. The wealth of information that you have been giving us is very useful. The negative comments will always be there because that’s how the world is. But please keep going and do what makes you happy. Because it also makes a lot of others happy as well. (Including me) Just want you to know that you have our support here across the globe from Bangkok, Thailand.
Cheers!
I started skateboarding and surfskating at 36 with no prior experience 1.5 years ago and also no surfing experience. I stumbled upon your videos all the time and they have been super helpful! It feels like listening to an old friend who shares his love for something he is stoked about. The RipTide collaboration was amazing, I have little experience on bushings and all their sizes/duros/shapes and now my Carver CX feels amazing (and it was already great). You see things with a beginners mind and not pro-surfer slaps a surfskate under his feet. I wish you all the best for 2023!
Thank you for everything you’ve done! Much appreciated
Ive come from a 20 year kite land boarding and kite buggy background . Added long boarding, land paddle, LDP then Esk8, 7 years ago, then found surfskate 6 years back, (used to be called carving boards) . Like you I don’t surf or live near the sea so I do my own hybrid surfskate thing, no tricks , just cruising, carving and pumping which I’m happy with at age 62. But just like surfers do surfskate on flat days, I do surfskate more than ever as there seems to be less wind for kite stuff. Sad to say, but my kite sport has taken a back seat since I’ve had my surfskate ( Penny High-Line) and my all terrain longboard for land paddle. I still get to do seasonal SUP on my local rivers and canal, but surfskate is the winner.
Keep up the good work in pushing the surfskate love 🏄♂️🛹
Hello Steve. My name is Carla, I’m 51, I live in Portugal and I follow all you videos. I never surfed either (I tried but almost drowned…) but I’ve always loved skate boarding. Thanks to your guidance and reviews, I bought a Carver CX three months ago and I just bought a YOW. I’m completely in love with surf skating and I owe a lot to you. I eliminated the skeaks from my boards thanks to you. Keep up the good work Steve and for everything you’re doing for us, “average surfskates” I just want to say “muito obrigada” (thank you so much)!
*average surfskaters*
Hey ya Stevie! So glad I ran across your videos. I’m a long time skater from the 70’s and a free ride longboarder in recent times but injuries have caught up with me and can’t ride like I used to. Bought the Bing Continental and love it, so much so that I also bought a short Carver with the CX and it’s even more fun. I’m having such a blast being a “ kook”. so glad you have vids that show how to progress . Plus I’m a hippy at heart and love riding barefoot. Surf skating is amazing for this. Keep on carving 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻