As a surfer for many years, starting out as a young grommet at 14 years old, then becoming advanced at surfing over the course of six of more years.
Over the years, I learned so many hacks on how to improve my surfing ability and skateboarding is one of those hack that I’d like to share with you today.
Skateboarding helps improve your surfing ability, by giving you stand up time immediately.
Skating simulates the balance required for surfing, strengthens the muscles in your legs needed for surfing, without you needing to get wet and spend an hour paddling and waiting for a wave to catch.
The more (stand-up) time you accrue on a board (any board), the better surfer you will be. Learning to turn left and right by using your feet and balance on a skateboard will transfer directly to surfing on a wave.
Skateboarding helps you become a better surfer, not only by improving balance but also by building the muscles in your legs that are needed for surfing waves.
One of the biggest improvements in my surfing ability came when I started skating a longboard to the beach every day. Riding a longboard was how I accidentally started getting better at surfing waves.
I started seeing longboarding to the surf, as great warm-up for my legs before hitting the waves.
Skating on a longboard improved my surfing speed. My bottom turn had some speed added to it, which helped my power through cutbacks. My ability to race around closeouts was enhanced due to simply adding more longboarding to my surfing training.
If you want to learn in far more detail how skateboarding will rapidly improve a surfers level of ability, read on.
Having trouble learning to surf? Here are some high-quality surfing tips from a real surfer.
Is Skateboarding Good Training For Surfing?
When I was a teenager, I held onto my friends car while riding a longboard as he drove up to 60kms down a smooth flat street. All advanced surfers can ride longboards at great speed, only with practice will you get to this level.
Below is a photo of someone standing on a skateboard (obviously lol). But the point I’m trying to make with this photo is just how easy it is to stand on a skateboard.
The very first time a newbie to surfing or skating wants to start, all they have to do is get a long skateboard like this one and stand on it, while it’s stationary.
The longboard doesn’t need to be rolling anywhere, it can be totally still and you will be immediately learning how to balance.
You can hold on to a wall or have a friend hold your hands while standing on a skateboard for the first time. You will notice that leaning left or right will come naturally.
Congratulations, you are now building up muscles, co-ordination and balance all in one.
With practice, you can start riding your skateboard on a flat road. Start to lean left and right, turning the board where you choose.
As you become more confident, start skating down bigger and steeper hills. Good surfers can all ride a longboard skateboard down steep hills and very fast.
Surfing on a shortboard is the most advanced, here is how you can learn to ride a shortboard in a short period of time.
Is Surfing Like Skateboarding? Barrier To Entry Comparison
Some of the most obvious differences between surfing and skateboarding are:
Barrier to entry (Surfing versus Skateboarding)
Skateboarding is such an easy sport/hobby to get into. All you need is a skateboard and a relatively flat surface to get started.
Skateboarding can be done literally anywhere there is a relatively flat surface, mostly roads, footpaths etc. Many longboarders have large enough wheels that they can ride on grass and down steep hills over rocks and dirt too.
You can literally start skateboarding straight away on almost any surface. Most skaters will not ride their boards in the rain, because the water can rust the ball-bearings in the wheels.
Surfing has a higher barrier to entry. A good surfboard will generally cost double what an expensive skateboard will, you need wax, a grip for the back foot on a surfboard is optional.
Surfers need a leg-rope (or they will lose their surfboard), a wetsuit (in most cases) only sometimes a surfer will not need a wetsuit, if they live in a hot environment, which is rare. Rash vest (a t-shirt can replace a rash vest but you’ll need some vaseline or you will come out of the surf covered in a rash.
Not to mention all the smaller incidentals like sun-cream, travel to and from the surf etc
Fitness requirements between Surfers and Skaters:
Skaters can stand on a skateboard and away they go. Sure, in extreme cases where someone is disabled or overweight, skating could be quite difficult to get into. But generally, skating doesn’t really have a high fitness barrier to entry.
Surfers need to have at least basic swimming ability to get started and fitness. If a surfer loses their surfboard, they need to have the fitness to tread water, paddle through a rip-tide to safety. Surfers do need a relatively high level of swimming and cardio ability to survive in the waves.
Sure you can go to a surf school, where they teach you at low tide (so you can walk out and stand on the sandbank) and the surf school will give you a spongy malibu surfboard that’s easy to stand up on. But I’m talking about actually starting to become a surfer, which is very different.
How you can go from beginner surfer to intermediate surfer fast. Here’s a full article on it.
Surfing v Skateboarding – Comparing The Pop-up
Both surfers and skateboarders ride a board, yet the action of standing up on each board is a very different proposition.
The main difference between standing up on a surfboard and a skateboard is: While the surfboard is in motion, the surfer has to pop-up and stand up on a moving surfboard.
While the skater starts on the skateboard standing to begin with.
Is Surfing Harder Than Skateboarding?
Surfing is unquestionably far more difficult and takes more skill than skateboarding, and has multiple barriers to entry that skateboarders don’t have to deal with.
- Surfing requires a multitude of more equipment than skateboarders do. Skaters can simply buy one skateboard and off they go, a surfer needs to buy a surfboard plus a wetsuit, leg-rope, wax, suncream, plus copious amounts more items that can be regarded as optional.
- Surfers need a base level of physical fitness, whereas skaters don’t need this level of fitness
- Surfers have to overcome paddling, duckdiving, catching waves and finally learning to stand-up (pop-up) on the surfboard before getting the chance to begin learning how to surf. Whereas skaters can begin the learning process of standing up immediately.
- Surfers have to avoid dangers like sharks, stingrays, jelly fish etc. Whereas skateboarders don’t have to deal with dangerous wildlife. Generally
- Surfers have to acclimatize to often very cold temperatures. Early morning is mostly the best time to surf because the wind is at it’s lowest. The cold water can be uncomfortable, whereas skateboarders don’t have to deal with these uncomfortable temperatures.
- Surfers cannot create the perfect wave, so they have to be ready for the very moment it arrives. If a surfer is not in the correct position, or fit enough, or aren’t ready for some reason, the surfer will miss the wave. Whereas, a skater can pick a good skate bowl or skate park, arrive and the skate park will be the same, no matter what time the skater arrives.
Hopefully this has been a helpful resource
Surfing is one of the most difficult sports to learn. Here’s a full list why surfing is so tough.