Easy guide on how to buy your Smoothstar surfskate
Surfskates are perfect to practice drysurfing. Both Smoothstar Surfskates and Carver Skateboards have been able to replicate the surfing sensations over 4 wheels. This way you can surf any time you want, even when the sea conditions are not adequate for it. With this post we want to help you choose your surfskate in an easy and fast manner.
What do you have to take into account when choosing a surf skate?
1. Surf and skate level
First, we have to know what our surf and skate level are. As our surf or surfskate level evolves, we will change our boards. For that we want to differentiate these surf levels:
- Defining a surf beginner as someone that just started surfing or surf very rarely. A person that gets foam and some escapes. Surfskate can help you correct some body postures and balance issues, taking advantage of those flat days.
- An intermediate level surfer will be defined as someone that can catch a decently sized wave, go down and surf the wall with relative ease. With a surfskate we can improve his surf level faster and he will get better results in less time.
- An advanced level surfer is someone that surfs every day and perfectly controls basic and advanced maneuvers. With a surfskate he can debug style and technic errors.
One we know where we stand, the next phase is based on our height and weight, choose the board that is best suited to our size and the type of wheels that will work best for us.
2. Board size
Smooth star will help us with this decision with the following info graphic based on our weight-height. This way if for example, we have a surfer that is between 160 and 180cm with a weight of 55-95kg Smoothstar recommends boards with 32.5” like the Smoothstar Johanne Defay. On the other hand for a surfer between 150 and 170cm and a weight of 40 to 75kg they recommend us a board that is a bit shorter like the 32” like a SmoothStar Flying Fish.
Wheelbase, board concave and wheels
After checking what board model and what size is a good fit for you, the next thing you have to take into account is: Wheelbase or distance between the axis, board length and concave, and the width of the wheels.
Wheelbase
The distance between axes is one of the most important aspects to take into account. Normally, the lower the wheelbase, the closer and more radical the turns will be. If you choose a board that is too short for your height you won´t have a correct posture for this activity.
Concave of the board
The concave of the board is very important to simulate the surf experience and for the foot-board relation. For example, the boards that have a deeper concave are usually used by riders that exert more force when carving and in close turns. Those that do a more classic and relaxed surfing will use less concave boards.
Surfskate wheels
The width of the wheels. Wider wheels will let you hold on to the pavement more when chaining turns, give more stability and comfort in irregular surfaces. On the other hand, narrower wheels will let you generate more speed when turning and drift with more ease simulating a layback.
How does surfskate help your surf?
One of the benefits of surfskate is it corrects body posture since it offers more stability than a surfboard and it´s key to improve your balance and the positioning of your hands and legs. With surfskate you can repeat again and again the same movements we would do in the water, while in the water learning is slower since there are more variables than on land.
When we are learning how to surf, one of the hardest things to perfect is maintaining your balance over a board without falling. A lot of times we give up because of the annoyance thinking “water is not our habitat” and this is accentuated and makes learning harder. With these tools we can repeat various times what we´ve been taught in the surf school: knees flexed, lower the center of gravity, look straight and direct the board with your arms. Once we´ve dominated this on land it will be easier to translate this to the sea.
With surfskates we can also improve our technique. One of the key elements of surf is speed. This factor is what makes our stumps intermediate level surfers. The solutions are flexing the legs and a good board compression.
With speed, you can carve with closer turns; do cutbacks and maneuvers in the critical areas of the wave. To improve your technique to generate velocity with the surfskate axes is easy and gives you a board feeling similar to the sea. Once we’ve gained confidence on flat terrain, you can continue with slopes and inclines and even bowls in skate parks.
This next tutorial video will teach you how to pump with a carver.
Apart from improving the technical aspect, this type of skates also help you improve you physical condition since the muscles that we are working are the same that we use in the water.
For advanced level surfers, surfskate is a very thorough tool. These are the benefits that an advanced level surfer will get:
- Core training and strengthening
- Adjustments on surf technique
- Maneuver training like aerials
- Chaining turns for a more fluid rail to rail
If you can read this article and still have doubts on the benefits of surfskate we recommend you check our post “Benefits of a Carver”.
The best Smoothstar and Carver models to improve your technique
After introducing you a bit to the advantages of surfskates, we will recommend a few models from different brands that you can find in our website.
Skate Carver CI New Flyer Graphite: This board is 30.75” designed by Al Merrick, with a wider hind platform and a generally light and agile design, just like its namesake.
Skate Carver Yago Dora Skinny Goat C7 Black: The Skinny Goat board from Carver Skateboards is made of short plywood for easy pumping and tracing even the closest of turns.
Smoothstar Johanne Defay 32.5” : The Johanne Defay model is a 32.5” with a deeper concave than the rest, which lets you hold the edge with more comfort than other models.
Smoothstar Filipe Toledo #77 34”: The new 34” model Toledo #77 has a more pronounced concave and wider posterior wheels with better hold when doing power turns.
And who better than Filipe Toledo to show us how the Smoothstar works over the asphalt, and how he trains and replicates on dry land his movements.
We hope that we´ve helped you, and this easy guide for choosing your surfskate will serve you when choosing a Smoothstar Surfskate or Carver. This is an investment for those flat wave days. In next installments we´ll expand on Smoothstars, for a sport that is gaining more fans every day.
Remember in Single Quiver you can find the best surfskate brands: Smoothstar, YOW, Carver and Swelltech. We ship surfskates for free to Europe. If you still have some doubts, do not hesitate to contact us.