straplesskitesurfing

Why a kitesurfer should start surfskating!

surfskate

The skate world was completely unknown to me till a year ago, when in Tenerife I started to go more often to the skate park with friends and discovered this magical world.

At that time, I had a small cruiser handmade by some friends from my hometown A.C. longboarding. I bought this little gem to move around the city instead of walking. So small that I could fit it in my hand baggage, very stable and cool to bring around. We had so much fun together on the streets of Puerto Rico, Bogota, Milan, and other cities. I still have it and it makes me smile every time I see it because of all the travel we did together.

In Tenerife, I would go to the skatepark with my little cruiser and I could see all the other skaters having fun with so many different types of skates and styles. 

So I started to try some: I tried the freestyle skate and was terrified every time I tried something as I could easily picture myself with a broken leg or arm. Then, I tried longboarding for downhill and when I started to go fast… well let’s just say that I would get a bit paralyzed by the speed, which is absolutely the opposite of what you want, because that’s when you fall eheheheh. Then, I tried longboarding walking on the board, some people use it for dancing and it feels pretty amazing but I knew something was missing. And one day, like a lighting falling from the sky, I discovered the existence of surfskate and everything clicked. Even though, all the other styles are super cool, I knew immediately that surfskate was what I was searching for.

I remember it like it was yesterday when I saw this video and I said: I WANT THIS.

I’m a dreamer, but also a very practical person, so, when I saw that I could put together fun and also work on my carves and slides, I immediately knew that it was a win-win situation. I imagined it would improve my kitesurfing performances on the waves and who knows… maybe one day it’ll improve my surfing too.

What’s a surfskate?

Let’s take a step back… what exactly is a surfskate? The surfskate is a board that allows you to repeat the surfing movements and gives you a similar sensation to surfing. With the surfskate, you can simulate being on a wave but on the concrete. WARNING: after you buy a surfskate you won’t see the streets in the same way anymore and you’ll start to search for your next concrete wave everywhere! 

Where was it born?

The first hint of surfskate came when David Colley and Brad Gerlach, two Californian surfers and snowboarders, were missing practicing their movements on a board during no-wave days. But only in 1996 the surfskate got real thanks to Neil Carver and Greg Falk in Venice (California) as they invented a revolutionary axis, patented it, and founded the first surfskate brand called: Carverskateboards.

Skate: Flying Wheels Mummy 32

So why a kitesurfer should buy a surfskate?

BALANCE

The first reason (this actually applies to all board lovers, not only to kitesurfers) is the fact that all the time you spend on top of a moving board is a precious time during which your body gets more and more used to be balanced, responsive and learns to adapt to movement. Therefore, it will help you, no matter, whether you are a snowboarder, wakeboarder, surfer or kitesurfer.

PRACTICE

Let’s be honest, how many waves can you catch in an hour of kitesurfing? Maybe it’s a day where there are plenty of kiters out there or it’s a day where the wind is MEH or it’s a day where the waves are not nice, in general, your time on a wave is limited. That’s why once you are in the water and when you get on that wave you want to be ready! With the surfskate, you can work on your bottom turns and your carves every time you want and as often as you like because, on a surfskate, you aren’t dependent on the wind, the tides, the swells, or even other people.

REPETITION

Being able to replicate the movements every time you want brings me to the next big benefit of surfskating which is REPETITION! They say that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something. Surfskating gives you the chance to replicate and repeat the same movements over and over again. In this way, you can work on your muscle memory and make the movements yours. The next time you’re kitesurfing you’ll feel your body moving automatically on the wave without having to think about all the details (where to look, the back leg, the front leg, the weight, the torso etc.).

NEW MOVES

Once you can practice every time you want, over and over again, you can also experiment with different types and styles of surfing tricks, discover new moves which you’ll be able to try during your next kitesurfing session.

STYLE

Once you repeat a lot the same movement and you make it yours, do you know what happens? Well, you start to work on your style! Oh, yeah! Because once you got the movement registered in your head and body that’s when you can add some style and be flawless. 

FUN

Finally, it’s a lot of fun… do you need more details on this point?!

Are you convinced? 

What are your next steps?

1. Buy a surfskate! 

2. There are several good surfskate brands. My choice is @flying_wheels_skateboards I’ve got a Mummy 32 and a Kauai 31 and both feel incredible!

Flying Wheels Surfskates

2. Get a class when you start with surfskating!

I decided to take classes because I only used a cruiser to move from A to B and had absolutely no clue on how the surfskate worked. And trust me… that thing is evil and unforgiving unless you know how to tame it.  

To be completely honest, I’m 34 and I break easily, I’m not a kid that is extremely agile and made of rubber so I thought it might be better to avoid the most basic errors and learn the technique from the beginning. Also, being a kite instructor I know that once you learn something the wrong way and you pick up bad habits, it’s very difficult to fix the mistakes and to correct whatever you’re doing wrong in the future. 

3. Bonus point: protections

I bought a helmet and wrists, elbows, and knees protection. The Micheline man is nothing compared to me eheheheh

La Gio Micheline style

I have to say that it took me a lot to get the flow, and I’m not sure I got it completely. On top of that, going on a surfskate without knowing how to surf it’s quite “interesting” as you need to move your body in a way that you’ve never done it before. But once you get the flow it feels super nice! I also saw lots of improvements while going back to the water kitesurfing, so I’m completely hooked!

Need inspiration?

There a few Instagram accounts that I follow and I love their flow:

Marta

She’s made me fall in love and Marta is simply too stylish and flawless

Loski Sessions

Love him as he shows you nicely all the moves and have developed a training method on how to learn the moves properly.

Charliesurfskate

He’s just … madness and flawless defeating any law of gravity whatsoever!

Cairam

Love her style and vibe!

Do you wanna feel the real vibe vibing?

I want to end this post with the movie that got me to click on the flow and style part I’m sure it’s going to give you the extra push to start surfskatinG!

And if you have any questions don’t hesitate to drop me a message on Instagram @lagiokite or leave a comment here! 

This post was powered by Flying Wheels Website check out their Instagram account!

Ciao ciao

La Gio

FINS: why they are important and how to choose them!

fins

One thing I really appreciated during the lockdown were all the riders’ interviews organized by different organizations. My favorite one was one with Mitu Monteiro, I knew he was one of the gods of strapless riding so I was really curious to hear him out!

During the call he answered several questions and one of them was about the fins. How he chooses the fins and he replies “Depending on conditions, depending on what I want to do, I choose which board I’ll take and what type fins I’ll put on”. 

So I went like Russell Crowe in “beautiful mind” and started to think how many boards I would need and how many sets of fins… Then realized that my budget and also my level only allow for one and one eheheh

Image result for beautiful mind

If you are into freestyle and wave riding the best set up would be to have at least two surfboards, one for wave riding and another one for freestyling, and three sets of fins, one for freestyle and two for wave riding depending on the size of the waves. I know some of the pro surfers have plenty of boards… once I saw a video of Kai Lenny explaining which board he would use in which spot and I was simply WOW

Going back to fins…why are fins so important? Because they are essential to give you control, direction and stability. Without them it would be way more difficult to ride.

And mostly a board with the wrong fins is like driving a car with the handbrake on. It’s crazy how these little pieces of equipment can make all the difference. 

Today I’ll try to share some of the things I understood so far about fins for kitesurfing. I’ll start from the most basic info you need to know:

  • Box Types and compatibility
  • Different surfboard fin setup
  • Fins selection based on your weight
  • Fin size based on activity or condition

Box Types and compatibility

Before anything you need to check on your board which type of fins boxes has been added. The most used ones are: single tab (Futures) and dual tab (FCS).

The single tab (future) is long as almost the entire length of the fin. This box offers strong and lightweight connection to the surfboard, the fins are usually attached with screws.

The dual tab (FCS) has two tabs that are screwed into the surfbaord. There is also a screwless option!

Different surfboard fin setup

Now let’s talk about which set up is best for what. Most of the kitesurfing boards have the following setups:  thruster, quad or a five fins.

The thruster set is the most common fin set up around right now. It has 3 fins of the same size or you can vary using a different central size. The third central fin gives you more stability and maneuverability allowing you to do more pivotal (vertical) turns. With this setup you’ll gain grip and it is recommended for small medium waves if you like the snapping style. 

The thruster setup seems to be the best setup for freestyle as well. 

The quad setup has 4 fins on the side, closer to the rail, there is no central fin. This setup helps increase speed, allows for fast well rounded carves and better upwind.  This setup is better for bigger waves as it adds projection and faster turns to the board however if you go vertical on a top turn you might have the feeling of sliding too much with the board. 

The five fins setup sounds like you could add 5 find to the board but it’s not actually the case 🙂 Usually the boards with this configuration give you the possibility of using different setups either quad or thrust based on conditions. It’s rare to use 5 fins.

Small clarification, when we talk about big waves I mean 2 good meters waves, something like:

Fins selection based on your weight

Then we have the most general rule about choosing your fins based on your weight. It’s always good to check the manufacturers’ recommendations, but more or less following these guidelines:

Below 55kg > XS

Between 55-70 kg > S

Between 65-80 kg > M

Between 75-90 kg > L

Above 85 kg > XL 

This will already help you to narrow down your decision 🙂

Fin size based on activity or condition

Now we get into the most difficult part of the decision, what type of size best depending on what you need to do.

Let’s start from a basic question: do I need to use different fins whether I wanna go wave riding or freestyling? 

Truth wants that if you go freestyling you will want smaller fins and if you go wave riding you should select bigger fins based on the waves’ size. 

For kitesurfing freestyling rumour has it that some pro-rider replace the central fin with a twintip one to have 

Well guys… it’s not really a rumor…

Others like Javier Fernadez from RRD have made their own central  fins.

For kitesurfing wave riding you basically have to choose the fins based on the type of waves you’ll surf. 

As I mentioned earlier if you have a quad setup use it on bigger waves. 

However, since most of the new boards have a thruster setup you would need to adjust the size of the fin based on the size of the wave. With a thruster it’s recommended to increase the size of the fins for bigger waves.  Remember that using a thruster setup with big fins on a small wave is going to make you way too slow and you’ll miss the agility to move fast on the wave, which is why on smaller waves you want smaller fins. 

So if you go to Mauritius let’s say, it would be better to use a quad setup however, a lot of the new kitesurfing boards have only a thruster setup which you can use no problem and in this case pro-riders suggest to use bigger fins. 

In a wave like we have here in El Medano, Tenerife you can use a thruster setup with small fins to really have that snapping extra touch.

Of course all of this is not a specific science and it really depends on your style. 

My suggestion is to start investing on different sets of fins or ask your friends to borrow theirs and start to feel and understand the difference. 

Definitely a good fins choice can change the outcome of your session for the best and a bad choice can make it a nightmare.

Bottom line whether you are a beginner or a pro your fins set up will have a huge impact on your riding style and choosing them wisely will change your session completely.

In the next post I’ll write about fins’ flexibility, materials and shapes. I hope you enjoyed this blog post and I’m curious to know your feedback so don’t forget to add a comment  below 🙂

Special thanks to Abel Lago, Javier Fernandez and Francesco Capuzzo for sharing their knowledge with me!

This post was powered by Quobba Fins check them out on Instagram @quobbafins_kitesurfing