What Is the Origin of Longboarding?

A longboard is a type of skateboard that is slightly longer and differently-shaped than a traditional skateboard. Whereas typical skateboards are used for various tricks and stunts, longboards are designed primarily for traveling, as they propel the rider far further than a regular skateboard. Longboards are becoming increasingly popular within the skateboarding community, although they have been used since the 1950s.

  1. Longboards

    • Longboards are longer than typical skateboards and provide a faster, farther ride. Longboards were developed to emulate the same feeling a surfer has while riding a wave, providing the rider with a fast, smooth ride over a concrete surface. Lonngboards are usually between 40 and 55 inches long, compared to skateboards, which are between 30 and 35 inches. Longboards also have larger wheels than traditional skateboards, which allow the longboard to go faster and help the rider to turn sharp corners for an overall ride in which the board "carves" the pavement similar to the way a snowboard carves a hill.

    Surfing

    • The history of longboards go back to the early days of surfing, a sport origially associated with ancient Hawaiian royalty. As early as the 6th century, Hawaiians used long wooden boards to participate in the sport known as he'e nalu. These boards were carved from solid wood, could weigh up to 150 lbs. and were typically between 10 to 14 feet in length. The popularity of surfing waned until the early part of the 20th century, when Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanomoku popularized the sport in the U.S. mainland and Australia.

    The 1950s

    • The popularity of surfing continued to grow over the subsequent decades, and was a common activity in Hawaii by the 1950s. Longboarding was popularized on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in the 1950s, with surfers using longboards as a method of cross-training when the ocean's waves were too calm for surfing. The surfers would imitate the moves they would make on a surfboard in an activity that came to be called "sidewalk surfing" prior to the adoption of the phrase skateboarding. The first longboards and skateboards weren't sold commercially until 1959, although these early models didn't come close to the level of sophistication seen in modern boards.

    Construction

    • Early longboards and skateboards were initially made from a plank of wood with metal trucks and wheels taken off roller skates. Eventually, clay was used for wheel material, which was then supplanted by urethane, which provided a smoother ride, a better grip on the concrete surface and offered an all-around higher level of safety. Cadillac, a division of the Bahne skateboarding company, was the first to perfect a urethane formula that worked for skateboard/longboard wheels.