Types Of Longboarding

Surfing began on longboards. Historians believe the wooden Olo boards ridden by ancient Hawaiian royalty were as much as 25 feet long. Today, any surfboard over nine feet is considered a longboard. Longboards thrived through surfing's golden age in the 1950s and 1960s, and have survived into the 21st century. While shortboards have a clear numerical advantage today, surfers who predicted the extinction of boards over nine feet have been repeatedly proven wrong. Some of the premier surf breaks in the world like Malibu, California, are still longboard-oriented and longboard renaissances occur with regularity as a new generation learns the pleasures of a graceful glide on these classic wave riding tools. Several types of surfing just can't be done on any board shorter than nine feet.

  1. Angling And Trimming

    • Angling down the steep face of a wave is one of surfing's great thrills. A longboard's expansive length locks into the wave face more readily than a shorter board and provides a secure platform. Longboarding delivers angled, cruising rides of much greater duration. A surfer's ability to trim is a major reason. Shifting your center of gravity several feet forward accelerates the board through dead spots in the wave, while trimming back slows you to let the energy of the wave catch up if you speed out of the slot. Longboarding allows the kind of fine tuning needed to keep you engaged with the wave through all its phases.

    Cross Stepping

    • Longboarding has its own style. There's a lot of real estate in front of and behind you on a speeding longboard. Thanks to the inherent stability of nine-plus foot lengths, nearly all of the board is available for footwork. One of the most fluid maneuvers is cross-stepping. Starting from a basic surfer's stance, planting one foot ahead at an angle, then lifting the other foot over the first one and planting it forward, you advance in a ballroom dance-like step the entire length of the board, then retrace your steps back to the tail -- all while you're on a nine-foot fiberglass plank notched into the face of a wave rushing toward the shore.

    Noseriding

    • Don't try this on a shortboard. Hanging ten, tipriding or whatever you choose to call it is the classic longboard maneuver. To the casual observer on the beach, however, it looks like a violation of natural laws. Thanks to a combination of upward hydraulic forces in a wave and the downward push of the curl, along with substantial forward speed and the longboard's design, you can walk up to the end of the board and perch there with nothing in front of you but your toes hanging out. Standing balanced on the brink in an upright position while streaking down a liquid wall with nine feet of surfboard behind you is the ultimate experience. Whether you hang all 10 toes or just a sure-footed five, noseriding is one of the most demanding types of longboarding.

    Small Wave Surfing

    • Due to its substantial planing surface, a longboard can catch waves too small for shortboards, boogie boards or body surfers. A gracefully-executed ride on a wave so small it doesn't register on surf reports can be as challenging and fun as catching larger waves. Getting the most out of days when other surfers can't even get their feet wet is a type of longboarding that appeals to beginners and veterans alike. It's also a reason why even some of the most devoted shortboarders keep a longboard stashed in the garage for such occasions.