Longboarding is Awesome!
 

Went with my son to WalMart in Clermont, Fl and they have some cheap longboards there for sale, so we test them out in the Isle(didn't see any No Skateboarding signs) and decided to buy them. This was our first day riding. They do have no skateboarding signs posted but nobody said anything to us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3NU...ature=youtu.be

This sport is awesome! So now on the days when I don't get to wakeboard or surf, I go longboarding down to the beach and take some sunset pics. Its more difficult to ride goofy on the longboard than a surfboard, wakeboard, or snowboard for some reason, maybe because the consequences of falling are much more detrimental. I guess the next step is to get some gloves and learn how to slide, did anyone see the movie the Secret life of Walter Mitty?

And maybe some wrist guards.

Picked up a longboard for my Little One, a bit ago.... She loves it!

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5337f838.jpg

http://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0806a530.jpg

Here you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwFek4V5aP4

The slides and speed wobbles are intense!

Here's one more unedited run (NSFW because of music), but it's nut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osKOajC7JAE

Yeah, they're fun and a great training tool for wakeboarding because you can practice riding switch and blind for hours at a time without burning fuel. Trampoline is another great training tool that's also super fun.

http://shop.ondamotion.com/mammoth/

Anyone know anything about the brand ONDA? I like the idea of the larger wheels.

Like the price. No idea on the quality, but I'd pass because I prefer wheels under the board so my foot placement is not limited to the middle of the board. With wheels sticking out like that I'd also likely be hitting them with the foot when pushing off. Not saying that setup is universally bad, just not for how I use the board.

Longboarding
 

4life, I get the helping riding switch, sorta, but how is longboarding going to help riding blind? I try working on riding blind behind the boat by riding cuffed and then rotating my left ft forward on the right side of the wake, so I am in position of riding blind, but I have two hands on the handle.

Thoughts on these two below? General cruising would be the intended purpose.

http://www.evo.com/longboard-complet...te-42-base.jpg

http://www.evo.com/longboard-complet...omplete-40.jpg

Jo, it worked really well and helped me a ton. It's a little awkward/scary at first (just like on a wakeboard, really), but once you get a hang of it, it's a great tool.

Step is 0 is to first get comfortable riding the skate normally (with one foot on, one foot off pushing, as well as carving around). The balance on the skate is different than on the wakeboard, more front foot heavy, for one. I made the mistake of riding it like a wakeboard at first and ended up with 7 stiches on the back of the head when I lost balance one day, the board peeled out from under me speeding off forward, with me falling onto my back with back of the head slamming into concrete. I should have probably worn a helmet. :-)

1. To practice riding blind, I'd start off normally -- push off with one foot looking forward. Not too fast, little faster than a brisk walk, maybe 5 mph. Obviously, make sure ground is clear and free of obstacles. I practiced on the bottom floor of an underground parking garage.

2. Once going, get the back foot on, get into a wakeboard sideways position.

3. Now look behind. Shift hips slightly, as you would for riding blind/cuffed on the wakeboard. Chest over back knee. Rear arm behind the back, pretending to be holding on to the handle. The formerly front arm, is now more of a back arm, useful as a counter balance to the arm that pretends to hold on to the handle. The body position is essentially the same as riding blind on the wakeboard, just maybe less back foot heavy.

4. Ride until the board slows down too much, then turn back around, repeat 1-3.

Eventually, start going a little faster, but probably no faster than 10mph, and start carving around. Do the same thing switch too. I worked on that through one winter and by spring my blind riding on the wakeboard was on a different level.

Traver, I have an Arbor that look a lot like this: www.evo.com/longboard-completes/gold-coast-classic-black-lonboard-complete.aspx

I think my Arbor is a 46" though. The trucks look the same. After a couple of years the bolt in the front truck snapped in half. Luckily I was going slow and just ran off of it, thinking wheels hit a huge rock or something.

http://www.wakeworld.com/uploads_use...5520/13546.jpg
http://www.wakeworld.com/uploads_use...5520/13547.jpg
http://www.wakeworld.com/uploads_use...5520/13548.jpg

Dunno if that's normal wear and tear or just a bad bolt, but I replaced with a different make of trucks.

dude I have a set of those revenge trucks....ive loved them and road them into the ground. thats insane.

Longboarding
 

Thanks ak, I can see how that will help.
My next stunt is to take my trainer kite and try to be pulled uphill on the longboard, really can't see it working, but going to try any way.
I just put reds bearings in my wheels and it made quite the difference and the bearings are super easy to change! My old bearings were Abec7's, not suppose to be that bad, maybe they were just getting worn?

Over here in WA in the Columbia River gorge, there's a 2 mile long private historical road that my BMW club rents for the weekend. We rip it up in our cars and have an absolute blast. There were some longboarders that came down from Canada just to ride the road and were pretty disappointed to find out that we had it rented.

So I decided to be cool and let them ride the road down when we took a break for lunch.

http://youtu.be/IeUWYpe-CDU

Nice.