My New Life as a Surfer Who Skates

Here is another one I wrote for Josh's site.

If someone had told me, as recently as six months ago, that there would be a point in time when I’d be riding a skateboard as much as I ride my surfboard, I would have laughed and used some pointed words—words that Spongebob and Patrick humorously refer to as “sentence enhancers”.

But I digress.

My life as a surfer who skates, as opposed to a skater who surfs, began in earnest about a month or two ago. My son quietly let me know that he wanted to start riding a skateboard. Mind you, this boy couldn’t even stand on a board, let alone push to get it going or kick to make it turn. So, I hooked up with a couple of pros to teach him some basics. And while they were at it, I figured they could teach me a thing or two or 20 as well.

The last few months have seen me at the skatepark on a regular basis. Days that would normally involve me packing my car with a surfboard and surf gear became days that involved me packing my car with a child and skate gear. Instead of checking the surf forecasts all day every day, I now spend time looking for skateparks that would be suit me and my little skater.

Surfing will always be my first love. And I don’t aspire to drop into a 12 foot pool, crush the deathbox and then subsequently fly out over the coping with an audible roar. I’ll leave that to the younger skaters, the ones with the more malleable bones. What I do want from skating, specifically from my visits to skateparks, is to be able to flow . . . as one does on a wave. Mind you, I always thought skateparks were for ripping and shredding. But now that I skate at these places, I realize that a skatepark can present you with opportunities to feel like you’re riding a wave (albeit a concrete one).

I don’t know that I’ll ever be a full-fledged skater. I’m too old and too enamored of the ocean to put skating ahead of surfing. I do, nonetheless, feel a certain affinity for the glide of the skateboard even if it isn’t quite the same as that we find in the ocean. My new definition of a perfect day? It would have to be one where I surf in the morning and skate in the afternoon . . . without falling . . . on my (insert sentence enhancer here).