10 Reasons Why Surfing is Better than Skateboarding
For people interested in balancing on a board and sliding down a sloped surface, there are three main activities available based on the surface. Snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing are the major boarding activities, and most people will opt for a boarding activity based on availability. If you cannot choose between surfing and skateboarding, we at RunRex will show you why surfing is way cooler than skateboarding.
- No broken bones
Skateboarding is a health hazard by itself. When learning how to skate, it highly likely that you will hit the concrete a few times before you can balance perfectly on the board. Of course, the helmets and kneepads help to prevent serious injuries, but as you try more complicated maneuvers such as skating on handrails, this safety equipment doesn’t provide much help.
When surfing you will also fall a few times, but falling in the water is far less painful than falling on concrete pavements. Further, surfing practice mainly takes place on beach break swells that have a softer ocean floor.
- Surfing is a lifetime activity
How many over fifty skateboarders do you know? Statistics show that only 20 percent of skateboarders found at the park are over 18. Compare this to surfing where the average age of surfers is 34 years. Certainly, both activities have been around long enough to establish detailed statistics, and while there are more skateboarders than there are surfers, many of these skateboarders abandon the activity as they grow older. It only shows that once you learn how to surf, it will never become boring.
- Surfing has the best destinations
Some of the best destinations to surf include California, Hawaii, Portugal, Australia and Costa Rica. Therefore, surfing destinations are places everyone wishes to go on vacation. These places have beautiful sceneries and unique experiences. Skateboarding destinations include Barcelona, San Francisco, and New York City. These places might be ideal for skating, but regarding beauty and relaxation, there is no competition between the two.
- Surfing keeps you fit
Surfing requires physical strength and regular surfers are usually in the best of shape. Although surfing requires strength, it is not that surfers hit the gym and then take on the activity after they get fit. Rather, surfing gradually gets your body in shape. It’s like being in a fun gym. However, with skateboarding, you are only working out your lower body.
- Surfing is rare and difficult to master
Imagine the best moments of your life. It is very likely that these are rare moments that don’t occur every day and you cannot recreate them easily. The euphoric feeling you get during your great moments is closer to that of catching and riding a perfect wave. You might devote most of your time preparing for the wave, but once you step on your board, the feeling is worth every second. Compare this to skateboarding, which is so abundant that with time it turns into a mere routine.
- Surfing is more prestigious than skateboarding
Learning to surf is no easy feat. Before you start surfing, you must be a good swimmer. You also have to spend hours paddling and waiting for the right wave, and once you stand on the surfboard, there is balancing and controlling involved. All these skills combined with the dangers posed by the ocean make surfing an elite sport. Learning how to skateboard is also not easy. However, there are no helmets or kneepads when surfing.
- There is a degree for surfing
Surfing is not just a sport and leisure activity. It is a culture and way of life that involves many scientific components such as board design and environmental study. Many universities across Europe such as Plymouth University in the UK and La Laguna University in Spain offer the degree of Surf Science and Technology.
As for skateboarding, you can take lessons on how to skateboard, but that’s it.
- Surfing has a rich history
People first recorded surfing in the 1770’s on the Polynesian islands. The Islanders in places such as Hawaii and Tahiti had been surfing long before the British came to their lands and the activity was part of their culture. Skateboarding on the other hand just began less than a century ago in California.
- Surfers created skateboarding
Since surfable waves are not an everyday occurrence, California surfers created skateboarding to keep busy during the calm ocean days. Thus, skateboarding was just a way to pass the time while waiting for the waves.
- People have more freedom and space in surfing
Advanced surfers can catch a wave and ride it for miles. Although such waves are rare, some surfing destinations are known for their long waves. You also don’t have to crisscross between hordes of people when doing it. In comparison, skate parks are not that big, and most people just skate back and forth the same place.