Despite the similarities and even past connections, skateboarding and surfing are very different. Yes, they both include boards. Yes, they can be fun hobbies or sports. Yes, they require practice and skill to do. In contrast, the differences are much greater.
Skateboarding is done on land, the process of using wheels to get where you want to go and what you want to do. It also, is often used as a mode of transportation. Surfing, on the other hand, is done on water, using waves to move the rider, and is not thought of as a mode of transportation.
Skateboarding is a much newer activity than surfing, having been invented during the 1950s, possibly as an evolution of surfing (as skateboarding was once called “sidewalk surfing”). The earliest record of surfing is from the 1770s, much earlier, obviously than skateboarding.
While both sports have changed the materials used in their equipment, the gear for each is different. Surfing can be done on a variety of equipment, from a surfboard, body-board, to wave skis. Skateboarding requires a skateboard. Surfing gear is most often made of polyurethane foam, a much lighter-weight material than the original wood surfboards. Today’s skateboards are concave, as opposed to surfboard-like, and made most often from composite fiber, with polyurethane or clay composite wheels.
The differences between skateboarding and surfing should be apparent to anyone who tries both activities, but the enjoyment derived from them, as hobby or sport, is quite possibly the greatest similarity between the two.
Written by Skate Punk -
Skate Shop
