Surf the turf

With global warming melting away all our ice and snow, people are going to need to find a snowboarding alternative and Rosie Khdir has found just the thing – Sandboarding.

By replacing the snow with sand beneath your feet, you get a sport that can be practiced all year round and in many more countries, 44 countries to be exact!

When sandboarding you use the same techniques as snowboarding, but instead of it taking place on mountains you board down sand dunes either on beaches or in the desert. It is claimed that the ancient Egyptians used to slide down sand dunes on planks or wood of pieces of pottery and images of people sandboarding were even found from World War II. But despite the early histories of the sport it didn’t really become known until the 1970s when it was introduced to the US by Jack Smith and rider Gary Fluitt.

The design for the sandboard was based on that of a snowboard but needed alteration as its speeds were disappointing in comparison. Help came in the form of a surface wax called ‘Formica’ which accelerated the board to new success. In 1998 Venomous sandboards produced the ‘Race base’ which allowed boarders to reach speeds of up to 50mph, transforming it into an extreme adrenalin sport.

Sandboarding schools have popped up around the globe as people begin to discover the delight of a new board sport, one that is much more easily accessible. The National Sandboard League in the US holds 6 events every year and dozens more competitions are held by South American associations.

The first sandboarding park opened in Lane County on the south central coast of Oregon, USA, and since then sand surfing schools have begun to emerge on almost every continent. Sandboarding is a great prelude to snowboarding and is apparently much more forgiving.

Locations for sandboarding in the UK are as follows:

Holywell Bay – Newquay – Cornwall

Porthdinllaen Dunes – Bangor -

Rhosnigor Dunes – Abberfraw – Anglesey

Braunton Burrows – Barnstaple – North Devon

Next time you head down to the beach in search of a killer wave, why not try the boarding the dunes instead.

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Image Credit: Stephen Glauser

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