Hey, that’s me in the video! I define myself as a board rider before anything else! Boarding has always been my passion and still is now that I’m in my forties. Longboarding is my latest! Here are the board sports I practice year-round and on a weekly basis :
- Surfing: the original board sport for me. I grew up close to the beach and the waves so I starting surfing at a young age. Surfing has always guided my life (sometimes in an expected way) as I’ve always prioritized living in places with the ocean and waves – which has had a strong impact on my professional and personal life. Being a surfer is a blessing but can sometimes be a curse!
- Stand up paddleboarding (SUP): over the years, surfing has become more and more fashionable and popular and as a result, urban spots have been becoming increasingly crowded. You typically have to travel further to find uncrowded waves when the conditions are there. SUP surfing allows you to surf waves that are harder to reach for regular surfers. It also lets you catch a lot more waves with a similar amount of effort. The paddle gives you extra leverage letting you perform maneuvers which are harder to pull on a surfboard. It’s also a more balanced full-body workout. So when the waves are not so good or too crowded for surfing, that’s when I take my SUP out of its bag!
- Longboarding: my newest boarding passion from the last 5 years. I was never into skateboarding as a kid as I always preferred the liquid element to asphalt. I found out, though, that you can really get a feeling similar to surfing on a longboard skateboard, namely when on a good carving and pumping setup (HUGE Loaded Boards fan here). Surfskate is one of my hottest longboard discoveries! I’ve also explored disciplines like dancing/freestyle, which is amazing and builds up my riding skills like no other; LDP (long distance pushing) which gives me an awesome core and leg workout and is a perfect cross-training style for surfing and snowboarding; land paddling/street SUP, a fantastic land version of SUP; and freeriding which reminds me of riding down a big wave.
- Kitesurfing: I’ve been kiteboarding/kitesurfing since 2010, even before I started SUP-ing in waves. Kitesurfing introduces a whole new challenge in addition to boarding skills, which is kite control. I’ve taken lessons, mastered flying a power kite while riding a twintip kiteboard, then moved on to riding a surfboard with a kite, eventually strapless in waves. As always, my goal was to be able to ride more waves in more diverse conditions, and kitesurfing lets me surf in high winds! I’ve even created kitesurfist.com, a whole separate website dedicated to kitesurfing, which is another one of my long-standing boarding passions.
- Snowboarding: I’ve only been able to snowboard a few times when I was working in NYC, and later, when doing my Master’s in CMU in Pittsburgh. I must say I really love the snowboarding feeling and getting into it was quite easy for me due to my other board sports skills – I was quickly able to carve and ride down decent hills. Even though I’m not that much of a mountain guy, I’d love to have new opportunities to snowboard in the future.
Here’s a cool video I’ve put together:
So if, like me, you’re a boarder at heart, and a new or seasoned longboarder, feel free to explore this website and learn and/or share your experiences with the great longboarding community, a very enthusiastic, receptive, and responsive one! If you need help with something board sports related, feel free to send me a message or check out my Facebook page.
Ride on!
