Windsurfing meets skateboarding - those two trend sports merge in the discipline windskating. Whoever lost his heart to wind and waves, but lives miles away from the next lake or ocean, could choose windskating as the perfect substitute drug.

Simple and affordable
Throw away the surf mags and the action pictures from Hawaii and Australia and get a skateboard! Make some holes, where you put the mast and if you want, some straps for the feet. For more surface you can also violate a snowboard and install rolls. Longboards are convenient, too. Onto that, you transplant an old rigg - mast, sail and boom.

Windskating is remarkably simple. On big parking lots or other surfaces with asphalt you can speed up with a small sail - there is very less rubbing than on the water. So a bit of wind is enough to get it going. The ground should be even. To avoid injuries, you can use the normal skate- and inline-protection. Sometimes it is also smart to bring along a broom for getting rid of the stones on the track.

Surf Training
The mixture of skating and surfing is not only entertaining but improves the proper windsurfing level. The German professional windsurfer Florian Jung from Saarbrücken started windskating with some friends, just for the fun. It did not take long and he recognized the potential of the sport. Today, he tries to improve his jumps with a self-made ramp which catapults him directly into the beautiful Saar river. For him, "Windskating is the perfect possibility to practice in the city without much wind".

Nice to watch
Windskating is not only a sport that is nice to watch and which brought the exotic of windsurfing to the cities - and which has, furthermore, already found it's way into the Meyer's encyclopaedia - but also an excellent practice addition for ambitious riders.

Links

Private website about windskating (German)

Infos about windskating (German)

Meyer's encyclopaedia on windskating (German)