Let me introduce you to one of my favourite activities to do in China that I recommend to anyone looking for a new fun and active pursuit, Surfskating.
It is both; a brilliant form of physical exercise that can be practiced outside surrounded by beautiful scenery (if like me, you enjoy nature and spotting wildlife), one that maintains and improves cardiovascular health, core and lower body strength, balance, spatial awareness and overall mobility and; a form of self-expression that can be likened to dance, drawing parallels with the art of the French Situationist practice of ‘dèrive’, to reimagine how oneself can negotiate environments and transform experiences via the use of a skateboard, in particular, a type of skateboarding known as ‘Surfskating’. You may well be thinking, ‘surf’, ‘skating’? What!? Surfing is practiced in water, in the ocean (incidentally, sometimes also in rivers or wave pools), and skateboarding on land, specifically, concrete (in the street, or a bowl, or a park), right? Well, be prepared to have your mind blown…Surfskating simply describes the way a rider uses a specially designed skateboard (a modified front truck, wider deck and bigger wheels), to enable the replication of surfing manoeuvres on land.
Modern Surfskates were first developed in the 1990’s by surfers to practice and/or improve their surfing on ‘flat days’ (when there are no waves in the sea to surf). Today it is a surfing-inspired-style and technique of skating that has grown in popularity over the last 20 years with both young and old, surfers and non-surfers alike. There are a variety of different approaches and levels to surfskating and once you have mastered the basics, simply using a Surfskate as a form of transport, to cruise from one location to another, can be as much fun as mastering advanced techniques and executing radical aerial moves like the pioneers of the style did on some of the first modified skateboards back in 1970’s California. Hailing from a place called Dog Town, a name assigned to bleak neighbourhoods in former miner communities, a group of young surfers transitioned to skateboarding and formed a team called the ‘Z’-Boys, short for ‘Zephyr’, the name of a local skateboard shop that would eventually sponsor them toward notoriety. During historic summer droughts, the Z-Boys found newly emptied, rich neighbourhood swimming pools (known as ‘bowls’), the perfect terrain to combine surf styles with skate, revisiting the roots of skateboarding as a flat day activity for surfers during the 1940’s. They utilised the bowl’s contours like a wave to generate speed, completing high-octane aerial manoeuvres, redefining skateboarding in the process and pioneering contemporary skateboarding disciplines, influencing the future of skateboarding. Within each new generation there are those who embody the desire to push boundaries and explore new territory. The Z-Boys were the trailblazers who opened-up a new path for those curious to follow via their bold and creative innovation.
Once it becomes second nature, Surfskating’s a bit like riding a bike; you don’t need to think about it, when you know how, and you can focus on where you want to take your own journey and go at your own pace. I love the opportunity to express myself via movement that Surfskating enables, how it constructs a dynamic with the surrounding environment, grounding me in the present, as I move at speed, focussed on the execution of techniques, whilst motivated to increase the ease and overall flow of manoeuvres. With Nanjing’s many downhill mountain roads, large parks with banks (concreted inclines), several indoor and outdoor skate-bowls and pump-tracks, there is never a shortage of suitable locations to choose, with the great bonus of each being surrounded by the city’s beautiful lakes, rivers and trees. If you like having fun whilst exercising in nature, and enjoy a good challenge whist learning something new, then Surfskating in China is something I heartly recommend. Happy skating!
