Heavy Tools Windskate Team
Wanna ride the concrete jungle? Wanna tear the Christmas jeans you have got from granny? Wanna learn the tiny tricks and technics? Wanna collect some bruises?Just wanna try it? What are you waiting for? Join the organization and ride with us! Contact us, write a mail, and the next windskate party will be your place to be!
What is windskate actually? A surfwing fixed on a skateboard-maybe that's the easiest way to explain it. But thgings are usually more complicated: there's a wide scale of both parts (board, wing)-we'll talk about that later. The history of the sport started about 20-25 years ago in the United States, where the founders wanted to live with the opportunity what the sandy beach, and the mild winds offered, and wanted to try inland surfing. They designed triangle form wings out of two aluminium tube, which were not even attached to the boards. They just simply held them, and directed it with their hands, so they could use them with their rollerblades on too. They still use that kind of method, for further information check out the Windskate Santa Monica webpage (http://windskate.com).
During the last 20 years we could witness many interesting solutions, but the basic recipe is almost always he same: a small surfwing fixed on an average skateboard. As the technics developed, special longboards and mountainboards appeared, creating a brand new line. At the beginning they just simply rolled up and down, turning with a jibe at the end, but since freestyle has invaded windsurf, completly new dimensions have become available in windskate as well. Nowdays, the choice of maneuvers is almost the same in the two sportarts(spock, grubby, flaka...),although there are 5-6 moves (bobclock, route 66, clew first gozadaclock...) which haven't been perfomed on the water yet. These maneuvers wouldn't work out on the water, but there are some jumps in surf ( loop, backloop, pushloop...),which would be too risky and impossible on the concrete. Of course the fanatique windskaters have found a solution fort hat as well: they start out from a jump on a mole or pier,a nd land in the water with beautiful loops and airchachoos (just to entertain the fishermen of the neighbourhood)
A few words on the equipment: any profile wing would do. The ideal size is around 3.0-4.5m2 , depending on your possibilities and body size. About the skateboard: simple ranging from street board to longboard anything would do, even the 'hand-made' is perfect for windskate. Of course for the wing you ned a pole, an extention, a heel and a boom, which could be a used, torn grip, or something not suitable for surfing..it will do on the concrete. You have to drill a 8-10 mm diameter hole, where the end of the heel fits, and at the other end you have to fix it with a screw or something. The wing goes on it, and you are ready! The hole is usually in front of the first suspension, but there are folks who prefer it from behind..:). We don't think that this is such a great solution, cause if you want to rotate your wing with 180°, you should put your foot in front of it (step over it), and that would make the maneuver quite weird. If you are already used to your windskate, you can fix a holder for your foot on it, but beware that this could increase the risk of heavy falls. What is most important is the bearing! Wherever you buy your skate, you have to make sure, that the wheels roll well. If they are bad, -usually that's the case with the boards available for a few bucks in the hypermarkets (an absolute no no!!!) -,the problem is still solvable, because you can by some good quality stuff for 5-8 thousand forints in any skaters' shop. In bigger sport stores or skaters' shops you can grab a perfect skateboard for about 15-20.000 forints. Of course you can buy a more professional board made of better material, with greater curve, but that would mean, that your wallett would be shorter of 50,-60,000 forints minimum. As I told you, the cheaper version is absolutly enough for windskate, maybe a few moves are easier with the more expensive boards.
A few years ago mountainboards appaered on the scene, which are suitable for windskate as well. This branch of windskate is the so calle 'dirtskate'. Owing to the bigger size it's heavier, than the simple skateboard, but more stabil, and thanks to the bigger wheels, you can use it on rubble as well. On the other hand you need much stronger wind, and a bigger wing. The ideal wind for a dirtsurf is around 8-14 knots, while even 2 knots are enough for the simple windskate version. The solid sandy ground is the best place for windksate, but unfortunately this is not available in Hungary. Maybe a couple of sandmines or rubbled carparks are suitable for that sport in our country. The greatest dirtsurf brand is the French Buhalaboards. The prices of their boards are around 250-300 euro, unfortunately they are not cheap, but they are of great quality. Here I have to mention the name of Nicolas Akgazciyan, who is a professional freestyle windsurfer and dirtsurfer. You can ckeck out his few moves on www.buhalaboards.com.
At the end of September we start our Heavy Tools Windskate tour, visiting the bigger towns of Hungary, organizing incredible windskate shows, with good music, movies and of course with a trial offer. Hopefully before winter time, we can hold the first Windskate Get-Together, accompanied by plenty of competitions. The rules of the competition are not fixed yet, but such competitions have been held in Austria and Germany, and they used the rules well known in windskate, which means that two riders start out at the same time, and they have five minutes to show their best. Besides freestyle, speed and slalom would be part of the game as well. So it would be great if as many surfer, skater, professional and amateur as possible would have a try! It's less demanding then surf, you don't have to wait for the good wind, travel to reach water. Any kind of wind and a place as big as a car park is enogh for practising the moves almost all year long.
For more information on windskate: www.soulsurfer.at www.windskating.de and www.windskating.hu