Stan Kofoed Floter/ Photo by Jim Brown
Kneeboard surfing the ultimate surfing experience…
Kneeboard surfing is surfing preformed on your knees…It is the smaller brother of standup surfing,
Actually standup surfing has been influenced by kneeboarding. The modern day short board design was developed around how easy the shorter kneeboard preformed in the pocket of the wave and allowed for more radical surfing… So a few smart standup shapers noticed this and began cutting a couple of feet off their boards and realized how well the board preformed .That was the start of the modern day short board.
Kneeboard surfing is a great sport to learn no matter what age you are and is a lot easer to start surfing than standup surfing.
The advantage of kneeboarding is that you can wheare flippers if you want to. This will help you to get out in the surf and allow you to catch waves a lot easer. Its is also a lot more stable than stand up surfing and you have got less distance do get up on your board so you will be riding waves sooner…. Imagine within minutes of getting your kneeboard out in to the surf and the thrill of scooting down the face of a wave at high speed having the most fun your had in a long time with your family and friends..
The way you surf a kneeboard is with you knees parallel with and on top of the board. Appose to standing up were your left or right foot is at the back of the board and your opposite foot at the front so your standing side on the board.
The maneuvers and turns on a kneeboard are the same as what you see standup surfers do .The only disadvantage with a kneeboard is it s a little bit harder to get your maneuvers going but the trade off is, you will be riding waves sooner than if you were learning to stand up surf.
Kneeboards are a slightly shorter version of a standup board and there a little wider so its easy to fit them into your car… Yes there a lot less of a hassle than trying to cart around a Malibu surfboard.
What You need to start kneeboard surfing…
1. First you need a kneeboard there a lot of good kneeboard shapers out there just look up the net or pop in to your nearest surf shop they will get you in contact with someone or look up on Ebay. You would expect to pay around the same as if you were purchasing a standup board.
2. A good quality wetsuit or rash shirt and board shorts to keep you warm and save your skin from the sun.
3. A leg rope for your kneeboard so you cant loose it or so your board doesn’t collide and injure anyone else in the water.
4. A pair of surf flippers and wettie sox. You can purchase all these items from your local surf shop
I suggest if you have never been in the surf before to ask your local surf shop about surfing lessons or go surfing with an experienced surfer… YOUR LIFE depends on this…
Now your ready to go out and enjoy the wonderful exiting experience knee boarding has to offer…
because there is nothing like that kneeling off the ceiling feeling..
HAVE FUN & STAY SAFE
Cheers
Stan
