On a Roll : Longboards Make a Comeback as New Generation Finds They Have ‘More Soul’

Sidewalk surfers don’t catch waves, they carve hills. It’s the latest craze, and Ventura County is on the leading edge: longboard skateboarding.

“It’s a great crossover for surfers,” said Dave Balton, manager of At Five Points Skate & Snowboards in Ventura. “You can achieve a more stable, high speed, and it’s good for transportation. It’s how skateboarding evolved--surfers used them on land.”

The three- to five-foot wooden planks with wheels are no longer an unfashionable novelty: They are captivating a new generation. Nearly as long as 14-year-old Pat Locke is tall, the longboard is easier and faster than conventional skateboards and helps him improve his balance for surfing.

“It’s something to do instead of surfing when the water’s flat,” said the Ventura teen-ager. “I think it’s pretty cool.”

The popularity of the longboard skateboard is riding the wave of longboard surfing, reflecting a back-to-roots trend, said Michael Delgado, co-founder and president of Topp’s in Ventura. Topp’s is one of the largest and most popular manufacturers of the hefty boards, along with Powell Skateboards of Santa Barbara.

Sold in both surf and skate shops, the skateboards originated decades ago as a tool for surfing practice. California beach communities such as those in Ventura County have been the trendsetters, bringing longboards back in style, said Brian Brannon of Thrasher, a leading skateboard magazine.

“Everything starts in California,” Brannon said. “It then picks up on the East Coast and works its way to the heartland. It’s on the rise, and I think it has a long way to go before it peaks.”

The trend has spread to Japan, Europe and Australia, he said.

“Now we see that it’s coming back really big,” Brannon said. “A lot of older people ride longboard skateboards too. You can have as much fun as you want to, no matter how good you are. That’s why longboarding is coming back. It’s fun. It’s just a really good stoke to cruise down a hill and carve up a street.”

Because of the length of the boards, 31- to 32-inch skateboard tricks such as kick-flips and lifting the board off the ground are more difficult or impossible to perform, enthusiasts said. Surfing-style hang-10s, hang-fives, one-foots and walking the plank are maneuvers favored by longboarders.

Rich Phelps started longboard surfing after being exposed to longboard skateboarding. The 25-year-old Ventura resident had been riding shortboards for 18 years, and started using a long 58-inch skateboard about five years ago, he said.

“It has more style and more soul,” said Phelps, sponsored in competitions by longboard surfboard and longboard skateboard manufacturers. “It has more control and is low-impact, so it doesn’t hurt my body as much. It really helps my surfing too.”

George Powell, president of Powell Skateboards, remembers the 1970s sidewalk skateboarding fad and believes that recent sales and interest indicate longboard skateboarding has returned with a vengeance.

“It looks like it’ll be a bigger phenomenon than we thought,” Powell said. “From 1980 to 1993, the market was dead. Demand was zero. Now, longboard skateboards are 5% to 10% of the market, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it grew to over a quarter of the market.”