Sandboarding

[Amir]

Sandboarding is a recreational activity similar to snowboarding that takes place on sand dunes rather than snow-covered hills. For some, it involves riding across or down a dune while standing with both feet strapped to a board, while others use a board with no bindings (See snowskate). The latter method is considered much more dangerous than the former.

This boardsport has adherents throughout the world, but for obvious reasons tends to be most prevalent in desert areas, or coastal areas with beach dunes.

It is less popular than snowboarding, partly because it is very difficult to build a mechanized ski lift on a sand dune, and so participants must walk back to the top of the dune after every run or ride a dune buggy or 4 wheel drive back to the top. On the other hand, dunes are normally available all year round with numerous locations compared to winter-only snow sports.

Peru is well known for having large sand dunes in Ica, some reaching up to 2 km while Argentina has possibly the tallest in the world. Sand Master Park, located in Florence, Oregon USA is the world's first sandboard park with 40 acres (160,000 m2) of private sculpted sand dunes and a full-time pro shop. A rather small sand mountain is the Monte Kaolino in Hirschau, Germany. Being equipped with a lift to the 120m top it is also the host of the annual Sandboarding World Championships.

Josh Tenge, professional sandboarding champion, holds the Guinness Book of World Records entry for the longest-distance back flip at 44' 10". Tenge is also a four-time world sandboarding champion and holds three world records.


Sandboarding in South Africa
Many consider Sandboarding to be the latest adventure sport in South Africa but it has been coming on for quite some time. Evidence has been found that Egyptians used planks of pottery and wood to ride the dunes of Egypt in the days of the pharoahs. Rare black and white photos of the more recent World War 2 showed stand up boarding went back to even then. The sport got its biggest boost in the 1980's when Jack Smith pioneered stand up boarding that was quickly taken up by bored surfers and skate boarders.

Though there were some earlier pioneers like Derek Bredenkamp that boarded Swakopmund in and around 1974 we had to wait till 2000 for the sport to get a huge kick start in Southern Africa. Coastal and inland boarders teamed up and the Sandboarding South Africa league was established. Sandboarding competitions started in 2001 when SA camps were held in 2002 up and until 2004. Unfortunately the sport took a bit of a dip in 2005 with no further development in the sport and the league collapsed.

Ladybird Sandboarding was established in 2007. With its primary focus, even still today, to establish the sport and grow it with dedicated local riders in South Africa. Tremendous inroads have been made to make the public aware of the sport with open days, media coverage, talks and information sessions.

Equipment
The sandboard base is much harder than a snowboard, built mostly out of formica or laminex with special base materials now being made for this sport. To glide in the sand, the board bottom is often waxed, usually with a paraffin-based sandboard wax, before a run. After use, the bottom of the board may have a lightly sanded look to it, while 'Race Base' tends to polish smoother and glossier with use. Most terrain sandboards are composed of hardwood ply, while 'full-size' sandboards are a wood, fibre glass, plastic composite. However, a snowboarding base will sometimes work on steeper dunes. Erik Johnson, a professional snowboarder and sandboarder, holds the Guinness World Record for Speed on a Sandboard at 51 mph (82 km/h). Unofficial speeds of 60 mph (97 km/h) have reportedly been clocked. Sandboarding was first popularized by the efforts of Jack Smith and Gary Fluitt in California in the early 1980s. The pair were featured in numerous surf films such as Adventures in Paradise, and in magazines, such as Action Now. Smith and Fluitt sold sandboards commercially under the name of A-Team Sandboards from 1980 to 1983 prior to the rapid growth of snowboarding.