Is Longboarding, Skateboarding?

Yes, longboarding is considered a form of skateboarding. The similarities between longboarding and skateboarding are that both use a board’s surface made out of a composite material, primarily pressed wood; both utilize trucks, serving as the suspension for the wheels, and finally both are considered extreme sports. The main difference between longboarding and skateboarding is the size and shape of the board. Longboards are longer, wider, and have softer wheels than traditional skateboards. Longboards are designed for cruising, carving, and downhill racing, while skateboards are usually used for tricks, street skating, and vert skating. Longboarding evolved from skateboarding as surfers began to look for ways to recreate the feeling of surfing on land.

The first skateboards were crudely made out of wood and lacked the stability and maneuverability of modern skateboards. As skateboarding technology improved, more people began to experiment with longer boards and softer wheels, which led to the development of longboards. Longboarding quickly gained popularity among surfers, skaters, and snowboarders looking for a way to extend the action sports experience to the streets. An important distinction needs to be made however regarding the differences between longboarding and snowboarding however. Longboarding, though aesthetically similar is quite different from snowboarding for several reasons. The most obvious difference is that snowboarding is done on snow, while longboarding is done on pavement or concrete. Snowboarding requires a specialized board designed for maneuvering on snow, while longboarding requires a larger, wider board designed for stability and speed.

Another major difference between the two sports is that snowboarding has been around much longer than longboarding and has a much larger, more established community. Snowboarding has been around since the 1960s, while longboarding has only been popular since the late 1990s. This means that snowboarding has had more time to develop its own language, culture, and style, while longboarding is still in its infancy and is rapidly evolving.

Snowboarding also has a much larger array of tricks and maneuvers than longboarding. Snowboarders can perform jumps, grinds, spins, and other tricks that are not possible on a longboard. As previously stated above, longboarding is mostly focused on carving, cruising, and downhill racing, while snowboarding has a much wider range of tricks and styles that can be performed.