Surfing Waves

Just got one recently. Lots of fun! I'm taking it real slow as it really hurts when you fall on cement.

I heard it improves your surfing. I feel like it definitely improved my turning, because I would just lean when I turn and just fall off the board because I'm not in the pocket and don't have the speed. With a onewheel, I slowdown/stall because I'm waiting for the imaginary wave to push me forward. It's then I realize I actually need to generate speed to turn. Can't go too fast or too slow.

Hey Banz I've had the Pint for a couple years now. They are really fun to carve.. seems a lot like surfing to me too.. especially in Pacific mode. Doing S turns probably helped me the most.. seems really similar to rail to rail surfing. But ya cement is a lot less forgiving had some tough lessons learned. Started out riding grass/parks mostly until i was more comfortable on it.

Took me a while to realize that was not what you were talking about:

Where I live several guys ride in a pack on the bike trails and less traveled streets. When skating it's always crazy to see them power up the hill I'm climbing. They look fun but I'll never get one because I need the exercise!

In Waikiki, this is how we ROLL !

BoMan wrote:Where I live several guys ride in a pack on the bike trails and less traveled streets. When skating it's always crazy to see them power up the hill I'm climbing. They look fun but I'll never get one because I need the exercise!

It's actually very taxing on your legs and thighs. Imagine you can ride a wave for 15-18 miles. My legs poop out after 15 minutes of trying to carve on the streets. I've been training my legs so I can ride it better.

The scary downside to this is the injuries are nasty because of nose dive and face planting on the street when going at 20mph. Hence why I always fully gear up. My top speed is just 11mph, I don't even dare pushing further till I improve.

https://www.engadget.com/cpsc-onewheel-safety-warning-213555397.html I heard on TV that a consumer advocacy group is recommending not using a one wheel due to sudden ejection injuries occurring including like 5 deaths

oldmansurfer wrote:https://www.engadget.com/cpsc-onewheel-safety-warning-213555397.html I heard on TV that a consumer advocacy group is recommending not using a one wheel due to sudden ejection injuries occurring including like 5 deaths

Yup there's currently an uproar in the community. It's like saying we should ban ebikes, escooters, segway because there could be malfunction or simply user did not read the manual which would results in being ejected. You also get ejected on a skateboard if you hit a curb or massive object, so I don't really see what's the difference here.

CPSC is trying to push for a ban + recall. However there is no doubt that devices like this is lethal. I was teaching my friend how to ride it. The algorithm with this device is that in certain situation, if you were about to fall or somehow lose your balance. Do expect your board to rapidly accelerate. That is by design since you lean forward or back to accelerate.

The difference is there is a defect in the product which makes it stop suddenly unexpectedly and can result in injury or death

BaNZ wrote: You also get ejected on a skateboard if you hit a curb or massive object,

I can keep an eye out for the curb and for massive objects, but it's just a TINY PEBBLE that you're not aware of that stops the wheels on your skateboard.

I see few one-wheelers wearing safety equipment. Personal freedom is a big part of culture in the USA and it will be a challenge to get them to use helmets and pads. After 50 years we are still trying to convince people not to smoke!

oldmansurfer wrote:The difference is there is a defect in the product which makes it stop suddenly unexpectedly and can result in injury or death

I did plenty of research before picking up on. Yes there were defects that affect the ride. Especially on the latest model as can be seen from their website. https://recall.onewheel.com/

But this defect results in the board unable to stop. However most of us who rides a OW knows there are many ways of dismounting from the board. There are many factors that could cause the rider to be ejected. But most of this is caused by the rider pushing the board beyond the limit. There's a safety mechanism called pushback that lifts the nose and drops the tail of the board when you're pushing it too hard. This usually happens when you're riding at the top speed or climbing a steep hill. Many thrill seeker would ignore it and push it even harder. If the motor is unable to keep you balance and going, then it will nose dive and this would behave exactly like a surf board. If you nose dive at 20+mph, asphalt without an helmet + protection gear. You're in for a real bad time.

In addition to this, many riders heavily customize and mod their own board. Change out the tires, footpad, grip tape, rails, aftermarket batteries. You hear plenty of users says their sensors are behaving really oddly after that. This is kinda equivalent to a surfer that blame the shaper when they chop off the tail and say it doesn't ride anymore.

End of the day, yes there could possibly be defects. However most of us knows not to push it to the limit in the first few days that you get your board. You want to slowly ease into it. Just like with cars, there is a beak in period.

waikikikichan wrote:

BaNZ wrote: You also get ejected on a skateboard if you hit a curb or massive object,

I can keep an eye out for the curb and for massive objects, but it's just a TINY PEBBLE that you're not aware of that stops the wheels on your skateboard.

Sounds like you need a OW! Big rock? no problem, curb? no problem. I think it's helping me to see what I'm doing wrong in surfing. When I'm carving on my OW. I'm seeing big differences in my left and right carves. My left hand carves which is my backside, I'm slowing down my OW board on the turns! Have a habit of lifting the nose up and slowing down. I suspect I'm doing exactly the same with my surfing. However one thing is really bad with OW is that the front foot placement is kinda like a 3pm rather than a 1pm position (regular stance).

BoMan wrote:I see few one-wheelers wearing safety equipment. Personal freedom is a big part of culture in the USA and it will be a challenge to get them to use helmets and pads. After 50 years we are still trying to convince people not to smoke!

It's a good mixture. I've seen them speaking on their phone, running the stop signs and no safety gear at all. But arguably this is the same with any sports. I neve wear a helmet when I'm on my bike, only until now that I got a toddler and have to show good behavior.

BaNZ wrote:
Sounds like you need a OW! Big rock? no problem, curb? no problem. I think it's helping me to see what I'm doing wrong in surfing. When I'm carving on my OW. I'm seeing big differences in my left and right carves. My left hand carves which is my backside, I'm slowing down my OW board on the turns! Have a habit of lifting the nose up and slowing down. I suspect I'm doing exactly the same with my surfing.

THEN Sounds like you need a CARVER skateboard. You need to learn how to create drive and momentum, instead of relying on an outside power source. You won't improve until you learn how to push the tail thru turns. You won't improve until you learn how to displace water off the inside and outside rails. A Carver skateboard will teach you how to do that, not a OW.

When riding a long skateboard I always weighted the front foot to avoid speed wobbles and the habit transferred to my surfing. Now that I'm on a Carver my weight is on the back foot because it improves the turning radius when I'm going downhill and adds power when I pump on the flats. The muscle memory helps my surfing.

Voluntary recall. https://recall.onewheel.com/safety

"We are announcing a voluntary recall of all Onewheel electric skateboards, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The skateboards can stop balancing the rider if the boards’ limits are exceeded, posing a crash hazard that can result in serious injury or death.

To address this, we have developed an innovative new safety alert feature called “haptic buzz” that will be available to Onewheel GT, Pint X, Pint, and XR riders through an important firmware update. Haptic buzz is an alert riders can hear and feel when experiencing certain situations that can result in a crash."

I heard that too but in my mind I imagined that surfers would probably be less likely to die from accidents since they should be more aware of their surroundings and have a better sense of balance than you average person. Then again the riding a board on land thing for your surfing requires that you don't get injured enough that you can't surf for it to be helpful

I had my first serious painful fall 3 months in. Although no broken bones. I landed on my back/tailbone area riding at night in the streets. Could've ended badly because I was trying to beat the lights and hit several potholes which I did not see. It caused a speed wobble and braking made me lost control completely.

My surfer instincts kicked in. Say if I'm about to go over the fall or nose dive. I would lean back into the wave. This does not work on land, you land on your back and you bounce like a ragdoll. In hindsight I should've dived forward to roll off the momentum with my upper body or shoulder.

Most people who own a onewheel does not understand the concept of it. It's a balancing board which means the motor has to keep you and the board balanced. In order to stay balance, the board has to accelerate forward or backward. The board has a finite energy to accelerate. This depends on the wind, terrain, body weight of the rider. When you're riding at 24-25mph, you're close to the limit of all the power the board can get to keep the board balanced. The board will actually let you know around 17-19mph depending on the model and all those factors that I mentioned. The board beeps and tilts the nose up to let you know not to go over the limit. However as most of you surfers know, everyone likes to push the limit and not follow the instructions. Once you exert enough force to overpower the board, the nose is going do tap the ground and you're going to be stopping abruptly due to physics. I've seen many of my friends who got their board did not even bother to read the instructions. No helmet or safety gear as well and continue to push the board to the limits.

afaik, there is one person who died around our area. He did not wear any gear and smashed his head into the ground while going fullspeed uphill on his first day of owning the board.

Like every extreme sports, there's a risk. Just look at how many surfing legends have died. I do agree onewheel is more dangerous than an electric skateboard. Because once you overpower the motor you will faceplant hard. Then there's also the fact that it's electronics and includes a battery. There's bound to be defects or when parts fail.

This reminds me of one of my roller skating episodes. When I was very young my parents acquired a pair of roller skates the type that you clamp onto your shoes. I clamped them on to my Keds (a type of tennis shoe) and went skating up and down the hall. The hall was good for learning because it was narrow and I could put my hands out and catch myself if I lost balance however it was a wood floor and I was damaging it so my parents made me go outside but there was no surface nearby that was good enough to skate on so I soon gave up. Maybe 20 year later I was in college at University of Hawaii and a group of students I knew was going roller skating in Waikiki and I decided to give it a try. You rent the skates in the bottom floor of a hotel then you have to go up a ramp onto the street. Most of the others had a lot of time skating except me and a girl Jetti. So we almost didn't make it out to the street because Jetti was having trouble going up the ramp. Anyway it turns out Waikiki is not a bad place to learn to roller skate because there is a smooth sidewalk and a ton of signs and posts all over the place so I could catch a post before I fell most of the time. Anyway we were going across the street in one place with the lights in a crosswalk but Jetti falls down right in the middle of the crosswalk an she was having trouble getting back up. I was the only person near enough to her but really I couldn't help her get up as I could barely stay upright myself so I went back to the crosswalk and encouraged her to get up telling her what the light was doing. The light was changing and she was still in the middle so I stood there and held out my hand to tell the cars to stop and not to try to go into the intersection as Jetti crawled on her knees to get to the safety of the sidewalk. There is danger in lots of sports. LOL

Well I haven't tried a one wheel yet but hearing about your experience definitely makes me want to give it a go. Maybe I'll start practicing turning on land before trying it out in the water, haha.