Hamboards Surfskate Safety
Surfskating is skateboarding and is like most board sports. Please skate within your skill level and wear appropriate personal protective equipment for your riding style and environment.
Refer to this comprehensive study on the risks of riding skateboards. Hamboards does not conduct its own Safety Research, so we rely on external sources and good old common sense.
Bottom Line Up Front: Watch out for cars and prepare for the unexpected obstacles. Know and respect your limits.
All Hamboards with the HST Trucks have about 30 degrees of board lean and so they turn very tight. This is especially true for the shorter boards, like the Twisted Fin. These boards take some time to get used to, so please make 100% sure you are wearing shoes, a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads on when you try them for the first time. If you are an experienced surfer or skater, you may choose to use less Personal Protective Equipment, but give yourself a chance to get use to the ride first.
Any images or videos of Hamboards riders without shoes or other protective equipment do not represent advocacy for not using personal protective equipment. Our adult team riders and staff make their own choices, and for the minors, there's always parental supervision or consent. If you are new to skating don't try to ride any skateboard without Personal Protective Equipment.
We do not recommend bombing hills, and when you do catch a hill, spill speed by carving in an exaggerated zig-zag (switchback) pattern so you can recover a controllable speed. You may need to bail, and skidding is way better than running into an immovable object.
To dismount a Hamboard take your back foot and step forward off the board on to the ground. That will create an "equal and opposite" backwards force vector that will slow or stop the board in its place.