(Commenting from my other account)

Wow thanks for the detailed advice. The toe issue I’m having is both with the toenails, which feel like they’re being pressed in a lot, and also with the knuckles above them, which feel like they’re being bent too much, as the joints feel sore after wearing the shoes.

I do clip my nails short every time I climb, but yeah, the top of the big toenails do hurt still, especially on slabs/footwork-heavy climbs, where I’m tip-toeing a lot.

I’ll have to try that taping trick and see if that helps with the big toe knuckle. There’s definitely too little room as I’ve started getting calluses above my big toes, from where the skin above the joint is just pressed too tightly against the inside of the shoe. I might try that warm water in a bucket tip if things don’t improve, but I’m hesitant to as I can’t imagine that would be too good for the longevity of the shoes.

I think I’ll definitely have to try on the shoes longer next time I buy a pair and give more weight on what really feels best rather than other criteria like price and pre-conceptions when picking them out.

It’s interesting you mentioned ballet. I was thinking the other day how good ballet dancers would perform on slabs if they tried climbing on them as they seem to have really great control of their bodies’ balance and footwork. It’d be interesting to see them try it out. I imagine there’s a lot of cross-over with the muscles, joints and movements being trained.

Yeah I just want some way to hide or otherwise prevent myself from viewing arbitrary individual posts. A button next to the post that does that when pressed would be a convenient solution.

I’ve only been surfskating for about a month and had been skateboarding for about another month before that, so maybe take my advice with a dash of soy sauce.

Personally, I currently only have one surfskate. My set up consists of the Waterborne Surf Adapter with their Fin system, with the Fin set to “Super Carver” mode. This was the most expensive part of my set up and cost me ~£90. I’m using a blank, 8.5" popsicle-stick deck I got from Venom for ~£27 and the rest of my set up I got from aliexpress, i.e., the longboard trucks, wheels and hardware as a ~£35 package, and an off-brand Rail adapter (the counterpart to the Surf adapter) for ~£12. The grip tape I already had, as I had been freeline skating prior and go through grip quite quickly because of it (I bought a 60’ roll of Jessup Ultragrip for ~£85).

Regarding research, I mostly watched YT videos to see them in action:

• https://youtube.com/watch?v=c0cc-jtnl5E
• https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Rw8l_rGRoQ

There’s also an app you can to help you choose a surfskate, but I personally haven’t tried it.

Obviously I can’t attest to other setups, but regarding mine, I’d say the biggest issues I have with it are:

• It’s really heavy to lug around. It weighs ~5kg, mostly from the adapters and trucks, so if you’re also hoping to learn tricks with it, it’s likely going to be more difficult.
• It’s a bit tall. I’ve gotten used to it by now, but don’t expect it to feel the same as riding a skateboard. On the other hand, the extra height does aid with making tighter carves.

Aside from the Waterborne, the other surfskate that caught my eye was the Curfboard. I like that its design seems to use something akin to an Ackermann steering system, which apparently is more stable than “turntable” systems used by most other surfskates. Here’s an interesting blog post on it I read which talks about the geometry/physics behind it.

Ultimately, I went for the Waterborne, as I liked that I could use it with whatever trucks I want and because its Fin system provides some adjustability to the truck angle, which allows me to experiment and decide which setting I liked best.

I freeline skate and have recently gotten into surfskating as well. They’re good fun and nice leg workouts. Don’t ask me to do any tricks though, I say “I prefer to cruise around”, but really I’m just too pleb for that stuff.