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The
principle behind sandboarding is pretty simple, and it's a
lot like surfing or snowboarding. All require balance, skill,
and strength.
But, sandboarding is most similar to skateboarding. You stand
on the board with your feet spread apart, facing sideways,
as you do on a skateboard. So, when you're moving forwards,
you are really traveling sideways. You can change direction
by exerting pressure on the board with either your toes or
your heels.
Sand is a lot slower than say, snow, so it's a good training
ground if you intend to try out snowboarding at some stage.
In fact, a lot of professional snowboarders use it as summer
training, and it's growing steadily into a pro sport in its
own right.
For our day at the dunes, we used a real snow-board with a
super slick layer added to the bottom to allow the board to
glide more easily over the sand. The guys and girls at Downhill
Adventures took us out to Atlantis on the West Coast of Cape
Town to ride the dunes in the area. For a fee of R595, (full
day- half day is R450) they take you out to the dunes, provide
you with a board and boots for the day, give you lessons from
scratch, feed you and bring you back home as the proud possessor
of some mean sandboarding skills. All instructors are seasoned
snowboarding professionals, and they really know their stuff.
But I'm getting ahead of myself! Once you have trudged through
the sand to a suitable spot and done your warm-up exercises,
the first lesson is how to stand up on your board. You have
to lever yourself out of a sitting position with one hand
behind you on the while grasping the board with the other
for balance. Once in a loose crouch, you then have to stand
up without moving your feet in case the board decides to scoot
off with you. Once you've done that the lesson begins in earnest.
Standing at the top of the dune. I look down. It looked small
enough from down below. But now. strapped onto a board it
looks a lot higher. I bunny hop to get the nose of the board
to facing down the dune and try to maintain my balance, while
leaning forward a little. I'm picking up speed going downhill.
Out of the corner of my eye. I see more than one of the class
lose their balance and slam down rather heavily in the sand.
Thankfully, though, my debut slide goes off without a hitch!
But that isn't all there is to sandboarding. If the board
were left to travel down the hill in a straight line, it would
pick up too much speed and you wouldn't be able to control
it.
To prevent this, and to be able to execute wonderfully lazy-looking
turns and tricks. You have to learn how to do heel turns and
toe turns. These allow you to slalom down the slope at a controlled
pace. But the theory sounds a lot easier than it is in practice!
Needless to say, by this stage, everyone taking the lesson
has tumbled more than a few times and is covered head-to-toe
in sand. After a couple of runs. we took a break for lunch
and contemplated the big dune facing the little slopes we
had been practicing on.
Destiny was calling.
I must add that sandboarding is a lot like surfing in one
other respect: One has to do an awful lot of physical slogging
for very little thrill time. In surfing you paddle, while
in sandboarding, you climb dunes. Endlessly! The next day
my calves were in ruins.
After lunch, I climbed to the top of the highest dune where
our photographer Carl talked me into trying it out. I was
pretty nervous. The dune is about 30 or 40 metres high, and
quite steep. I did my little bunny hop and shot off down the
face of the dune.
On this maiden high-speed run, I forgot all about fancy manoeuvres
and concentrated on staying on the board! I made it to the
bottom without falling off and experienced one of the meanest
speed rushes I have ever felt. Wild stuff! The board bucks
over uneven sand, making staying on quite difficult for a
novice. But, I was pleased as punch that I had made it down
without falling. So pleased, I ran straight up again.
This is where it all started to go horribly wrong. Lucy (the
instructor) suggested I try a couple of manoeuvres. So, in
the attempt to look cool in the eyes of this experienced and
lovely young lady, I tried. The pictures show you the result
of that attempt!
Say no more!
Nonetheless, sandboarding is great fun and not too risky if
you pay attention and take care. A great day out in the sun
and sand with plenty of exercise guaranteed.
Dave Chislett wishes to thank Downhill Adventures
(021 422 0388) for his sandboarding session.
Contact them also on info@downhilladventures.com
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