Last week as I parked to meet my heli CFI at the hangar I noticed that he was riding a powered skateboard thingy gracefully and effortlessly around Robinsons and equipment. Over the last few years I’ve seen plenty of e-junk terrorizing city sidewalks but they were all powered skateboards, scooters and unicycles. His looked like it was made from sturdier stuff. After the lesson he let me give a try while we awkwardly held hands. I traveled 3 feet and, suddenly, helplessly watched as the board launched from under my feet and slid to a stop on its side a few more feet away. And with that ugly failure as a sellibg point I bought one after several hours of clicking “buy” and emptying the cart (as we all do for expensive and questionable purchases).
It arrived 5 days ago and I’ve since put 40 miles on it (range for my version, the “Pint”, is about 8 miles). The learning curve was steep and somewhat painful. I recommend grass at first. The added surface instability makes it more difficult but it teaches valuable balance skills. And the inevitable falls are safer. In this video I am on the horse path next to my airport. I forgot my helmet so I am taking it easy. Onewheel at Blairstown
I have a couple of people come though my station with those … the ones i have seen look like older versions, and also they look heavy… the leaning forwards to go faster and leaning back to stop must take some brain training
It’s a blast! There’s a website that sells accessories called The Float Life. The name fits. Once you get the thing under some semblance of control it really does feel like you’re floating. A couple of points about this machine that made me choose it over others is that it doesn’t require a phone or remote to control and also that it carves much like a board. In addition to a few rough spills one of my big mistakes was to teach my daughter to ride it. It’s cool to watch her glide with the stance of a prize-fighter. She looks like a pro. But now what was supposed to be a mid-life crisis toy has become just one more thing for us parents to stress over.
Man, that’s awesome to hear. I’ve admired those that I’ve seen around our neighborhood and the pool. Between the board and the Robinson, you deserve Wild Man of the month award. Maybe we need a a forum badge that reads something like, “…and with complete disregard for personal safety…”
I actually bought a windsurfer rig from another pilot when I lived on Guam. I got it for $100 bucks and instantly broke the front windshield of my VW GTI putting in the car. As soon as I got home I put the board into Agana Bay thinking my first forays would simply be sailing standing up. As soon as I put any weight on it, it sank. Turns out, it was an advanced board and they don’t float. I tried every day for a week, made no progress and gave up.
Just before the earthquake I flew to Puerto Rico and bought a half day solo kitesurf lesson. The gorgeous girl teaching me rode along on a jetski and tried every teaching technique she could muster to get me up and going. For $400 I got several gallons of seawater and jetski fuel oil in my system but never once came anywhere close to kitesurfing. When the day was done she drove us and the jetski back to the store. I sheepishly asked if she had ever had a student fail to get up. She got that embarrassed counter-machismo smile on her face, unique to Latin women, and said “No”. That’s my history with board sports. Actually I have surfed a few times and managed to travel a straight line until the wave died. But that’s about as much success as I have ever achieved.
The Onewheel turns like a skateboard and, although I’ve never tried, apparently like a snowboard. You carve by shifting your toes and heels and balance the turn by keeping your body centered. It took me an hour in my back yard before I got enough control to try around the neighborhood. It’s not hard. But as I said, the learning curve is steep but also quite short.
Ah…yes…sinker boards are short and will not float with any weight on them…they have to be planing. My short board is an 88L Mistral that I have to have about 25+ mph of wind to ride on a 5.5m sail or less. My 15-25mph board is the Bic Techno at 148 liters. You can stand and uphaul on that board if you were learning. If I’m uphauling at this point…I’m not having much fun. I generally have to have enough wind to waterstart. Love windsurfing but haven’t tried kiting yet. Definitely on my bucket list…
The first six months is swimming lessons.