I’ve been pumping longboards since 2008: carving to generate speed instead of pushing. For most of that time, pumping meant distance. You need a long stretch of road or bike path to settle into a rhythm, and the payoff comes miles in.
Surf skating gave me another way to do it. It takes the same motion and brings it into a much smaller space. I don’t need miles of pavement. A driveway works. Any patch of decent asphalt works. I can do infinity loops in a single-car-garage-sized space in my workspace. For me, that’s the best part of surf skating: I can skate almost anywhere.
Where it started: pumping a top mount
Around 2008 I was riding a Loaded Dervish, my first top mount LDP deck. I pumped it for fun and to keep my momentum up between pushes. The more I did it, the more I wanted to know how far it could go. Could I keep a board moving without pushing at all?
That question led me to pavedwave.org, a community of riders who were obsessed with exactly that, and from there to a top mount, all wood Longboard Larry prototype LDP board. That was it for me. The rest is history.
Taking it to New York
When I moved to NYC in 2010, I brought that pumping style with me. City riding is all stop and go, and pumping turned out to be a great way to keep moving through it. I got so deep into tweaking setups to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of a pump that I was hired to run an upstart longboard shop, Longboard Loft NYC.
That’s a long way of saying I’m a pumping fiend.
Then I stepped on a surf skate
A surf skate truck lets the front of the board swing side to side much more freely than a normal skateboard truck. That lets you generate speed the way a surfer does on a wave: compress, twist, release, and repeat. You can carve and pump down a path without ever putting a foot down.
The first time I rode Carver CX trucks, it came naturally. Every movement I’d spent years refining on longboards translated directly. Surf skating isn’t a different sport for a pumper. It’s the same instinct with a tighter, snappier feel.
Why it took us a while to build one
I’ve wanted to make a surf skate for years, but I didn’t want to put one out until I knew we could do a great job on it. So the riding came first. The Shuriken grew directly out of my aggressive pump style, and it was tested and revised with experienced surf skaters until it was right.
What a pumper wants from a surf skate deck
Here’s the thing most people don’t think about: a surf skate deck has to give back the energy you put into it.
When we started testing shapes, the biggest problem was the tail. A lighter, softer board felt great underfoot, but a soft tail is an energy suck. Every time you drive off your back foot, some of that power disappears into the flex instead of turning into speed.
So we made the Shuriken incrementally stiffer until the tail felt right, and then we shaped the deck around that construction:
- A slim waist and a torsion window through the center. Stiffening the tail added weight, so we cut the waist slim and put a hole through the middle of the deck. That takes some of the weight back out and adds torsional flex through the body of the board, which feels great for generating power at lower speeds.
- A stiff, concave kicktail. The tail stays stiff so you get control and real power off your back foot, the place surf skate turns come from.
- A spoon nose and a slight rocker. The front sweeps up like the nose of a surfboard, out ahead of your front foot, so the board feels like you’re sitting back into a turn.
The construction is a 6-ply maple core with two layers of triaxial fiberglass and an applewood veneer bottom. It’s about as strong as an 8-ply and very weatherproof.
Shuriken specs
- Length: 33.6″
- Width: 10.2″ max at the front foot, 9.8″ max at the tail
- Wheelbase: 17″ or 17.75″
- Features: rocker, internal wheel wells, spoon nose, concave tail, torsional flex window
- Construction: 6-ply maple, 2x triaxial fiberglass, veneer bottom, epoxy lamination
Surf skate or pumping longboard?
If you love the idea of generating speed with your body, both will get you there. The difference is how it feels.
- Choose a surf skate if you want tight, surfy turns, short and snappy pumps, and something that feels close to surfing. It’s also the better tool for surfers training on land.
- Choose a pumping longboard if you want to cover distance. A longer wheelbase and longboard trucks carry more speed per pump, which is why we build boards like the Genesis and Superdupersonic for long pumping sessions.
Plenty of us ride both. I do.
What surf skate trucks work with the Shuriken?
Almost all of them. Big internal wheel wells and two wheelbase options make room for both main styles of surf skate truck:
- Carver CX–style trucks go on the inner wheelbase (17″).
- Swing-arm systems like YOW go on the outer wheelbase (17.75″).
If you already own a set of surf skate trucks, the Shuriken is built to be the deck you put them on.
We’re building our own surf skate truck
We’re also designing a Pantheon surf skate truck, together with Adam Ornelles. It starts from Adam’s original geometry, and I’m adapting my surface modeling into something we can cast. Think of it as a cross between a Carver CX, a Surf-Rodz Indeesz and a Bennett, with one big difference: forward rake instead of negative rake. That makes it much more stable when you take it down a hill, so you get the surfy pump without the twitchiness at speed.
We’re testing the design right now with metal 3D-printed prototypes. More on that soon.
Ride the Shuriken
The Shuriken surf skate deck is $160.
See everything in our surfskate collection, or if you’re still deciding, check out our pumping longboards and our picks for the best longboards of 2026.
FAQ
What surf skate trucks fit the Shuriken?
Almost all of them. Carver CX–style trucks go on the inner 17″ wheelbase, and swing-arm systems like YOW go on the outer 17.75″ wheelbase. Big internal wheel wells give room for both.
What’s the difference between a surf skate and a pumping longboard?
A surf skate has a front truck that swings side to side freely, so you get tight, snappy, surf-style turns and short pumps in a small space. A pumping longboard has a longer wheelbase that carries more speed per pump, so it’s better for covering distance.
Can you surf skate in a small space?
Yes. That’s one of the best things about surf skating. A driveway, a parking lot or even a garage-sized space is enough to pump and carve without pushing.