Have you had an MBS board before for land sailing? If not, welcome to land sailing, Where are the parking lots you'll be sailing?

Once I bought a package deal of used ones which included several MBS models ranging from 36" decks to 50." They all worked for land sailing, though the jibe footwork on the 36" deck was trickier than I wanted. I always put the mast base in the center at one end and took off the foot straps & brakes. One reason for the cheap package deal was a personnel change at the camp led to having someone in charge of the MBS boards who didn't understand the hubs come apart. They had a lot of flats from pinching the inner tubes while installing them like bicycle tubes instead of unscrewing the hubs and slipping the tubes in the tires easily.

I sail a long board skateboard but now was given this one. I sail East View Church parting lot here in Bloomington.

Chris wrote:

Some shots of Chris on his longboard at The Corner parking lot, Clinton Lake. 5 more pics HERE

Thanks for finding those pics Reid! Del, do you sail on skateboard trucks/wheels at all or only the big tires? Do you only do it on parking lots or on fields? Thanks for the pointer on changing out the tubes, would be nice to have tubeless tires. I’m thinking for speed runs I’ll find the perfect road out in the country and use skateboard. Make the trucks tight to help prevent high speed wobble. Wear plenty if protective gear and let it Rip!

1. Chris, I think you may find the MBS Atom wheels are narrower than your longboard skateboard wheels. That could give you less rolling resistance and higher speeds. Conversely the softness of the MBS tires might take away enough of the narrowness advantage. One thing I know about that comparison is the MBS wheel diameter will just roll over some pebbles that would stop your longboard skateboard wheels. That is most important when you are doing a slow jibe and the sail blocks enough of your vision that you can't see the pebbles you are turning toward which are large enough to stop wide skateboard wheels. That reason is why my first longboard skateboard was sold to me by a guy buying a mountain board. And it is the reason why my own experience land sailing that longboard led me to buy mountain boards.

2. Answering your questions, Chris. I don't currently use any of the wide longboard skateboard wheels, even though two of my land sailing boards have skateboard trucks. I put 100 mm diameter, 22 mm wide scooter wheels on my 59" deck Kahuna Creations Bombora; the original 70 mm diameter, 58 mm wide Kahuna wheels were used only 2-3 times before I made the change. To make my 57" deck Turf DeVille mountain board useful I took off straps, brakes, trucks, wheels, tires I put on skateboard trucks with 125 mm diamter, 22 mm wide scooter wheels, and had to make cutouts for the wheels because the skateboard trucks were much shorter than the vastly over-weight, over engineered, independent suspension, original trucks. I had purchased Exkate 80 mm diameter, 50 mm wide longboard skateboard wheels for the Turf DeVille , but used them only about 5 times before I purchased the scooter wheels. Scooter wheels have the same axle diameter openings as longboard skateboards and inline skates.

3. On two land sailing boards I still use their original inflatable wheels and mountain board width trucks: an MBS Blade, 8.5 inches diameter (235 mm), 40 inch deck, 50 inches overall length, 10.5 inches width at the widest point; and a Carveboard with their old style wheels (inflatable from 10 to 50 PSI), 7.5 inches diameter (about 190 mm), 43 inch deck, 50 inches overall length, 11.5 inch deck width at the widest point. The Carveboard was designed for going down streets & sliding around curves, so it did not have brakes or foot straps. I'm just now thinking mountainboard wheels might have the same axle diameter openings as the Carveboard and if so, would produce less rolling resistance because they are narrower than the Carveboard wheels.

4. I also have a 79" long Speedsail board with 12" diameter tires (designed in France by Baron de Rosnay around 1976 for sailing on hard sand beaches). I hardly ever use it because the deck is only 9" wide. Compared with my other boards that is not wide enough for comfortable foot movements while jibing. Also the wheel diameter puts the deck higher above the ground than I like. I believe it's length was designed that way too handle the very long boomed, pin-head sails used then.

5. My successful land sailing so far has only been on parking lots & very rarely on streets. I've briefly tried grass less than 5 times; too bumpy & too difficult to get going.

Thanks Del, I’ll be using it as is no modifications for now. I really like the feel of the skateboard, I use a kids rig because it’s light but strong. Looking forward to sailing this new board with a bigger sail. For the speed runs I’ll probably tighten up the trucks on the long board Skateboard, pad up and let it Rip!

Chris, I'm looking forward to a speed comparison by you of the MBS and the longboard skateboard. Any size sail, any speed of wind will work. Whatever the difference is should show up in any conditions. (I know I should do the same thing with my boards, especially to compare the 100 mm and 125 mm scooter wheels.)

My parking lot ride

Carveboard has very loose trucks, designed for turning instead of speed. Tire pressure can be adjusted for conditions, which is really nice. I took some video last weekend that I will post once I get it on YTube.



Andrew

I have the same Carve board.... it is by far the funnest skate sailor I've tried, but because the trucks are so loose, it's typically suitable for more experienced skate sailors. You can bank the Carve board over 45 degrees and really carve some tight turns. 360s are a joy on this thing, and I actually learned the rudiments of the shove-it skate sailing on this thing. I don't ever switch my feet on the Carve board. I have another "Streetsailor" that I won in a raffle that I use on the beach at low tide out here:

Ha, I tried mine Sunday and it was too loose and didn’t feel right, felt clumsy. I had plenty of wind for my skateboard but it took all of it to get the land board going. Going to tighten up the trucks on my longboard skateboard and go straight!

How about harness lines? I’m thinking no foot straps but with harness lines. You shouldn’t have lift on your feet or you are already going out if control and perhaps over the handlebars. The harness will hopefully allow me to get the most out of the sail. How fast do you guys go?