Choosing your SmoothStar

Which SmoothStar is right for me?

You are wanting to buy a new Smoothstar Skateboard but don’t know what to buy that would suit you, then keep reading. This is a guide on how to pick the right Smoothstar to better your surfing and help your surfing training when the surf is onshore or no swell. There are over 6 different styles of Smoothstar skateboards to pick from; they have been designed, engineered and tested for every surfer’s ability, level of surfing, age, size and weight. We offer the best advice when it comes to buying a Smoothstar at Southern Man Surf, and you can now buy in store or online with AfterPay or Zippay. Now is the perfect time to buy a Smoothstar today.

How a Smoothstar works?

It looks like a regular skateboard, but it feels like surfing on land. Better your surfing, especially when the surf is terrible. SmoothStar skateboards are able to replicate the surf fell because of the front truck has a special turning device called the SmoothStar Thruster. The Thruster makes the front of the board loose so the skateboard can turn and drive off the back trucks. This helps replicates surfing, the same as you would with surfboard rails and fins, the feel is rail to rail surfing on land. This allows turns to be ‘smooth’ not sharp, floppy or stiff.
This skateboard helps you to turn into a bottom turn, the front trucks turns and dips allowing the rider to drive through the bottom turn with most of the weight on the riders back foot and leg allowing to create speed and change of direction. As the rider comes out of the bottom turn, they will shift their weight to engage the opposite rail. Your weight is then transferred into the opposite direction from the bottom turn, allowing the rider to perform a smooth surfing top turn.

How can a SmoothStar improve my surfing?

You have just started learning how to surf, the benefits of a Smoothstar can improve your surfing level by:

• Improving your balance stance
• Weight and leg positioning
• Stability at speed
• Posture Position
• Head and shoulder direction

You’re an intermediate surfer and would like a Smoothstar to improve your surfing? But how?

• Helps with your bottom turns
• Improve your cutbacks
• Improve your cutbacks
• Weight distribution at faster speeds and leg strengthening
• Correcting the use of your arms

You’re an advanced or pro surfing and have surfed all your life and want to know how a smoothstar can make you surf any better? It allows:

• Drawn out bottom turns to top powerful snaps
• Tail Slides
• Connecting turns in one fluid motions, round house
• Range of aerials especially grab rail
• Strength and conditioning of core surfing muscles

Which SmoothStar should I choose?

Our recommendations for choosing the right SmoothStar skateboard for you:

SmoothStar We Recommend	Surfers Height	Weight
Barracuda 30”	+ 155cm	25kg to 50kg
Flying Fish 32”	153cm – 170cm (5ft – 5’7”)	40kg – 75kg
Johanne Defay 32.5”	160cm – 181cm  (5’3” – 5’11”)	55kg – 95kg
Holy Toledo 33”	162cm – 183cm (5’4” – 6’0”)	55kg – 85kg
Toledo #77 34”	168cm – 186cm (5’5” – 6’1”)	60kg – 95kg
Manta Ray 35.5”	180cm – 193cm (5’11” – 6’4”)	70kg – 100kg
Dolphin Cruiser 39”	182cm – 203cm (6’0” – 6’8”)	85kg – 120kg

SmoothStar

*We recommend getting a board a little bigger if you like more drive from your bottom and top turns. Always get a board that is slightly bigger if you are in doubt on which size board to get, never get a smaller board.

If you think about your surfing stance, which is a little wider then the width of your shoulders and measure the width of your stance against the wheelbase of the smooth star model, this will help choose your board. Typically, the shorter the wheelbase, the tighter the turning and more critical turns you will get. However, you don’t want the wheelbase to short that you shorted the width of your legs too much that you lose balance.

Deck Concave is very important to match the surf feel, connecting your feet to the board. The more critical boards such as the 32”, 33” and 36” boards have a steeper concave as riders using these boards carver harder and sharper than those of the 30” and 39” models for example. Without the concave, you simply don’t get the surf feel. SmoothStar boards have a very low tail kicker, and this is really to emulate your tail pad on your surfboard.

Wheel Width – Having a wider wheel:

• better the grip between turns,
• it increases stability,
• can handle rough surfaces with small stones.
• having a thinner wheel: faster you will go between turns – faster release,
• you will be able to slide as there is less surface area gripping the ground.

Wheel Hardness

Soft Wheel:

• better absorption of bumps,
• better grip on turns,
• less foot vibration.

Hard Wheel:

• faster, slide the tail more

SmoothStar has generally soft to intermediate hardness wheels. However, SmoothStar has thin and thick wheels. We think the most suitable wheel for most riders is SmoothStar Stingrays; they are developed for the intermediate surf skater, which provides all-rounder performance.
After reading this blog and you still need help choosing a SmoothStar skateboard please contact us either by calling, email or using messenger and our knowledgeable staff will help you select the right board and skating and surfing like a pro (like Filipe Toledo or Johanne Defay).