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Sandboarding the Dunes of the World

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Sandboarding the Dunes of the World

While on holiday in Dubai many years ago, a friend recounted how he had seen a bunch of people on snowboards surfing in the desert on the dunes. Having never seen this before he was intrigued and decided to give it a shot. Giving it a try this adventurous friend, never having gone surfing before, had the time of his life. That is the allure of this interesting sport, that even people who have never tried it before pick it up pretty quickly and have a good time in the process. Where did sandboarding come from and why is it so popular amongst many people all over the world?

Sandboarding is basically taking a snowboard and using it to surf down a sand dune in a desert. No extra equipment is needed, just a polished board and a sense of adventure. A website explains what is needed to enjoy the sport, “You need a standard snowboard. If you haven't mastered the technique of surfing yet, you may also use a sled, or a board made of a simple, flattened cardboard box,” (ehow).

The sport, also called duneboarding or sandsurfing, has become a tourist attraction and a big sell for tourist resorts in desert countries, because the resorts can sell day out packages which include a bit of sandboarding thrown in. Where did this sport come from though? A website has this to offer on the origins of it, “The sport appeared in Brazil in 1986, in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The origin of sandboarding is still a mystery. Some say that on one occasion, an instructor of U.S. snowboarders was on vacation in Florianopolis borrow[ed] a board [from] a group of surfers and tried to surf on the sand,” (Navymats) 

The sport caught on from there and can now be seen in many desert venues around the world such as Dubai. As it says in the statement above, a U.S. instructor while on holiday tried sandboarding, it could very well be that others took his idea and when on holiday in other desert areas brought the sport to these places with them.

From there the sport spread and since it is so easy to engage in because all that is needed is a board, its popularity grew amongst tourists. Can the same sort of comparisons be made between surfers, snowboarders and sandboarders? Well surfers are pretty laid back chilled out people, who take their sport very seriously as are snowboarders. Sandboarders also seem to take their sport very seriously because sandboarding has its own tournaments that take place all over the world. Some countries tournaments take place in are, “idyllic settings like Dubai, Australia, Namibia, Japan, Chile and the Western United States,” (Discovery).

What would be very interesting to watch would be an X-Games type event for the desert; it could include sandboarding, dune off-roading in jeeps, motocross events and any other extreme sport that can be easily converted to be done in the desert. A place like Dubai would be ideal for a tournament like that and it could even become an extension of the X-Games. The benefit of desert events and especially sandboarding over snowboarding is that snowboarding can only be done in the winter, whereas dunes are available in deserts all year round. One negative aspect of sandboarding though is the fact that unlike in snowboarding, where there are chair lifts to take a person to the top of the snow covered mountain, dunes have to be climbed up either on foot or using an ATV. If anyone has climbed up a sand dune in the blazing summer heat of the desert, they will know it is a very difficult task to do. The quad bike or ATV then becomes essential in the sport. The other thing that is unique to sandboarding is that the desert can be a very lonely place, if a group of people go on a desert adventure to do some sandboarding; it is very likely they will be the only people there. Whereas in snowboarding the slopes are usually covered with people, sandboarders are usually few and far between.

Nonetheless the sport of sandboarding is continuing to grow in popularity and one day the sport will have worldwide recognition. Fingers crossed!

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