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C ross Step Details

Foot placement and position details

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Cross steps are not quite like normal walking. The feet have to control and steer a moving board below while carrying a body above. A number of techniques can be used to maintain the pressure of the feet on the board and help smooth out the flow of steps. Much of this cross step details section is very technical and tedious to work on. Work on the foot positioning and placement details first. If you're trying to really master cross stepping, work on the smooth walking technique in the next section.

Pressing

Press on your board with your feet for control. To maintain pressure on the control surfaces of your board at all times through the walk, the knees must be flexed. Don't be light. I've read surfing articles saying you must be light on your feet to cross step. Sure, if you want the board to fly out from under you. You want to put weight on the board to control it. You can LOOK like you're light footed by having spring and by stretching your upper body. That will come with mastery. But, at the beginning, get some weight and pressure on the board, and try to feel which way the board wants to go through the pressure, communicating with your board.

Angle your feet

Walking on your board with feet parallel to it eats up walking space. If you keep the back foot turned in and the front turned out, you should be able to make contact with almost your whole foot on the board. This way you are able to steer while cross stepping by pressing on the rail with either toes or heels. Try to keep your feet at the same angle about 45 degrees, and don't let them flop around to the right or left.

Brushing legs and feet

Brushing the feet and legs close to eachother is a way of maintaining balance, keeping your body weight compact and over one part of the board, and saving space on the board. As you take your cross or uncross step, brush the foot close to the standing leg. This is so there wont be any swing to the side which could throw the balance off.

Brushing the board

Brushing the feet against the board is a way of keeping control. Let a part of your foot, the toe, ball, heel, outside sole edge, or inside sole edge, brush a little on the board, so there's always a little pressure on the deck. There is a great feeling of security with brushing, because the feeling of riding on one leg is lessened.

Save board space: Dig and kick your cross steps.

One problem in skateboarding that you don't have in surfing is space. Unless you have a seven foot skateboard, you will have to take small steps if you want to get four of them in when cross stepping to the nose.

For taking small steps it helps to "dig" your heel toward the shin you just crossed. This will conserve space. Cross it in front then squeeze it back against the shin of the leg behind it.

On this forward step onto the nose I "dig" my right foot into my left, heel first. Note the tightly crossed position.

When backpedaling I "kick" the toe toward the calf I just crossed to tighten the feet close together.

Use the whole board

A master longboarder has said "Nose riding starts at the tail." This is as true in big board longboard skating as it is in surfing. Maybe for different reasons. Surfing well from the tail, turning properly, will set up nose rides. Big board skating from the tail will open up lots of space up front to nose ride on. So in order to master cross stepping and nose riding it's important to master tail riding.

When you come off the tail after a loose kick carve turn and walk to the nose there is a big change in the character of the skating. That looks a lot better than to stand in the middle and lean turn then step up for no real change. It's not easy to skate on the tail, it takes practice and determination. The board wants to wheelie, it's loose, and balance is harder than hanging out on the middle.

Cross stance riding

It's important to be able to ride your board well completely crossed. Make sure you can do a carving frontside and backside turn while in the crossed position.

Windup

The cross stance is a good way to ride because it's a windup. Windup is described in many places on these pages, in turns, tricks, and steps. Try to do as much work in your windup as possible. This is the secret of skating that looks effortless. When the work is done in advance, in the windup or preparation, no one will see you work during the manueuver.

Cross stance implies that you're about to do something. It leads into tricks. Cross foot is a twisted "windup" position, where tension is held ready for action. When you initiate any move from a strong windup position into a relaxed followthrough position it's always a more positive change. If you step off the cross step back into a turn it will be a very pronounced weight change. If you step forward off a cross stance it will put you solidly in trim or on the nose.

Cross stance is for most people a kind of weaker stance than a regular stance. For that reason they rush through the cross stance and stumble. If you can get to the point where your cross stance is strong, and you are comfortable riding in it, then when you move into cross from regular, there won't be a big change in feeling.

Notes on cross training for surf cross stepping

Cross stepping on a skateboard is pretty hard but it's much harder on a surfboard. The lateral, sideslipping motion as you move up a surfboard can't really be imitated on a longskate. A surfboard pitches, rolls, and yaws like a boat, but a skateboard only rolls and shoots forward or back when you step wrong. It's more forgiving, only it won't seem so when you're on your pavement-skidding butt after a blown cross step. I recommend wrist guards or gloves and perhaps hip pads if you're learning and thick shorts or pants even if you're advanced. This is one way that skateboarding is literally a "harder" sport.

Remember, cross stepping on a skateboard takes away the hardest element, the moving wave, and you still have lots of work to do to cross step your surfboard. All you can do is get really competent on the longskate and hopefully it'll smooth out your walking on a surfboard.

Work up to four steps, but shuffle in the meantime

It may help in learning tip riding to take two cross steps, then shuffle twice to the tip for a five. Especially if you're surfing backhand waves a lot. Then at least you get the feel for what the tipride does. Later on you can take four steps up. This is the development you see in Wingnut, from his earlier films like "Endless Summer II" where he takes two steps and shuffles, then later films he takes four smooth steps. Why not take the same path of growth as the master?