Whether you’re riding on the waves, concrete or snow, a board is a board, right? Well, maybe not, but the sports of surfing, skating and even snow boarding have a lot in common. And I don’t just mean haircuts.
Surfing came first and then someone got the idea to combine it with roller-skating and a few years later someone else decided to merge it with skiing. That’s my rather obvious theory, anyway.
Though many of you may know that Ericeira is the surfing center of Portugal and according to some the surf capital of Europe, it is also becoming a Mecca for skateboarding.
Surf clothing company Quiksilver, hosts of the Quiksilver Pro Portugal 2011 surfing competition (held this past June in Ericeira) have opened a new skate park and a flagship surf shop called Quiksilver Boardriders, both in Ericeira.
The Boardriders skate park is now the biggest skate park in Portugal.
For pictures of the new skate park in Ericeira and more information, check out the DigBMX website. The park is open to BMXers on certain afternoons of the week (with special rules).
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Boardriders also hosts Quick Sessions, a series of free Friday night concerts. Music, surf, skate and BMX in Portugal, what more could you want?
In other news, local Ericeira hero, pro surfer Tiago “Saca” Pires won the 10th heat of the first round of the Quiksilver Pro New York surfing competition. With this performance at Long Beach, New York, USA, Pires ensured his continuing place in the second round of the professional surfing world tour.
Read more on that (in Portuguese) here.
