NEWS
We started from scratch here at Starr Surf Skis. Think Jake Burton in his garage hammering together the world’s first snowboard. Nothing but a dream and a drive to make it happen.
That’s what it’s like inventing a sport. You start at the bottom with a bunch of unknowns and marvel at the world of possibilities. That’s what fuels the dream after all, and that’s what excites us, the possibilities.
The possibility of carving enormous, high-speed GS turns down the smooth face of a steepening wave; the possibility of airing off the cresting lip – throwing 180s, 540s, grabs – as if the wave were a moving quarterpipe; the possibility of combining skiing and surfing in a way that’s not been seen before: Tube rides on skis, floaters, bottom turns – the birth of a sport, the creation of surf skiing!
This is downhill water skiing. But it’s more than that. It’s the completion of the loop that began when surfing and skiing first converged and spawned snowboarding. More than three decades later, it’s time to bring skiing back around – to the surf.
Think about it. Forward and sideways stances co-exist in almost every medium, except waves. There’s snowboarding and skiing, skateboarding and in-line skating, wakeboarding and wake skiing. Now there’s surf skiing. The ying to surfing’s yang.
Skiers, this is the final piece of the puzzle. It is our foray into this most sublime medium and it is long overdue. It’s also, we believe, evolutionarily inevitable. The time has come. Let’s complete the circle.
This is yours, so come to the table. Tell us how you see it happening, ’cause it’s happening.
Us? We see it as alpine and telemark skiing on the ultimate medium, a synthesis of worlds that advances what we’re trying to accomplish on skis and changes forever how we go about accomplishing it.
Welcome to free water skiing, brothers and sisters. Skiing on waves. Welcome aboard.
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About the Founder:
A native of Massachussetts, Jason Starr is a news journalist, a certified professional ski and snowboard instructor, a one-time mogul skier and and avid powderhound. He lives in Vermont with his wife Leah and dog Manny.
Email him at: jstarr@starrsurfskis.com
By phone at: (802) 881-4905
If you find yourself in Vermont and want to inquire about our surf skiing lessons, look us up through our Stand Up Paddle business, www.paddlesurfchamplain.com
Links, Thanks:
Great and unending thanks go to Jon Miller, B.J. Slater, Adam Saidel, the Inner Circle, Fred and Cathay Zipp, Matty and Melissa Johnson, Josh Fox, Dr. Kathleen Liang and UVM, Ryan Ober, Brooke Scatchard and Hillary Hess, Don Neiters and Raven Rafting, Tamara McCumber, Sue, Stan, Julie, Steve and Leah — the love of my life.
A thank you also to these folks who help make skiing waves possible.
Invent VermontFluid Motion Sports
