Travel Blogging Academy

If you want to try out some sandboarding than the Sand Master Park is the place to be. Lone Beale also called Doctor Dune is the inventor of the Sandboard and the owner of the Sand Master Park. In an interview he says that the park located in Florence (USA) is the Mecca of sandboarding.

 Sandboarder: Jose Martinez
 Photographer: Cristian Calcagno
 Location: Cerro Dragon Dunes - Iquique city (Chile)

Sand dunes

When you visit the park you will be welcomed by the nature of sand dunes. The dunes are moved by the wind so they change all the time. ”Our dunes occur naturally but we move them with heavy equipment if it’s necessary. Usually we do nothing and just let the dunes be what they will be”, says Doctor Dune.

Equipment

To start your sandboarding adventure you need a few things. First of all a sandboard with bindings. You can rent it from the Sand Master Park. Further you need to think about covering your body in comfortable clothes. The sand can let some bad marks when you crash on it. So wear long sleeves and protect your legs. Ofcourse eye protection is a must. You don’t want sand in your eyes. It’s more annoying than snow. The same for the mouth. Just use a bandana as defence against the sand or as sun protection for your head if you don’t want to wear a helm. Some wax is also handy when you want to gain speed and don’t forget the sunscreen!

‘Chairlifts’

”Lifts are certainly possible but we generally hike to the top of smaller dunes. Like surfing, for every ride in you paddle your board back out. That is the naturally involved healthy work out of our sport. However when we ride the very big dunes we use dune buggies back to the top. So we don’t hike. The ride up in a high powered dune buggy is quite an adrenaline rush. You will be back to the top in no time. We actually call them chairlifts. More and more movable stairways are used to make the hike up much easier. You will see more of this in the future.”

Styles and dangers

”There are a variety of sandboard styles, slalom, race, rail slide, big air jumps, boarder cross, free style, trail runs and more. Sandboarding is a very safe sport because sand is very soft but like any extreme sport there are risks if you push beyond your ability. The most common injury is perhaps a bruised tail bone from sitting down hard, because you are going too fast.”

Sandboard history

     Source: Copied from Youtube.

     Just visit: http://www.sandmasterpark.com if you want to explore the art of sandboarding.