Wingskating on the frozen lake

by Manuel Stecher / Photos: Raul Redwitz

Trend or social media hype?

Is ice skating with Wing the perfect way to bridge the winter break in a meaningful way, or just a passing social media trend?

It’s mid-February and the lakes in the southernmost part of Germany, the Allgäu, are still covered in a 20-centimetre layer of ice. While the wingsurfing community in other parts of Bavaria uses every gust of wind on the water for wingfoiling, in the Allgäu the altitude means that water sports enthusiasts are forced to take a winter break. Most of the lakes here are frozen from December to mid-March, which limits training – unless you are willing to put up with long car journeys.

This year, we were once again able to watch the ice gliders on the frozen Rottachsee (851 m above sea level). We were already familiar with wingskating on skates, but the feeling of wingsurfing on a board had never really been achieved before.

The solution: Iceblades instead of wheels

But as luck would have it, Stefan from Curfboard and Raul from KARA Boards came to the Allgäu – and they had something very special in their luggage: surf skateboards with specially developed ice blades.

These iceblades are mounted at the ends of the trucks instead of the wheels and allow you to glide effortlessly over the ice. Thanks to the special design of the Curfboard surf skate axles, the body weight is distributed over the front foot in a similar way to foil surfing – so the riding experience comes amazingly close to foiling on the water. Even the typical pumping motion of surf skates works, so you can cruise like a surfer from a standing position – even without wind!

Over the ice with Wing – the ultimate test

But we wanted more: wingskating with wind!
We tested the combination with a 5 m² wing from Starboard/Airush in a constant but icy easterly wind of 9-12 knots and -3 °C air temperature.

And the result? Instant sliding fun! The ice skates glide smoothly over the ice – even the 2-3 cm of snow on the surface doesn’t get in the way. The EVA deck pads of the boards provide a solid grip, and even decks with normal grip tape work great as long as you knock the snow off your shoes first.

We speed across the frozen lake at speeds of up to 40 km/h with our surf skates and wind support. The grip of the ice skates is sensational and enables powerful turns where you can lean against the wind with your full body weight – without losing grip.
There are no speed wobbles, even at high speeds, because the specially designed surfskate axles are both stable and extremely agile in turns.

Conclusion: It doesn’t get any better than this!

This combination works perfectly and is great fun! Whether you’re a beginner or a pro – everyone can adapt wingskating to their own individual skills.

After a long winter break, we finally have that big grin on our faces again – the Stoke is back! The Iceblades open up a completely new way of getting around on ice and are a real alternative for wingfoilers in winter.

The best thing about it: the feeling for the wing returns immediately and we can practice surfing maneuvers and handling the wing at high speed. This means we are perfectly prepared when it’s time to swap the frozen water for liquid water again!