Ice Board Blades are a product of a group of kite surfers in Hungary. Their products are a being improved since 2017, and primarily used in conjunction with a kite or wing, but also for riding without the wind, and even a snake board if you’re up for it. The main difference here is the addition of a rigging holes for connecting an elastic band designed to keep the rails parallel to the board. After thinking about this for a little bit, I have to assume this just helps the board return to a straight position after turning. Who knows, maybe blades and cold bushings have a tendency to get stuck in a turn. You could always try Bitter Bushings too. – Thanks to Bob Mechtly for the tip.

Blades for skateboarding on ice were invented back in 1966, and you used to see some advertised in the 70’s and 80’s as we have covered extensively before. In 1996 Iceman Products, Inc out of Sonora, California filled a trademark for Iceman Blades. I’m guessing these were probably advertised in the skate mags too. How well did they sell? Probably not too well if there’s a guy in Arizona who allegedly has 1000 units left, which can be yours for around $22 each. If you want something more upscale, you can get Xtreme Ice Blades for $130 (!) – Thanks to Quee for the tip.

The Air Borne Freeskate was born in 1984 as a cheaper alternative to sailing in ice boats.  The reason this is on Skate and Annoy is because it appears that early models of the Freeskate may have been outfit with Indy  216’s. The sport is still going these days, but they don’t use skateboard trucks in commercial rigs anymore, although some DIY types have built there own using those extended mountain board trucks with the springs. I’ve seen videos of later model Freeskates that no longer used skateboard trucks as well.  This model is not a fluke however, as there appear to be several out there with this truck setup.  It’s kind of hard to find information about this board, as google turns up a lot of ice skating links. There are various groups that were at one time devoted to it, but most of the links seem to be defunct. These photos come from a guy asking $350 for his set up on Craigslist, Cape Cod. I pulled the date of the invention of the Freeskate from a February 12, 1984 New York Times article that unfortunately does not include archived photos. Freeskate appears to have become an all encompassing name for similar devices, in the same way that…

It’s the Ice Surfer, the invention of Willard Gebien from Libertyvlle, Illinois. Debra Fischler sent in a picture of the device from 1966. An auction for a mint condition Ice Surfer showed up about a month ago, I sent it to Neil but I guess he forgot or wasn’t interested. I believe it went for about $150, I was tempted but I just don’t have the extra cash floating around. I’d never seen close up pictures of the actual Ice Surfer board before then, but when it rains, it pours. There’s another one on eBay right now. It’s well worn and slightly damaged, so the opening bid of $149 is pretty steep considering the condition. Peep some pics of the pristine version after the jump.

On Tuesday we got a nice covering of fat, white snow here in Portland. It came down pretty good for a couple hours in the middle of the day. It even stayed solid on the streets, which usually doesn’t happen here. But, by the end of the daylight it had pretty much been replaced by rain, and it melted away. I looked outside at about 5:00 and it all seemed like a pleasant dream. Over the weekend I went to a kids birthday party (with my kids, not to abduct toddlers…) that was at an ice rink. It was the firsttime I’d had on ice skates since grade school. I go to thinking about those old ice board kits that were for sale in the back of Thrasher.