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Longboarding trends rolls into Chattanooga

By: Casey Phillips
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Watching them carve graceful, intertwining arcs around each other on their boards, you might think Daniel Shartle, 34, and Brent Sanders, 37, are about as close as Chattanooga is going to get to local surfers ... until you look down.

Instead of skimming the water on the Tennessee River, the two are riding the asphalt on longboards, a recreational transport that looks like a skateboard after it has spent a few hours on the rack.

Two months ago, Mr. Shartle founded the Chattanooga Longboard Co., which builds custom longboards in a store located in the back of Grapevine, his parents’ Broad Street store.

Mr. Shartle became interested in bringing longboards to Chatttanooga after Mr. Sanders, a local artist with a studio above the store, observed their rising popularity in cities such as Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C.

“You’ll see people downtown walking their dogs and letting the dogs pull them while they are just cruising,” Mr. Shartle said. “Longboarding is about cruising and getting the feel, the vibe of it, just enjoying it.”

After locating a company in Pennsylvania that carried Canadian maple laminate, the material most longboards and skateboards are made from, Mr. Shartle set about making a board from the ground up.

The process — from vacuum-sealing the sheets together to applying the finishing touches to the red-and-blue-striped design on the underside — took about two weeks of on-again-off-again work. Despite the satisfaction of building one from scratch, however, the real draw is doing the artwork, Mr. Shartle said.

“I like taking the blanks and coming up with classic designs, which are a little bit more from the late ’50s, early ’60s surf era,” he said, waving at a rack with four of the six boards he has completed from the ready-made blanks.

As might be expected, at 44 inches long, the boards are about a foot longer than skateboards and several inches wider, both characteristics that add to their increased stability, Mr. Sanders said.

“With the softness of the wheels, you can really lean into a carve and sit back on it and control your turns better,” he said, comparing a ride on a longboard to a skateboard. “Going from a dirt bike to a Gold Wing (cruiser bike) would be an apt comparison.”

When Mr. Shartle, who manages his parents’ store, approached his father about starting the company, the senior Mr. Shartle said he was supportive.

“I’m not overly familiar with skateboards, other than watching people fall, so I can’t make any true comparison between the two, (but) I’m quite excited about what we’re doing,” Mr. Shartle said. “Anything Daniel or Brian (Daniel’s brother) get involved in usually turns out well.”

Mr. Sanders, who rode skateboards competitively as a teenager, received one of the Chattanooga Longboard Co.’s first boards. He painted the underside with the face of a vivid, stylized woman.

In the future, Mr. Shartle said, he hopes to be able to attract customers with ideas for custom paint jobs that he can create for an additional cost.

Unlike a similar custom job applied to a skateboard, however, longboard art should last longer since the boards aren’t designed to be ridden aggressively, Mr. Shartle said.

“The beauty of longboards ... is that they don’t get beat up,” he said. “You’re not rail sliding on them. It’s more about the ride as opposed to more technical tricks.”

Mr. Sanders said most longboard riders are about his age, between 25-45, and have a background riding either skateboards or surfboards.

“You see some younger kids on them, but really it attracts the 25-and-up crowd because it’s not as risky in that you’re not trying to get up on a handrail or hit the lip on a 10-foot pool,” he said.

“I’m 37, and I love skateboarding as much as when I was a kid, but my body has definitely caught up with me over the years, so I’ve had to opt for something else. But I still enjoy the ride.”

Although no Chattanooga Longboard Co. boards have been sold yet, regular customers at Grapevine are expressing interest in them. Once the first few boards are sold, Mr. Shartle said, he’ll order more.

Once they’re seen riding the sidewalks, Mr. Shartle said he expects people will realize how well-matched Chattanooga and longboards are.

“You’re not going to see people riding from Ringgold (Ga.) to Chattanooga for work, (but) if you live downtown it’s great because it’s easy to put up in the office,” he said. “We’re hoping that people get it, see it and want to jump on it.”

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