For my gear list for the Japan to Switzerland leg on the recumbent bicycle, please visit the Gear for Cycling page.

The focus for the new onward skateboarding leg of my journey is ‘lightweight’. I had made some fairly drastic changes over the 9 months and 12,000kms it took to get to Switzerland on my bike, but I had to get even more ruthless when it came to thinking of having to wear a pack on my back for up to 6 hours a day.

There are still some areas of this list where I could save up to 1,000g (1kg) such as rain gear. Switching to light rain gear could save me up to 700g. Switching to a lighter sleeping bag could save me an additional 200g. That’s equivalent to an extra 1 litre of water I could carry. Numbers like that really come into play when you are travelling in very dry or remote areas.

The following table is a strict ‘weight budget’ that must be adhered to at all costs if the challenge of skateboarding 8,000km is to be realised.

My skateboard is a low-to-the ground carbon and kevlar composite longboard with big 97mm wheels that eat up most of the rough stuff on most good sealed roads.

Summer Skateboarding Gear List

Core
45 litre backpack – 1420g
Light weight down sleeping bag – 1045g
Light weight closed-cell sleeping mat (small) – 230g
Core total – 2695g

Tools
Skateboard tools – 150g
Tools total – 150g