Sandal Skaters

[Hajjaj]

Sandal Skaters
Tuesday, 08 January 2008

By Essam Al-Ghalib

JEDDAH - Saudi teenage boys have taken to "sandal-skating" to attract and reach the opposite sex on the main Tahlia streets of Jeddah and Riyadh.
Many a girl while traveling in the privacy of her car has been surprised to find a young man knocking at her window while skating alongside her speeding vehicle, offering his telephone number as he holds on to the car door for dear life. Taking a closer look, she would find the young man dressed in a thobe, skating along on his madas (flat leather sandals) and not roller skates.

It's called sandal-skating and Nahla G. had this very experience, which she found frightening.

"I was on Tahlia Street and I saw these young kids in a car traveling next to me. At first one of the kids tried to get my attention by hanging out of his car window, but when I ignored him, he opened up his car door and stepped out onto the road. He was going as quickly as my car was, maybe 70 or 80 kilometers an hour," Nahla said.

"Next thing I knew, he was knocking on my window, smiling and waving. I was shocked and thought I would see him die in front of my eyes. When I picked up my mobile to call the police, he got back into his car, slowed down and then turned away into a side street.

On Dec. 24, 2007, Fox News ran a television news segment about Saudi Arabia's youth and the methods they use to attract attention from women. In one clip, a young man dressed in a thobe steps out of a white Toyota Camry moving at some 50 kilometers per hour on Riyadh's Tahlia Street and begins sandal-skating

The clip brought international media attention to this new craze which seems to have been invented in Saudi Arabia and is growing in popularity.

The way sandal-skating is done is for one person to drive the car at speed, while the skaters step out with both feet onto the road surface. The faster the car goes, the easier it is for sandal skaters to slip and slide.

No special equipment is needed, just a pair of flat sandals without a rubber sole, and a moving car.

Sandal skaters are usually dressed in a thobe and madas. For all intents and purposes, they look nothing like roller-skaters or roller-bladers. They wear no helmets or other protective gear. There is nothing to protect them from the hard pavement underneath but the soles of their sandals and the thin cloth of their thobe. Should the sandal skater lose his balance or grip, or hit a road bump or pothole, he would be seriously injured or killed.

In one YouTube video that appeared on the Internet last year, two young Saudi sandal skaters can be seen skating alongside their car on an unidentified Saudi highway. The driver can be seen passing cars on the left-hand shoulder as surprised motorists get out of the way. The car and the sandaled skaters appear to be traveling at over 100 kilometers per hour.

As the video progressed it became clear, however, that these young men were proficient and well-practiced sandal skaters - or perhaps just lucky - because at one point, one of the young men on the video, with full confidence, leaned all the way back, bringing his head within inches of the pavement and the car's spinning back tire.

Mercifully, within a minute, the young men stepped back into the car safe and sound.

Though sandal skating is indeed quite an original way of getting a girl's attention and admiration, it will surely result in someone's death in due course.

The traffic police department has no statistics on the number of sandal-skating mishaps that have occurred if any, but a traffic policeman posted on Tahlia Street said that the police are aware of the practice and have made a few arrests.

The sandal-skating video can be seen at the following YouTube url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwdZl2BpDAc.

[Niqaabis]

Subhaan Allaah

that is so dangerous

Though sandal skating is indeed quite an original way of getting a girl's attention and admiration, it will surely result in someone's death in due course.

No woman worth killing yourself for

[Expergefactionist]

1) What an idiotic thing to do to get female attention?!

2) Which idiotic woman would fall for something like that?!

[Abu Idris Al-Albani]

I actually think it's pretty hot, I mean, c'mon, sandal skating? LOL

I would DEF! try it, maybe not going as fast as they are, but I would try it.

And them trying to impress the sisters? Allahul Musta'an. Ashamed that they live there when so many people around the world that actually care about the deen could only WISH to live there.

[Umm]

Taking a closer look, she would find the young man dressed in a thobe, skating along on his madas (flat leather sandals) and not roller skates.

Must have been such a fitnah!

[Umm Ahmed]

The goverment there needs to implement part time and weekend jobs and national service , that will keep the youth busy , instead of these pranks along with no helmet dune bashing on quad bikes.

[Salsabil Cake]

I thought women weren't allowed to drive?

[rambant]

2) Which idiotic woman would fall for something like that?!

That is a good question.

I thought Sandal Skating implied actual little wheels attached to the underside of sandals, but there aren't any. Now I wonder about the science

Oh and it's a stupid sport to engage in. Very stupid. Compare Sandal Skaters to Matadors.

[nomad]

i dont think it has been invented just to attract the opposite sex, i think the youths of saudi are so bored they invent their own dangerous sports, alike europe (jumping around of tall buildings etc). They also have this dangerous car driving antics sport where they spin around in expensive cars, crash, become disabled and then end up in some expensive car home in uk or usa.

salams

[Abandoned-Mind]

I can see the fun factor in drifting on the roads - it looks abit alright to other 'fun' people too...this skating...look like thawb'd ...........