Editing 3152: Skateboard

{{comic
| number    = 3152
| date      = October 8, 2025
| title     = Skateboard
| image     = skateboard_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x267px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = I understand it's hard to do more than 300 feet on these 90-second rush jobs, but with a smaller ramp I'm worried the gee forces will be too high for me to do any tricks.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] appears to have gone {{w|skydiving}}. In mid-fall, he opens what he thought was his parachute, only to discover the bag in fact contains {{w|skateboarding}} gear. This may be a reference to [https://www.ladbible.com/news/us-news/skydiver-final-words-forgot-parachute-ivan-mcguire-367933-20250409 an incident] where a skydiver switched his skydiving equipment for his camera equipment backpack and died. Cueball blames himself for the error, pointing out that having something that is not a parachute in a bag that looks a lot like a parachute bag is practically inviting disaster.

After a {{tvtropes|BeatPanel|beat panel}}, Cueball (still in mid-fall) takes out his phone and makes a call to a company responsible for {{w|skatepark}}s, hoping to place an order for a {{w|half-pipe}}. A half-pipe is a skating ramp consisting of a semi-cylindrical surface that forms 180 degrees of a tube, allowing skaters to ascend vertically to perform tricks and then descend onto the same ramp. It seems Cueball's intention is to have a very large half-pipe transported to (or constructed at) his landing zone, then use his skateboard to land on the ramp. From there, he could either transfer his downward velocity into much more survivable horizontal velocity, or continue onto the opposing side of the ramp to transfer into upward velocity, which would be counteracted by gravity and ultimately allow him to survive.

Obviously, this idea is absurd; half-pipes are very large structures, and it would be difficult to move such a structure ''any'' meaningful distance in the time it would take Cueball to hit the ground, and still more time to build one ''in situ''. Furthermore, it would have to be built or positioned to align closely with Cueball's line of descent, and ascertaining this would significantly delay the operation. The title text plays this for laughs, suggesting that the skatepark representative takes issue only with the ''size'' of the ramp that Cueball is requesting (600 feet), with the implication that a smaller half-pipe (300 feet) would be perfectly within their capabilities. Cueball tries to convince the rep to accept his original request due to his falling speed; making a high-speed turn inflicts significantly more {{w|g-force}} (unusually rendered as 'gee' in the comic) on the turner the tighter the turn is and the faster the turner is going, and because of his dilemma (falling without a parachute), he doesn't have the option to slow down to make a tighter turn more manageable. One would think that Cueball's concern is the human tendency to black out under extreme g-force, and the additional danger that would result from the consequent loss of control. However, his actual concern is that the high g-force would prevent him from doing tricks. Half-pipes are commonly used in skateboarding and other sports for performing a {{w|lip trick}} at the stop of the pipe, such as going high up in the air and spinning around or planting a hand on the edge. Cueball is attempting to make lemonade out of lemons by using his situation to perform an absolutely incredible skateboard trick on the world's largest half-pipe.

Terminal velocity for {{w|Terminal_velocity#Examples|a human falling in a prone orientation}} is about 55 m/s (123 mph). A ramp with a radius of 600 ft, or 180 m, would produce a centripetal acceleration of ''v''<sup>2</sup>/''r'' = 17 m/s<sup>2</sup>. With 1 ''g'' (the acceleration of gravity at Earth's surface) being about 10 m/s<sup>2</sup>, that's 1.7 ''g''. A 300 ft radius ramp would generate about 3.5 ''g''. In both cases, the acceleration vector (pointed radially) will add to the Earth's gravitational acceleration vector (pointed down), and be at a maximum at the bottom of the ramp. Assuming no change in velocity while skating on the ramp, that would be a max of 2.7 ''g'' on the 600 ft ramp and 4.5 ''g'' on the 300 ft ramp. The duration of the acceleration would be π''r''/''v'', about 34 s on the larger ramp and 17 s on the smaller ramp. Humans will generally black out under prolonged exposure to 4-5 ''g'' acting downward, as the forces pull blood away from the brain, so the difference between the 300 ft and 600 ft ramps could be the difference between tragedy and skating immortality. However, if Cueball were to land lying flat on the board, the g-forces would be survivable - [https://www.goflightmedicine.com/post/pulling-gs-the-effects-of-g-forces-on-the-human-body humans can withstand] sustained transverse accelerations of up to 11 ''g''. The opportunities for tricks are more limited in that position, though.{{cn}}

The human record for a controlled skateboard descent on an extremely tall ramp [https://www.redbull.com/int-en/sandro-dias-ultimate-skate-ramp was set on 25 September 2025], about two weeks before this comic appeared, by Brazilian professional skateboarder {{w|Sandro Dias}}. Dias completed a controlled 70-meter skating descent on a skateboard ramp built to match the curved contour of {{w|Centro Administrativo Fernando Ferrari|an office building in Porto Alegre}}, Brazil, with a shape somewhat similar to a quarter-pipe. Dias started from rest, on a platform attached to the skate ramp, rather than first jumping out of an airplane and reaching terminal velocity, but he was able to maintain control throughout the extremely steep and high descent, reaching speeds of over 100 km/h (28 m/s) without falling. Cueball is in a much more challenging position in various ways. Dias's feat actually confirms the conceptual plausibility of a 300-foot halfpipe, although (a) his maximum g-force was lower because he achieved lower maximum velocity after starting from rest, (b) his period of high g-force was much briefer because he started from rest and he's on a quarter-pipe instead of a half-pipe, (c) he is currently the only person in the world ever to have safely descended such a large ramp, (d) the ramp built for his challenge was constructed on the side of an existing building over the course of an entire month, not in a matter of seconds, and (e) he trained extensively specifically for this challenge, including sustaining the g-forces involved.

This comic shares a similar premise, at its core, to the recent example in [[3147: Hiking]], where the timely delivery of a structure was also put to good use — albeit that, in this case, the need is probably more urgent and not just a convenient means of assistance and fun to the respective recipient.

==Trivia==
Although Cueball is falling at great speed, Randall didn't include cartoon-style [https://www.fastcompany.com/1673017/quimps-plewds-and-grawlixes-the-secret-language-of-comic-strips downhites], vertical lines above him that would indicate this.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Cueball falling in the sky facing, his back down, him facing upwards. He has a tall unzipped backpack with a pouch for holding additional items on his back and a skateboard in his hand . Clouds are seen in the background and are in the following panels in different positions]
:Cueball: I guess this is on me. I should really keep my skateboarding gear and my parachutes in different-looking bags.

:[Cueball looking at his skateboard, still falling, now facing downwards]

:[Cueball dialing on his phone, almost completely upside down]
:BEEP BEEP

:[Cueball talking on his phone, back facing upwards, similar to the first panel]
:Cueball: Hello, Pro Skate Parks LLC? I'd like an extremely expedited order for a 600-foot halfpipe.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Skateboard]]