big feet, big bills

[kirkcudbright]

I've been skating for the past year on what are basically hockey skates (marketed as "recreational skates"). They're reasonably comfortable, but not suitable for the sort of figure skating I've been doing, or hopefully will be doing - they have no toe pick, no tail, and a fairly curved blade with a fairly flat grind. So I went to Cooke's to get real figure skates. Cooke's is the sort of shop where you have to make an appointment to buy skates, not because it's a hoity-toity place, but because it takes a while to fit them properly.

Because so few men figure-skate, there aren't a lot of choices in skates. All the lower-end boots are medium width only. I have wide feet, and Cooke's won't sell me boots that don't fit, and the cheapest boot that will fit is about 3 times the cost of the cheap ones (which aren't really cheap either). These ones are hand-stitched, with leather soles and heels. Oh, and they have to be special-ordered. So I probably won't have them before my next lesson, but when I do... I haven't had a toe-pick since I was a kid, when I had no idea what it was for.

Comments

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't know you skate! :) I used to love skating, although I haven't done it for a number of years now ... Where do you go for non-lessons? (Lessons are a bit out of my budget, but skating itself isn't, I hope.)

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

We (all 3 of us) skate at the Burbank Arena in Reading. They don't seem to keep their schedule online, so I can't tell you when they have open skating, or how much it costs.

[ceo]

It surprises me how little figure-skate design appears to have changed in recent years. Every other sport that involves doing dangerous things to the feet and ankles (skiing, in-line skating, snowboarding) uses these high-tech things made of plastic and nylon in various combinations, and figure skating still uses handmade leather boots.

Of course, I've also noticed that figure skating, culturally, tends a wee bit towards the traditionalistic. :-)

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

For stuff more in town, here's some references to work with:
http://www.state.ma.us/mdc/activ.htm#skate
They should get the 2003/4 schedule online at some point, and if they do, it'll be located at:
http://www.state.ma.us/mdc/psschd.htm

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Small (or at least coincidental) world! My current figure skates (men's size 14) came from Cooke's a few years ago. The people I've dealt with there have been absolutely brilliant.

There's a lot of high tech going into figure skates at the high end (despite the traditional appearance), at least if the ads touting space-age foams and carbon fibre and so forth are anything to go by.

Burbank's public skating schedule is variable, but generally includes a couple of hours around lunchtime on weekdays (11-1 or 12-2, +/- Zamboni slop) and usually a couple of hours on one or both weekend evenings. Try them on 781.942.2271 for info. (There are schedule sheets in the lobby, but the cognoscenti tell me that they should be taken with a grain of salt, especially towards the end of their coverage.) North Shore Skating Club (781.944.5874) does most (all?) of the organized public lessons there, and has their own ice time.