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Skimboarding (or skimming) is a sport which involves riding a board on an outgoing wave.
History
The earliest known record of skimboarding dates back to 1920 in Laguna Beach, CA.[1] There are photographs from that time period of Laguna Beach lifeguards skimming along the sand on large plywood boards. Skimboarding continued to grow in Laguna over the first half of the century, as well as worldwide, as people everywhere fashioned home-made wood boards out of plywood and used them at their local beaches.[citation needed] 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...
Laguna Beach is a city located in southern Orange County, California. ...
For the British Army regiment see the Life Guards A lifeguard in the most general sense of the word is an emergency service worker, who is a qualified strong swimmer, trained and certified in water rescue and first aid, who is responsible for overseeing the safety of users of a...
Towers of Hanoi constructed from plywood. ...
These boards were commonly circular in shape and not very well designed for controlled skimboarding. Early boards were often called paipo boards in Hawaii. In the early 1970s skimboards started to take on a shape more similar to surfboards and began to be manufactured out of fiberglass instead of plywood. Tex Haines started the first skimboarding business which he named Victoria after his home beach in Laguna. With rising popularity, many others have sprung up and skimboards are now easy to come by. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...
Bundle of fiberglass Fiberglass (also called fibreglass and glass fibre) is material made from extremely fine fibers of glass. ...
Although skimboarding is predominantly a recreational activity, like surfing, it has also evolved into a highly competitive water sport. For other uses, see Surfing (disambiguation). ...
Water sport most commonly refers to a sport which is played in the water. ...
Technique Unlike surfing, skimboarding starts on the beach. The skimboarder stands within running distance from the point of entry into the water with the skimboard in hand and waits for a wave. As the desired wave approaches the skimboarder runs towards the water. Depending on conditions the board is dropped on a thin layer of water from a receding wave or on the thicker water in front of the wave. Then he or she runs onto the board one foot at a time using a technique known as the "One-Step" while properly positioning the feet and maintaining balance towards the centre of the board. The skimboarder will then attempt to slide to the wave possibly "pumping" or "sidesliding" to maintain speed. This technique is known to skimmers as "Run, Drop, Slide" and is considered the basis of advanced skimboarding. When the wave is reached it can then be riden back to shore, "down the line", or the rider may attempt to ramp off the waveface and attempt an "out the back".
Any number of tricks may also be added to enhance to style and difficulty of the ride. It is not uncommon to see a rider run on a board front foot first even though most skimboarders run on back foot first. A variation on "Run, Drop, Slide" is the "Monkey Crawl" where the rider holds both sides of the board and crouches down running into thick water with the board on the surface before mounting. Another variation on the standard drop is the "suitcase drop" where the rider runs with the board held in one hand like a suitcase then flick drops it so it lands flat before running on. A common mistake is to throw the board ahead and run after it which is not considered proper form.
 Novice demonstrating the Fistral Turn Once on the board, the skimmer faces the difficult task of remaining stable to avoid allowing the board to dig into the sand or simply sliding out from under the rider's feet, thus losing control. Proper balance is needed keeping your weight centred on the board. Ideally, the skimmer should put his or her back foot far back on the board and the front foot towards the front of the board somewhere between the middle and nose of the board. A common technique for finding the "centre" of your board involves picking the side of the board up by the rail with two fingers until the board is balanced and doesn't lean forward or back, this is the approximate centre of the board. After successfully mounting the board it may be necessary to lean slightly forward to avoid shifting your weight off center or to momentarily shift weight slightly to the back to get over smaller waves to reach the desired wave. The skimmer then glides out into the ocean toward the oncoming wave, banks off it, and rides it back into shore. Image File history File links Fistral_turn1. ...
Image File history File links Fistral_turn1. ...
There are many possibilities for riding the waves and this is where skimboarders can really get creative.
If a skimboarder is not a "wave skimmer," then he or she can ride on a short film of water or possibly on "flatland" in swallow water where instead of going for waves the rider may attempt to ride a rail or do "tech" tricks similar to skateboarding.
Skimboards Skimboarding is based primarily on the principle of hydroplaning. Skimboards are smaller and thinner than surfboards because they do not require as much buoyancy. Hydroplaning and hydroplane have several meanings: With boats, planing or hydroplaning is a method by which a hull skims over the surface of the water, rather than plowing through it. ...
A surfer carries a surfboard along the beach. ...
The skimboard is a craft of varying size, usually of some oval, tear-drop, or square shape, though some people use circular boards. The square board is one of the easiest designs to learn on. The best size board, in most cases is about your mid-chest height. Modern skimboards are made out of fiberglass or carbon fiber and take advantage of a high density foam to serve as a core. The fiberglass/carbon fiber is a fabric which becomes stiff when saturated with resin and left to cure. When this fiberglass or carbon fiber is laid over a shaped piece of foam, saturated with resin and left to cure, a skimboard is made. Compared to a surfboard or bodyboard of similar areas, skimboards are not very buoyant. It is rare to see a skimboard thicker than 2.5 cm. A well-made skimboard will have some nose lift, or rocker, and may come with a rubberized traction surface also known as a stomp pad or traction pad, but these are more common on surfboards. If the board does not come with a stomp pad, surf wax can be used. Traction pads can be purchased for a low price at most surfing stores. Traction pads come in all shapes and sizes and are mainly used to cover only the back portion with arch bars covering the middle section of the board where the front foot goes. A surfer carries a surfboard along the beach. ...
Bodyboarder getting major air at The Wedge A bodyboard, known in surfing slang as a sponge, is a form of surfboard consisting of a small roughly rectangular piece of foam, shaped to a hydrodynamic form. ...
Rocker may refer to: Rocker, a British, 1960s style or retro-motorcyclist [ UK usage mainly but growing internationally ] Rocker (archetype), a person who listens to rock and roll or Rock music [ North American and UK usage ] Surfing : Rocker refers to the curvature on the bottom of a surfboard, skimboard, bodyboard...
For other uses, see Surfing (disambiguation). ...
Styles There are several primary ways in whichs of wax. (For best results with wax, try the hardest wax as a first layer then go up on softness till four layers of wax are applied. Remove all the wax layers before applying a new traction pad.) A skimboard can be ridden: either gliding over the thin layer of water atop the wettest sand and at the very edge of the ocean as wave remnants wash up onto the beach (called sand skimming) or in shallow sandy rivers and other shallow watered down areas (sometimes called sand skimming, flatland skimming, sandsliding, and sand surfing); or skimming from the beach directly into an incoming wave to throw a "fan" of water off the advancing shore break, catching air, or even riding across the wave face (referred to as wave skimming/wave riding). The waves that skimboarders ride are the type that break close in to shore, which is why skimming during high tide is best for wave skimming. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1500, 239 KB) Summary picture of a person skimmboarding in south Florida. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1500, 239 KB) Summary picture of a person skimmboarding in south Florida. ...
The Virgin River, a tributary of the Colorado, is shown highlighted on a map of the southwestern United States The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 200 mi (322 km) long, in the southwestern United States. ...
The latter style is more advanced than sand skimboarding, though flatland skimboarding has become more and more popular and taxingly difficult over the years. All skimboarders start by learning how to throw the board and run onto it while it is gliding across a thin layer of water. Wave skimming may offer a bigger variety of tricks, that are very hard, if you take skimming to the extreme. Only after they have mastered the basic techniques properly will they be able to attempt more complicated tricks, such as a pop shuv it, that involves waves, grinding rails, or skateboarding maneuvers. Sand skimboarding is considered to be a beginner's sport due to the relative lack of difficulty when compared to skimming on waves in hotspots such as Laguna Beach. Nevertheless, some flatland skimmers are able to perform tricks of great technical skill, many adapted from skateboarding, such as grinding rails. A skateboarder performing a frontside lipslide Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or performing tricks with a skateboard. ...
Laguna Beach is the name of several places in the United States, and a TV show: Laguna Beach in California Laguna Beach in Florida Laguna Beach the reality soap opera on MTV This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the...
A skateboarder performing a frontside lipslide Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or performing tricks with a skateboard. ...
Advanced skimboarders are able to do much more impressive tricks on their boards. The most common advanced move is called a Wrap. A skimmer can wrap the wave by throwing the board down toward the ocean, jumping onto it, and then hydroplaning out to the wave. When the skimmer reaches the wave, by shifting his or her weight the skimmer can wrap around it, which also propels him or her back to shore. To take it further, a very advanced move is called the Wrap Barrel. This is when you wrap the wave, but instead of coming back to shore, you turn farther and get into the barrel. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1500, 372 KB) Summary Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1000x1500, 372 KB) Summary Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Another Style of skimboarding is often called side-slipping. This style of skimboarding inolves doing the normal on-step but once you have landed on the board you turn the board sideways, looking as though the side of the board is going sideways first. This technique allows for the rider to have less surface friction which allows the rider to maintain a faster speed unlike the traditional way of going straight out into the on-coming wave.
External links - SkimOnline.com The largest skimboarding site on the internet including the largest skimboarding community with over 2500 registered members (forums).
- United Skim Tour The Professional Skim Tour which determines the World Champion.
- SKIMvids.com The best collection of skimboarding media
- Skimboarder Magazine - An online magazine and skimboarding news source.
- Skimboarding articles - A collection of articles about skimboarding.
- SkimNC - Media outlet for North Carolina skimboarding
- Canadian Skimboarding Reference - A skimboarding reference from British Columbia, Canada.
- Skimboard in France & Europe - Skimboarding photos and videos.
- NZ Skimboarding - Website for New Zealand skimboarding
- skim.es - Spain skimboarding
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