HOW TO RIDE A WAVE SKIMBOARDING

If you love water and water sports then you would definitely enjoy this fun surfing. This is a boardsport in which a skimboard which is much like a surfboard but is smaller and without fins is used to glide across the water’s surface to meet an incoming breaking wave and ride it back to shore. It is smaller than a surfboard and hence is lighter than it is. It is quite flat and this sport is usually done on the shore of the beach that is flat. The skimboard might be rounder and smaller version of a surfboard but gives the same pleasure of surfing in the water. It is becoming increasingly popular but still is a small sport.

The best part about skimboarding is that it is super exciting and cool no matter what your level is in the sport or what your age is. Even a kid of five but in adult supervision obviously can enjoy using the board. Kids mostly love to play with the board driving it back and forth, sliding onto their knees and gliding across the sand. As much as a kid can enjoy it so can a grown man of nearly fifty years of age. When skimboarding on a wave you feel as if your surfing on water. It may be tough at first but then it becomes easier quickly with practice. Once you get the hang of it then you can even do tricks on the water.

The riding of the skimboard is easy that is why this is a stupendous board sport for beginners. You just have to start running up to the shore, keeping your eyes on the coming wave, look down to drop the board and hop on it, then look at the wave and bend your knees and prepare to ride up onto it and then turn it towards the sand. This is the basic tip of riding a skimboard. This looks easy while reading but needs a bit of practice, in reality, to get the hang of it and some other tips to master the sport.

TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND:

• if you are a beginner: if you are just a beginner in this sport and have just bought the board keeps in mind to start from the shore, first learn to slide on the shore and then take a dig at the waves. Firstly, remove off all tabs and everything from the board and wax the board with surf wax properly to keep yourself steady on the board. Try to find out a flat beach with a wide area that provides you with a coverage of the area with ¼” thin film of water by the previous wave. If there are cusps in the shape of crescent cuts in the shoreline waves then start from a point that is nearest to the ocean and aim your slide toward the back middle of the cusp where the beach is the flattest, this tends to provide you a long slide before ending on the shore. The easiest and safest maneuver in the skimming is speed run, which is skimming up the shoreline and turning off the swoosh of the waves. Waves swoosh a lot onto the sand, wait for the right one for you and time your slide such that you don’t hit the wave when it is flattened, and hence take your ride on to the wave. Keep in mind to get off the board at the right time when you end the slide before the sand cover it. Just before the slide ends, kick the board off back up the slope of the beach and then as when you turn to walk up the slope easily grab the board. The best board for beginners is the wooden board because a learning person can wear and tear the board and since this board is light and this is easily breakable so the best option is to buy a wood one to practice and train. Also, this wood board will not float if a thin layer of sand is washed over it. Why buy an expensive foam board if the person is going to be jumping and falling off the board. It is a better option for an experienced slider.

• Smooth riding and tips for turns: for a smooth-riding of the skimboard you need to keep control of the board and make smooth turns while riding a wave. Some people have problems sinking before they hit the wave, this could happen because of various reasons. Either you started too early or the board is too small for you or you need a flatter bottom or you were not running just fast enough. Relax this could happen, how to avoid is important. Turning are very crucial for riding smooth, turning usually lowers the speed of your board, so turn as little as possible. The worst way to go is straight out to the wave and expect to turn and ride it, you need to approach the wave from a flat angle. Using the hop method makes it easier, meaning usage of your legs and body to its fullest. Lift them up and push down as you slide, but don’t do it too much like a madman, keep it smooth and simple. Try to keep the board flat on the water, leaning on the rails for turning is just not the way, instead, try to touch the water to turn, it also keeps the rails lined up with your turning. For a smooth transition on the wave, keep your rear foot as far back as possible on the tail of the board, it will give you control as well. If you don’t want to fall into the board while turning, which obviously you don’t, then let the waves do the work of picking up and giving you speed and you keep your body firm on the board. Your body, while you are sliding, will follow where your head goes, so if you are looking towards the lip as you start to turn that is where you will end up. You should always keep your body still and your eye on waves that is how you will achieve vision and depth perception.

• Maintenance and safety: these boards need maintenance and protection. Since these boards are light hence they are totally breakable, so if they hit hard on a wave they crack into two. So keeping in mind that you need to maintain these. They do not like direct sunlight, so once done with your sliding keep them by sticking the tail in the sand and keeping the nose up so that less sunlight is onto them otherwise their polyester resin will get so hot and melt away that they will change their shape. The color also matters the white ones are fine but the colored ones are very vulnerable. Also, keep on looking for holes and water stains because rocks and sands to wear them out. Also, keep yourself safe and sound and respect everyone else on the beach. Avoid skimming where you might hit people. Don’t let the board get away from you and keep your body and firm and in control. Don’t try to do stupid things like flips in the shallow end and only go to the waves when you have learned and trained properly.

Keep these tips in mind and take your training with the skimboard very sincerely and carefully. Reading it seems very easy and but when you actually go out to try that’s when you realize the difficulty. So keep in mind these tips and don’t fall too much and hurt yourself, because without the body you won’t be able to enjoy the sport.