Sunday, February 28, 2010

Choosing The Best Skimboard For You

Many people ask me which type of skimboard is best for me? Well there's a few different variables when it comes to choosing which skimboard is best suited for you.

There's different sizes, brands and materials.

First lets talk about wooden skimboards. Wooden skimboards are great for beginners because they're cheap and easy to find so it's ok it you're rough with the board. As you become better and more experienced skimboarder I recommend switching to a fiberglass skimboard.

Fiberglass skimboards are great because they're light and fast across the sand and water which you need if you plan on doing a lot of tricks and moves with your skimboard when you hit the wave.

There are many different sizes to skimboards depending on your skill level, height and weight.

Here's a list of sizes I recommend to people who are looking for a board:

# 35 inch - 75~110 lb beginner # 37 inch - 85~120 lb beginner or intermediate # 38 inch - 85~120 lb beginner or intermediate # 40 inch - 110~160 lb beginner or intermediate # 44 inch - 120~160 lb beginner to expert # 45 inch - 120~160 lb intermediate to expert # 48 inch - 135~185 lb intermediate to expert # 52 inch - 140~220 lb intermediate to expert

So when it comes to choosing a skimboard go through the list to decide which is best for you, at the end of the day its your choice. Everyone has their own style and taste.

Thanks,

Jason Fackrell

http://www.skimboardpros.com

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

What Is Skimboarding?

Skimboarding itself is a type of board sport. It's different than surfing because the boards are much smaller and you're not paddling out into the waves. You're actually riding the waves before they crash onto the shore or in many cases start skimming on the sand heading out into the waves. You actually get a running start gaining momentum then dropping the board and quickly jumping on the board catching the wave before it hits the beach.

There are many different kinds of boards depending on your weight, height and taste. There are fiberglass, bamboo, glassfoam and wood skimboards to suit everyone's taste or level of skimboarding technique and talent.

Most skimboards have a lift or rocker on the front/nose of the skimboard to prevent what skimboarders hate what is called "nose diving", this is where the skimboard nose dives into the sand causing the skimboarder to crash or wipe out.

Skimboards are constantly evolving into better styles and designs and is becoming a mainstream sport. Skimboarding is becoming more and more popular every year.

Skimboarding styles and tricks are also similar to skateboarding such as ollies and shuv-its on the wash of waves without catching shorebreaks.

SkimBoardPros.com

http://www.skimboardpros.com

The Best Places To Go Skimboarding

The best places to go skimboarding.

Skimboarding is becoming immensely popular especially for people who love to surf. One reason being is anyone young or old can skimboard, it's not limited to age. Another reason being is you don't need big waves to skimboard and you don't have to paddle out into the deep ocean to enjoy yourself.

Even now skimboarding competitions are becoming more and more popular each year.

Where are the best places to go you ask?

The major skimboarding competitions are held in places like Laguna Beach, CA; Baja, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Dewey Beach, Delaware; and Barngate Light, New Jersey. These are some of the better beaches to skimboard at.

Of course there are many other beaches to skimboard at such as: The Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Hilton Head, South Carolina which is known for it's flat beach which makes it an excellent place to practice your skimboarding skills.

Then you can head out west again to Padre Island, Texas to the area of Big Shell which is located Padre Island National Seashore.

Last but not least the entire coast of Florida offers countless beaches to go skimboarding. Florida has many different kinds of beaches ranging from flat beaches to steep beaches to medium sized beaches. Make sure you choose a beach that doesn't have a lot of shells and rocks this can make near to impossible to skimboard not to mention tearing up your board. Also choose a beach that is not so crowded so it lessens the chance of hitting and hurting someone with your board.


http://www.skimboardpros.com

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The History of Skimboarding

Skimboarding began as far as we can tell back in the early 1920's, in southern California around Laguna Beach. Lifeguards used boards to skim on the sand and receding waves. Starting with homemade boards usually made out of old plywood. Skimboarding started as a way to ride off the wet sand into the ocean, starting back about 15 to 25 feet on the beach a rider would get a running start and drop the board onto the wet sand and then jump on riding it into deeper water.

The sport advanced just like any other sport in board design and tricks based on the design and materials the board was made of. The sport was little known until the sixties when more guys started skimming at Victoria Beach and it started to gain some ground and become more popular. The style and tricks began to get more advanced as the boards became shorter and wider. The shallow water riding turned into trying to get farther out and catch waves as the broke on the beach. Eventually starting to carve on the waves turn 360's and fly aways and other tricks.

By the 70's its popularity grew even more and started to get popular in places other than SoCal. One of the major skimboarding companies started back in this era called Victoria Skimboards. Started by a couple of guys that grew up in SoCal skimboarding at Victoria beach, Tex Haines and Peter Prietto. They are considered pioneers in the industry working hard to increase credibility for the sport and their products The popularity increased in the 80's but never to the point of major watersports. The increase in media coverage in the sports arena has helped to gain some ground but towards to end of the 80's and early 90's the interest was down.

The mid 90's saw a increase in attention as people started to gain interest in sports that weren't normally labeled "major sport." Helped along by magazines that were published focusing on the sport of skimboarding like "Skim Magazine" and the presence of more pros and amateurs used to promote the different companies, skimboarding has become more popular heading into the new century.

With the world wide access to media and sports through the internet, combined with the amazing technology of today, skimboarding might be on its way to that "major sport" title. The people that have been in the industry a while disagree on whether or not that`s a good thing.

http://www.skimboardpros.com

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Skimboarding Tips

Skimboarding Tips

1. Dealing with the wind: First off make sure you skim with the wind not against it. This will prevent many bad things from happening and you'll wipe out much less.

2. Getting on the board: When you're first trying to get on the board "run onto it don't jump onto to it." Running onto the board greatly decreases your chances of falling. You don't want to weight down the board which creates drag and slows you down. Also by running onto the board instead of jumping onto it maintains your speed which is important.

3. Getting out to the waves: Getting out to the waves can sometimes pose a problem so what you want to do is what's called "Side-Slipping." This can be a little tricky to master but it's definitely worth it. What you do is while you're speeding over the water out toward the wave, you turn your board sideways so that your toes are pointed out toward the ocean. If you "trim it" at the right time you'll lose speed much more slowly. Then when you get close to the wave turn your skimboard back to the normal position and ride your board normally.

4. How to make your board faster? Waxing your board with car wax or products like rain-x make your board faster as well as keeping the sand from sticking to your board.

5. Using the right wax on your board: Some people don't know this but never wax the bottom of your board only the top of your skimboard. There are many different kinds of wax. There's cool wax and warm wax. Cold water wax is much softer and stickier and warm wax is harder and less sticky. Also cold water wax doesn't last as long as warm water wax.

6. Skimboarding tip: Make sure to keep your foot on the back of the board. Many people tend to stand on the front of the board; some surfers do this maybe that's where the problem comes from.

7. What to do when you get a new board: Some new boards come all nice and polished and this can pose a problem when it comes to waxing it or putting traction pads on it. So if you have this problem clean it very good and take some rubbing alcohol and rub off the polish on the places you want to wax and put traction pads on. Your traction pads will stick much better.

8. Putting traction pads back on: As with all things traction pads sometimes come off. To help stop this from happening make sure you first clean the surface and take off the polish before applying the traction pads. If they start coming off around the edges take some super glue to keep them from further peeling. Also using a hot hair dryer to remove the pads will be a big benefit to you.

9. Removing glue and wax: If you want to remove wax simply put it on the hot sun and watch it melt. Then take some sand and paper towels and rub it off. Glue can be a bit of a challenge so I suggest buying some "Goof Off" and using a razor blade to scrape it off.

10. Traveling with a skimboard: Of course first you should purchase a skimboard bag. Make sure the bag is bigger than your board because you're going to want to put extra padding in your bag such as beach towels, foam pads or anything that will help protect your board. One thing you don't want is rail damage to your board. Also make sure you check with your airline company regarding the rules and prices with bringing on a skimboard. Every airline is different and they're constantly changing the rules.

http://www.skimboardpros.com