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