SKIMONLINE.COM

Here’s the video which goes along with the feature Cane Country in Issue 07.

Well, here it is… at long last, I’m sure more than a few of you are snickering at the great length that it took this issue to surface, and well, it’s more than justified. Truth be told, Paulo and Grady had  this issue ready to go on time, prior to Thanksgiving last year… So why the delay? and what’s the future looking like?

The initial delay of this issue was advertiser related… I’d paid the editorial staff out of my own pocket in full when they completed both of the previous issues when a large portion of the advertisers hadn’t paid their advertising bills for the said issues… I simply couldn’t release another issue until all the advertisers had made good on their bills. Some of them still haven’t paid their bills, pretty weak. Advertiser past due billing was more or less taken care of by the first of the new year when unfortunately for Skimboarder, my “real” work schedule took an endless turn for the hectic. New deals with new clients means working from home full time and commuting to Pasadena twice a week, I spent two weeks in January shooting photos and documenting a ski trip in Japan for a partner of my new client. The following four weeks was a rush to design and build a fully featured website for the same partner of my new client that I was traveling with in Japan (shameless plug: http://www.nimbusindependent.com)  So here we are, more than half way through February…

Truth be told, my motivation to continue with this project is zilch. Spending my rapidly decreasing free time tracking down late payments for a couple hundred bucks here and there just isn’t worth it to me.

Frankly it blows my mind that skimboarding companies are unable to be organized enough to put a check in the mail when they get a PDF invoice via e-mail once every two months…  Last year the owner of one online skimboarding shop had the nerve to tell me over the phone that “E-Mail isn’t a reliable way to get ahold of me.” I’m just sitting there thinking, are you fucking kidding me?! You run an ONLINE skimboarding store! It’s really deflated my desire to continue. Granted there are those in skimboarding who are very on point and doing the right thing, and fortunately I think these people have enough momentum to keep skimboarding at the very least treading water… I’d hate to see what this sport would look like without them.

Ad into all that my growing desire to have a personal life outside of work, and an otherwise increasingly busy work schedule with things non skimboarder related, and I’m tapped out.

Session at Rio das Ostras

In one hand, Brazil is a huge country, with an extensive coastline. On the other hand, skimboarding is just a tiny underground sport. So we can definitely say that there are still a bunch of good skimboarding spots to be found over here. Not too long ago, a little town called Rio das Ostras came to our attention because of some pictures that were sent to SkimBrasil by Pedro Sias and Caio Moura. It turns out that Rio das Ostras might be one of the most consistent spots in Brazil. Like many other places, most beaches in Brazil have a pretty unstable sand banks meaning that a big swell can easily shift the sand around making the waves break far offshore. At Rio das Ostras, things work a bit differently. The sand bank is really stable and can hold solid swells. It wouldn’t be fun if you could win every time, so Rio das Ostras is not as perfect as you might be thinking. Because of its position, Rio das Ostras can be very windy. By “windy” I mean kitesurfing contest windy! So you definitely need to have a good look at the wave/wind forecast before you head there.

Another thing you should know about Brazil is its crazy amount of public holidays. November the 20^th is one of them. Since the swell was looking pretty good for Rio das Ostras, we decided to put this public holiday to good use and make our way over there. In order to avoid the wind and make the most out of our session, we decided to wake up at 4am and head north from Rio de Janeiro. Rio das Ostras is a good 3 and half hours far from Rio de Janeiro so we ended up making it over there by 8am but Caio and a few other local riders were already at the beach. The waves were definitely better than any other option we would have if we had stayed in Rio de Janeiro. I must confess, we hoped it was a bit bigger. Of course, we can’t complain, the sunny warm day helped make things more fun and provided some nice light for the shots. Munir Ruffo and Pedro Sias were ripping and found some pretty decent waves. As the morning went by the tide got lower and lower making the waves break a lot better for goofy footers, which made Pedro and Munir a bit disappointed since they are both regulars.

All in all it was still a fun session. It definitely made the drive worth it and it was a good preview of what summer is going to be like.

Click photo to activiate Lightbox

What’s going on with skimboarding in Brazil?

I would say that skimboarding in Brazil is at it’s best. Brazilian riders and waves just had a huge exposure with the Foreverskim cover. We just had our first riders going to an international contest and new spots seems to be found at an increasing rate.

Nowadays, a skim session around here feels really fresh; it feels like the sport is evolving fast and on a daily basis. Because of a huge improvement of board manufacturing with new local shapers and the never easier access to information as well as high quality media surrounding the sport, there are lots of new kids riding well and pushing the sport. This new kids are the first generation of Brazilian skimboarders to actually grow up riding foam boards. They are bringing this new view of the sport, highly influenced by new American riders like Brad Domke and also by skateboarding. I haven’t been involved in skimboarding for that long but in the way I see it, the sport has never progressed this fast. The new generation is definitely raising the bar and pushing the slightly older dudes. Since skimboarding is a fairly new sport around here, we don’t have that much of a history or older riders for that matter.

For most of the time, I’ve been skimboarding in an attempt to find quality waves on more constant basis since the knowledge about the spots was fairly low. Nowadays, with a better understanding of the spots and wave forecast we are able to tell when and where it will be good. Making our sessions more enjoyable and richer on media.

We still have a really long way to go but I feel very comfortable saying that since I started skimboarding things have never been better.

The Surfing Clube de Portugal, well know for being the oldest Surf club in Portugal is organizing with the support of local authorities, brands and companies an importante skimboard competition.

With the prize money of 3000 euros (4100 usd) the event organizers hope to gather some of the best American skimboarders representing their own brands to compete directly with the best European skimboarders, most of them from Portugal, Spain and France as well as athletes from other countries.

The beautiful beach of S. Pedro do Estoril, near Cascais is 15Km from our capital-Lisbon, well known for its skimboarding tradition and suberb conditions for this sport, particulary in November and December. As usual in Portugal all competitores will be greeted the Portuguese way … warmly.

Skimboard, a spectacular and highly competitive sport, is growing all over the world and Portugal makes no exception, being one of the top nations in Europe and worldwide looked upon highly for having experienced, high level competitors and some young very promising youngsters.

With this event, Surfing Clube de Portugal hopes to contribute to the growing and recognition this sport deserves all over the world, in a way that in the near future we will see skimboard tours all over the world like we see today in Surf and other wave sports.

Photos courtesy of R. Palma

Batardubreak, French International 08 – Part 2/3 from bernardo batardubreak on Vimeo.

Batardubreak, French International 08 – Part 1/3 from bernardo batardubreak on Vimeo.

Results:
1st James Lovett
2nd Bill Bryan
3rd Paulo Prietto
4th Brad Domke
5th Sammy Stinnett
6th Morgan Just
7th Harley Nelson
8th Brandon Rothe

Big Thanks to the sponsors especially Brian and Lori at Main St. and Exile.

Click photo to activiate Lightbox

All photos courtesy of S. Czerepka

Thirty six pros showed up at the fouth annual Oktoberfest at Balboa pier.  The conditions were windy, but contestable.  The pros took to the water and impressed the judges and spectators.  The forecast tomorrow is expected to be better.  By the end of the day, the swell had picked up significantly.  The wind is predicted to be offshore in the morning for round 2 of the pro heats.  There is a lot at stake for the pros.  This is the final stop of the UST and will determine who will be finishing where on tour.  Beaker has locked up first place, but the other top spots are up for grabs.  Stay tuned, this event should produce some very exciting skimboarding.

Click the image below to initiate lightbox.

All photos courtesy of S. Czerepka

The region around Hossegor is home to good skim and with the nickname of Grolandes, literally translated as the land of big swell, one can only imagine a better place to hold a skimboarding contest. Riders gathered for this contest across the globe to participate in this event, only to be greeted by friendly hosts and a heavy swell.

On the first day of the contest, after a morning filled with coffee, setting up skim tents, and a few early grinch rides, the event was ready to be kicked off at the south end of les Estagnots beach. With 31° C (88° F) air temperatures and the beach being located adjacent to a naked beach, the contest was the place to be. The heats opened up with an amazing display of skill as Hugo Santos found an in & out barrel, Munir Ruffo did some big skate style drops and Guyano drove endless frontside rides. Not only were these riders exhibiting the sport of skimboarding, but everyone was able to catch some good waves and land some technical tricks. As the day progressed so did the swell and waves, allowing for even better skim in the afternoon near the naked swim zone nearby.

The following day wasn’t quite as fortunate as the swell began to taper off, however waves were still found during the high tide. Also, despite a lack of slope in certain areas of the contest, riders were still able to catch some fun liners. The finals of every division were very impressive, especially the professionals. Olivier “Guyano” Chabert skimmed at a level above the rest of the competition allowing him to win the professional division. Following behind him was Hugo Santos in second, pulling off long backside rides over Mega’s variety of tricks. Also performing well, Joao Denis, who was able to snag fourth place.

Luckily the contest was over before a storm came in, forcing the awards ceremony to be moved inside a cramped venue. This however didn’t stop the crowd from getting riled up for the contestants as they grabbed their overly stuffed award bags, while some of them on the podium began to strip off their clothes. With no more voice left to scream or cheer for the fellow skimmers, there was still enough energy to dance all night long.

The event was remarkable and couldn’t have been done without the help of the sponsors:  Unamas, Dune, Exile, Victoria, Eden, and Dirty Money as well as the Ledoux family, Skalp & Gaby.

RESULTS:

1. Olivier Chabert (Fra)
2. Hugo Santos (Port)
3. Emanuel Embaxaidor (Port)
4. Joao Dinis (Port)
5. Munir Ruffo (Bra)
6. Nicolas Thibaud (Fra)
7. Ricardo Abrantes (Port)
8. Romain Fraigneau (Fra)
9. Antonin Langeard (Fra)
10. Thiago Carlos (Bra)

Photos courtesy of Batardubreak and Acacia.