By: Jeff Bell

I never cared much about competing in skim contests. The pressure and angst was so diametrically opposed to what skimboarding truly meant to me. I didn’t care who was better than me and I never got that much pleasure proving that I was better than anybody else. I already knew these things and it didn’t matter to me. Besides, there was no money in the sport. I always knew that I would have to go out and get a job anyway. And honestly, in the back of my mind, there was always the sellout guilt. I wanted my experiences with skimboarding to remain pure, and making money may have tainted that.

Why then, would I write an article like this? Why would I want to see this sport grow? Well, despite my personal experiences in competitive skimboarding, I have always enjoyed watching and following competitive sports at the highest level, where winning is everything and losing is always part of the game. The competitive nature of humans intrigues me. I love watching over inflated egomaniacs get their asses handed to them from time to time. I also like watching somebody that has worked hard to improve their game climb to the top and be the ones to hand them their asses. I think that it is time skimboarders get paid for the risks they take and the time they have put in perfecting their skill so that somebody else can be entertained or make a buck off their efforts. Then there is the sport itself. Skimboarding deserves respect and it needs a Pro-Only tour. If it is going to exist, it might as well drop the red headed stepchild image it has with surfing and create some of its own destiny.

It’s hard to believe that after 30 years of competitive skimboarding, contest organizers and sponsors are still relying on the amateurs and first time competitors to pay entry fees to fill the purses for the pro divisions at each event. The UST and their members need to leverage themselves and their product, and pound on corporate sponsors to put up more money so we can end the beach signups and get a legitimate Pro-Only tour running here in the US.

A Pro-Only tour would allow organizers to schedule events at better venues, situate heats better and work around the conditions to the benefit of the riders and the spectators. It would showcase skimboarding as a viable alternative sport, worthy of the respect that it deserves. It would also give the riders a chance to get real exposure and open doors for other personal opportunities.

Allowing amateurs to compete alongside the pros weakens the overall image of professional competitive skimboarding. I mean, how can potential corporate sponsors take competitive skimboarding seriously if we are constantly catering to 6 and 7 yr old amateurs? Why would Mountain Dew or Van’s want to sponsor a skim tour when it is full of a bunch of ams doing OTB’s and pop shuv’s in one foot slop? Sure, watching little 6 yr old Timmy sliding along the shoreline in his oversized Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle boardshorts and Sponge Bob floaties is cute, but competitive skimboarding doesn’t need cute. It doesn’t need Sponge Bob and it sure as hell doesn’t need The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It needs skilled and competitive riders pulling off technically advanced maneuvers and taking risky chances on huge bone-crushing shorepound! That’s what the corporate sponsors want to see and it’s what they want to associate themselves with. A Pro-Only tour can help with that image.

So who is going to be able to make the changes necessary to make a Pro-Only tour happen? Fathom Industries? Perhaps they can Re-Invent themselves too! I think the general consensus is that they could pull it off and that any perceived conflict of interest could be worked out. The Big Top Tour looked so promising. Board manufacturers (you know the top 3) should not be burdened with the expenses and organizational craziness that putting on a skim competition can create. Let the board companies worry about making boards and helping their team riders with travel money, entry fees, monthly expenses and free boards. I don’t see Al Merrick holding surf contests. It’s like the tail is wagging the dog. I know that it has to be a real drag too when a certain board company sponsors a contest and a competing board company rider wins the event. Why do this to each other?

So, as we enter another contest season, it looks as if nothing much has changed. We’ve seen the 2008 contest schedule. The riders will be buying their plane tickets and making arrangements to sleep on floors, couches, tents and campers. They will be sending in their entry forms, waivers and fees. The pre and post contest parties are sure to be fun. And I’m sure the skim sessions will be too. And skimboarding will be no closer to a Pro-Only tour than it was 30 years ago.