“They decided to ‘adjust’ the cost of our event permit.” Explained Trigg Garner  of Victoria Skimboards. The “Adjustment” went something like this: For years now, the cost of the permit required to conduct the contest at Aliso beach was $300 for a three day event. The new price; $1,500… a day.
 

“Its tragic, really” noted 17 time contest winner and skimboarding icon Bill Bryan. “Tex Haines, the owner of Victoria Skimboards, and contest director has been running this event for the past 30 years as a charity event. The contest doesn’t make money. Time and time again, he’s been inches away from throwing in the towel on whole thing, as the numbers just never ad up. But it means to much to the sport, and it means to much to the community that surrounds it, to give up on it just like that… It would be a huge loss.”
   

Indeed “The Vic” contest carries enormous weight in the skimboarding world, and its loss would be great. Given its history as the longest running contest in the sport, at one of the best beaches in the word for skimboarding, it has developed into the premiere proving ground for skimboarders around the globe. A win at The Vic in any division is something to covet, as the best of the best from around the world are in attendance, all fighting for the win.
 

Unfortunately, with the permit situation this year, the contest had to be scaled back to a two day period.

  “4,500 dollars for a three day contest was totally out of the question.” Said Garner, “Even at $3,000 for the two days, we’re stretched to the max”  The limited time frame also forced event organizers to shift the contest to an invite only format for the first time in the contest’s history. A necessary move to limit the number of competitors to fit the time allotted.

All of this seems so far removed from the contest, and indeed the sport’s, humble beginnings.  The very first Victoria contest took place in 1977.  But calling it the very first “Victoria” contest doesn’t put it in the proper light.  Perhaps a better way to refer to it would be the very first skimboarding contest.  The event was not held at Aliso as it is now.  Appropriately, “The Vic” was held at Victoria Beach, as it was the premiere spot of the day.  There was no pro division, and there wouldn’t be for quite some time.  Divisions were based upon age alone, and the oldest division was 19 & up.  This was a young man’s sport. 

The inaugural event was actually sponsored by the city of Laguna Beach, and as such was only open to those that resided within the Laguna Beach School District’s boundaries.  The cost to enter the event?  Two dollars.  The total prize money?  Over $1000.  It would be nice to see that kind of support from the community again.

The contest spent three years at Victoria Beach before the decision was made to move it about a mile south to Aliso in 1980.  The introduction of competitive skimboarding was pushing the local riders to hone their wave riding skills.  Better skills required better conditions, and Aliso was the natural choice to take things to the next level. 

It is often asked who won these early events.  “Who won the Vic?”  This simple question has no simple answer.  These early events had no professional division, and the age brackets changed from year to year.  So there was no real answer to that question until the 1987 contest, when the professional division was first created.

This years event not only marks the 31st Victoria contest, but it also marks the twentieth anniversary of professional skimboarding.  In those twenty years, participation in all divisions has soared.  A few years back the competition had to be extended to a three day event to accommodate all the participants, and even so, many were turned away.  While the competition has no doubt provided some excellent exposure for the Victoria Skimboards company, there can also be no doubt that the competition has been a huge undertaking both in effort and finance.  Luckily for all of us, this sport has dedicated people like Tex who pour their blood, sweat and tears into these types of events.  Without this contest, skimboarding would not be what it is today.

I thought your name was Widemouth Bass? Well it kinda is. (laughs)

Well other than the obvious fact that your mouth is huge (like you could fit the entire Chicago Bears defensive line in there), how exactly did that name come to be?
HAHA… Oh man, Alex, he’s gonna freak when he reads this, (more laughter). This guy Alex, a friend of my older brother, he’s pretty much the most random guy I’ve ever met. He took one look at me one day and just started calling me widemouth bass. He pulls the most random stuff out of thin air. My brother and all his friends would call me it all the time. Sometimes it was just bass… “Hey Bass!” (laughs). At one point I had it written on my skimboard, that’s when it started spreading a bit outside of my brother’s clique. My friend was at some banquet down in Laguna a few years back and Bill Bryan was there. He asked Bill for an autograph for me. At that point I didn’t really know Bill, he didn’t really know me, but he knew enough to write “to the widemouth bass, you rip” (laughs). So… I guess alot of people noticed it or something.

I’m glad you’re embracing it.
HAHA… Yeah, whatever, I’ve grown to like it.

Where exactly do you live in Newport?
Uh, the Balboa Peninsula, about a block away from Wedge.

So pretty much you spent your whole childhood in the ocean or what?
Actually not at all. I really didn’t get into the ocean till I was about 11 or 12 years old. Before that, I spent most of my free time drawing. I love drawing. I love it so much I’d sit inside all day and just draw.
Eventually my parents were like, ‘Tommy, you gotta go outside and do something else for a while.’ So I got a boogie board and walked across the street and started messing around in the water.

How’d you end up getting into skimboarding?
My older brother Bob was pretty into skimming, I was about 13 or 14 when he pushed me into it a bit, he’d motivate me a lot. He also introduced me to a skim buddy of his from down the street named Derek. Derek would drive me down to Laguna to skim different spots, he got me into contests and stuff a bit too.

So how long did it take you to figure out you had the best skim spot in the world [The Wedge] out your back door.
(laughs) Ah… probably a year or two, I kinda worked my way down there slowly. I didn’t get it at all. Like, I knew it was the spot, but I didn’t know when was the best time to hit it, I eventually just started getting lucky and showing up when it was good, and slowly started figuring the place out. >>

It must have been a trip once you figured it out, having all these pro skimmers showing up in your back yard when it was good.
Yeah, the first guys I saw there on a consistent basis were Morgan [Just] and Bill. [Bryan]. That was back when they were filming for Liquid Courage, which I think was pretty much some of the best wedge skimboarding ever. So yeah, seeing that kind of stuff go down in person was kinda mind blowing. It made me want to do even more.
It was really tough back then though, trying to get a wave off the pack. The only time I’d ever get any waves was when people were changing, getting in and out of their wetsuits or something. If I was on it I could sneak over and pick one off. (laughs)

Nowadays you’re right in there.
Haha, yeah, I’ve been getting some fun ones this summer.

What can we expect from Skimboarder Tommy D in the next couple years?
Well, obviously I want to step it up to pro. That depends on a few things though, I’ll see what my sponsors have to say about that. I think I need to work on my tech stuff some more to be competitive.
But outside of competition I really want to travel more. I went to Cabo with the Exile team for the contest back in May.

That must have been another eye opener for you.
Yeah, as the new guy on the team I got heckled pretty hard, it was fun though. The waves down there are straight up beast war.

Beast war?
Yea for sure, vector complexing beast war, you gotta watch out, otherwise you get moon pretzeled. >>

Moon Pretzeled?
Yeah, you know, when you fall on a wave, and you get pinned down face first on the bottom and your legs get wrapped up behind you over your shoulders and and your toes hit the sand next to your ears. That’s a moon pretzel.

No kidding? I thought that was a called a “neurologist’s quadriplegic delight.”
Well yeah that’s another name for it, Moon Pretzel is the local Balboa dialect though.

You used to draw, now you make up strange words while skimboarding. Do you have any other creative outlets in your life you’d like to talk to us about?
Um, yeah, I’ve really gotten into film and video the last few years. I ended up being short on credits this year, so I twent to the coach of the Newport Harbor High School surf team and told him “hey, I’ll make you a movie for extra credit”. He said okay. I ended up spending the next nine months filming, and another four months editing, and putting it all together.

We got ourselves a copy of the video, and we have to say, its an amazing first effort. It was really well done considering you’d never done anything like it before.
Ah well thanks, I was really happy with how it turned out. I premiered it at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach to a crowd of about four hundred, it was really fun seeing every ones reactions.

You have any future plans for video stuff?
Yep, I want to make a skim movie some time, I also would like to get myself into film school one of these days.

“Very Nice” Any last words before we wrap this thing up?
Yeah, I most certainly want to thank my Mom and Dad for being there and supporting me in whatever it is I want to do. You guys are the greatest. Aaron at Exile, for obvious sponsorship reasons, I don’t call that guy mother earth for nothing; he is the provider of everything. Main Street surf shop in Balboa, for helping me compete, and pushing me to succeed. And of course SKIMBOARDER MAGAZINE!

Well Thank you Tommy D!