Posted on September 22, 2016 by Nicolas Rottier

Santa Cruz Skimbash 2016

Once again the trip to Santa Cruz was a blast, Victoria rented the dream house for riders and whoever wanted to hang out right on the contest spot! Nice dinners, hot spa, Great times! Here are Lynn and Tex write-ups of the weekend followed by some pictures taken by Tex.

[quote]Santa Cruz. Just the name conjures up images of red woods, chilly nights, waves, and getting together with friends for the TAC Apparel Skim Blast!
In our case, Santa Cruz also means Road Trip. The vehicle gets packed up and choices are made. HWY 1, HWY 5, HWY 101? One thing for sure, there were a lot of cars headed north last week looking for skim adventures.
I look forward to Santa Cruz. I like to find a house close to the beach for the team. I like to cook them all dinner. We can’t afford to pay big salaries, or fly people around the world, but I like to treat the team right in the smaller ways that I can. Plus, I love these guys and the skim community. I feed any strays who wonder by. They all sang Feliz Cumplianos for Tex when Carly brought him a cake. Aw
We had sunny days and chilly nights. The waves were not the best but there were some out great opportunities to be had. The wind interfered on Saturday afternoon, but only blew for about 30 minutes on Sunday. Congratulations to Blair Conklin on the win. His smooth style is so nice to watch and he found the waves to make the most of it. I watched Teddy, on one long down the line, go from a standing casual surfer slouch style posture to a tight crouch for the cover up barrel in the end. Pros can get so much out of so little!
Thanks to all in Santa Cruz for a fun event and your great hospitality. Chappy, your announcing was Garth-like. That is my greatest compliment! I know all the work involved, judges, score keeping, ect, from where I sat, everything went smooth. Good tunes too!
Looking forward to next year
– Lynn Haines –[/quote]

[quote]It was a lot of fun. The contest, the waves, the heavy toe to toe pro heats, the house was perfect, the walk short. Heck the water wasn’t even that cold at all. Some highlights were the Austin and Teddy, Blair and Sam semis, and Beaker was right there knocking on the door until the last minute with Austin before that. Paddy Mack got his highest pro finish which is notable. Some guys got the morning perfection, and mid day high tide stuff that was great, others like Johnny Salta had a head on wind and a low tide mess that killed the sidewash and left very slim pickins for the heat. Random. But, on the other hand, bits of serendipity like Salta and friends running into a concert deep in the Cowell redwoods and having a person leaving offer you their tickets is pretty damn cool. I love it that. Big Sur camping stories always surface, proving once again that the trip North is worth it in oh so many ways. Plus, I heard about multiple epic skim sessions at secret spots around SC on Thursday and Friday. Someone else picked off Malibu with perfect skim conditions, on their way up the coast.
Major thanks to Ben K., and all the crew for setting this up. I saw Big Dean on the judges stand most of the event, a serious senior skimmer showing the way for the future retired pros.
Apparently it was a cold and smoky summer for Santa Cruz, and we got credited for bringing the sun and warmer weather. After a summer like ours down in So Cal, I am so ready to share the heat with anybody that wants it. God bless the coolness of Santa Cruz. Thanks for everything from all the fellow skimmers from down South.
– Tex Haines –[/quote]

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

Exile Skimboards Oktoberfest 2015

It was an interesting two days at the Oktoberfest by Exile Skimboards. Nothing on Saturday but small wind waves, but the threat of rain on Sunday evaporated and left some pretty nice wind waves.
All in all I felt our team skimmed at least as well as anybody out there. Standouts were Johnny Salta all but beating a very late Bullo. Waiting 10 or 15 minutes for Bullo to show up was very questionable, and what the judges decided about it was a surprise. Tim Gamboa likewise gave Sam Stinnett a serious run for his money, and showed a lot of poise under that kind of pressure. Steph likewise went toe to toe with Keiao Bucasas and held her own under the stress. Nathan Flanigan also could have easily won his final, but came in a close second. High fives also to the utes, Zach van Meter, and Jude Young, they were charging too. Congratulations to everyone who competed. It was a lot of fun to see that high level of riding, and that can do spirit in the face of lousy conditions and steep competition. Thank you Exile for putting on a contest.

– Words and pictures by Tex

Exile Skimboards Oktoberfest 2015 Teddy Vlasis Jackson Tenney — Exile Skimboards Oktoberfest 2015 Teddy Vlasis Joogsquad

Pictures by Laguna Socal

Exile Skimboards Oktoberfest 2015 Jared Green

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

Mark Mills wins OBX Skim Jam

The 2015 OBX Skim Jam was a success with a 1st place finish. The conditions were small and glassy but fun to ride. Harry Wilson and Brice Roughton stepped it up in the Legends group and decided to run our heats at high tide and let the top pros judge our heats. The conditions were tricky since the waves did not offer much power and the soft sand we had to run on made it that much more of a challenge. I have to say the Sr. Grandmasters division gave it all they got during the contest…everyone put a lot of heart into their heats skimming which made for an exciting event. Thank you Victoria Skimboards and Skim USA for all you do for the skimboarding community! Always a Vic for me!

– Mark Mills

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

2015 Cabo Classico

Tropical cyclone Odile hit Cabo San Lucas in September of 2014 and rolled right over the top of as a category 4, the most intense storm for Baja of the satellite era*. The damage was still very evident. A local by the name of Kane said the day after it hit, civilization broke down, and it was mob rule for the next two weeks until the Federal Police arrived in town. Widespread looting sent him scurrying home to bar the doors and hunker down. Roofs were blown off everywhere, entire hotels lost windows, and major flooding ripped out roads and bridges.

Eight months later, Lovers and Solmar Beaches are still 20’ lower in sand than before and rocks now block most of the sidewash waves, reducing them to a fickle friend, and leaving a lot of riders stranded in the impact zone.

Presented and organized by the Melaque group, X3M consisting of Diego and Jorge Barbas, assisted by locals Alfredo and his son Alfredo, Drew Peace and a handful of volunteer judges, the contest started Friday on Lover’s Beach in small 2-3’ conditions.

With a small, and inconsistent sidewash, and a slightly more productive secondary, it was a tough day to get through for some of the more hung over contestants. But on Saturday the swell started to grow to triple overhead monsters, thundering onto the sand at Solmar.

Sunday morning the harbor master closed Lover’s to the water taxi services, so Diego shifted the event to the sider at the South end of Solmar. Teddy managed to get a ride to Lovers by a water taxi that hadn’t heard or didn’t care about the closure, and he found himself practically alone, with no ride back. The climb over the rocks required two major up and down hikes, and was totally exhausting. Not a good start for him on Sunday. By now the siders were creating quadruple overhead and bigger waves that were heart-stopping to watch. Huge huevos were required to go low and the Pros knew that was where it was going to be won or lost. Getting an air re-entry was out of the question as it was a 30’ drop. Just watching made everybody nervous.

Heats started out at 18 minutes each, giving the guys plenty of time to pick and choose. Morgan got bumped out by the illusion that a set was coming, he was outside waiting for 5 minutes before he swam in. No way was he going to come in during a set.

The finals pitted (!) Sam Stinnett against the local Juan Carlos, better known as Bullo. Hey, why can we all have nicknames? All the judges were shaking their heads as they matched each other wave for wave, screaming closeout to screaming close-out. It was too close to call for the average spectator, and must have been a very tough decision for the judges. Congratulations to Bullo, now a bonafide local hero, the toast of the town, and the pride of Mexico.

Jared Green took first in the amateur division, the high point for the Vic Team. Morgan finished at 8^th and Teddy 6^thin the pro division, which were very respectable finishes in what was probably the most competitive contest of the year.

It was a wonderful award party, followed by a showing of Shorebreak, The Evolution of Skimming, which was unfortunately too hard to hear at all, followed by lots of drinking and partying well into the next morning. Surfing wishes it could go back to the kind of rootsy, family feelings that night. Lots of respect goes out to all the riders. Let’s keep the vibe alive!

Thank you Diego and Alfredo for all the hard work, and logistics. Best ever contest. Boom!

Words and Pictures by Tex Haines

*Wikipedia

Pictures by @lagunasocal

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

San Diego Skim Fiesta

This weekend, we journeyed down to Johnny Atoe’s neck of the woods and skimmed the wall in La Jolla, San Diego. Big waves, kinda wild and not connecting well until the tide dropped and then there were a few more very interesting connections. Thanks to all the locals for sharing their spot with us, and for Johnny’s great hospitality and food. Nothing like a tight little pocket between big waves and cliffs to bring people together. Great surfing on the outside reefs to the North and South of us too.

Words and Pictures by Tex Haines

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

Johnny Salta – Going into the 2015 season

Two thousand and fourteen has come to an end, and I find myself looking back at what could quite possibly be one of the most amazing years of my life. This is all thanks to the sport of Skimboarding. I decided to dedicate myself to the season, as I was finishing up my two thousand and fourteen spring semester at school. I knew I had only missed one stop and could commit myself to the rest of the tour (knowing that there are two dropped scores at the end of the season). Over the past couple years I have learned a lot about becoming a professional rider and it definitely isn’t just an entry fee to make it. In 2013, I finished dead last in every event I entered whether it was Skimming, Surfing, whatever. As that year came to an end I couldn’t have been more bummed on myself and wanted to give up on the whole competing thing. But if there’s one thing anyone in the sport of skimming knows, is were all one big family. Everyone I was connected with reminded me to stick with it and keep in the water. So the journey began…

My first stop (2nd stop on the UST) was Cabo. Throughout all my time spent in the water skimming, my 2014 trip to Cabo was the best wave conditions I have ever experienced. I like to look at Cabo as the “pipeline of skimboarding”. Super heavy shore break and probably the best wrappable barrels that have been found. The contest had an amazing start, but I think there were a good handful of riders and well-known names that could say the event ran into some issues midway through. This issue came up at multiple events and I would agree both sides of the issue had good reasoning. However, when it comes to a time of making a decision of whether or not to run the event in questionable conditions, I really think the riders should have majority vote on whether or not the contest should go on. A lot of big names were taken out in early rounds that could have potentially be ran the next day in better conditions. Decisions like this can change results such as the United Skim Tour Champion at the end of the year, even though it may not seem like it at the time. (Before I go on, please note that I am not saying the 2014 Champ did not deserve his crown, because I truly think he worked the hardest I’ve ever seen him skim this past year.)

Another major issue that I think the majority of riders, staff, and even fans can all agree on is judging. Anyone that has any experience with judging can say that it takes a lot of time, patience, and awareness to score riders as precise and correct as possible. We are limited a certain amount of time and the waves coming in that time period are very limited. Riders that have been competing for a while, know that it is recommended to not go for the same waves. Although, when conditions are not at their best and there’s three to four riders in your heat you’re all fighting for the best waves. It would be nice if we had the technology, similar to the ASP where we could replay rides, but obviously were not on that level. One thing that stood out to me on the East Coast was calling out rides during heats. That way if there were two riders running in opposite directions, you had someone informing you to keep aware of both directions so you could use better judgment. It would be great to see the same names judging throughout the entire season; names that are knowledgeable, unbiased, and dedicated to the sport of skimming. There were a lot of very close calls this past year, that once again could have changed the overall end of the year results for several riders.

Room for Change?

I think there’s always room for change and improvement. I think there’s a huge handful of big names from all over the world that have not been able to be a part of the entire tour for whatever reason. And I think adding in all these names to the Title battle would change the overall ending results significantly. There’s a lot of talent and passion in the world that has pushing this sport forward. I believe time will play its part and bigger sponsors will start to recognize how unique and special this sport really is. I don’t think competing is the most important factor to get our sport known. Spread the stoke to the groms, work on media, and inform people that don’t know what the sport skimboarding is. We’re a family, not against eachother, trying to show the world what we are most passionate about.
As much as there may have been some negatives on the tour, I find the positives will always takeover the negatives. My heart and passion will continue to work as hard as I can to help this sport progress. I believe this sport is still at a very early age and the level of riding is progressing drastically each year. As of right now you definitely recognize the solid Top 8 names on the tour, but everyone behind that list of names is really hungry. And they are all pushing themselves as hard as they can to work their way to the top.

– Johnny Salta

Photo credits

Fabiana Badie

Tex Haines

Mary Hurlbut (front page slide)

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

2014 Santa Cruz Skim Blast

The Victoria Team represented very well up in Santa Cruz, CA for the annual Skim Blast! We rented a house for the Team, right next to the contest site. Ams and Pros hang out together along with Lynn and Tex Haines, and everybody had a great time! Overcast, but decent waves the riders made the most out of the conditions once again!

Santa Cruz Pictures by Fabiana Badie @Lagunasocal

Santa Cruz Pictures by Tex Haines @victoriaskimboards

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

2014 Vilano, FL by Johnny Salta

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Summer is coming to an end and there’s only two stops left on the United Skim Tour. This past weekend was the final stop on the east coast, taking place in Vilano Beach, Florida. This was a huge stop for everyone focused on the tour because all the scores throughout the top ten are in reaching distance. Everyone is as hungry as can be and I believe the title is going to come down to the final stop on the tour once again. Similar to Delaware and North Carolina, were dealing with small wave conditions and multi trick combos. It was interesting to see how certain waves were judged higher and lower against each other because at the end of the day, no matter what your opinion is on a trick or wave, the overall decision is from the judges.

I feel a lot of the riders that dedicate themselves to being a part of the whole tour would agree that they would rather be on bigger sized waves, like Cabo and Brazil. However,

Vilano really shows the otherside of skimming and the technicality that an overall strong skimmer should have.

It’s more of a skate contest, where you make the best out of the conditions you’re given. And you see riders pulling off tricks you wouldn’t see on a regular basis.

Everyone on the team presented a great showing at this contest.

Morgan Just had his best finish of the tour so far, skimming his way to Third place.

He was on his game throughout the whole event and brought out a large variety of different tricks. He had a very tough battle with the winner of the contest Sam Stinnet in his semi final. Even though he may not of made his heat against Sam, he put on a great show and made it one of the most memorable heats of the year. East coast rider Troy Rhoten ended up getting one of his better finishes of the year and his performance really showed. He has the east coast conditions on lock and completed a lot of crucial airs and shuvit combos. Teddy Vlasis made it through a couple of very tough heats and you could see that he really wanted to perform at his best in this event. He was pulling off very challenging 3 shuvs before he would hit the wave and tried to create the biggest score he could in the smaller wave conditions. This was probably one of my most difficult events of the year and I was really happy to make it through a couple of rounds. At the beginning of my heats I would get caught up thinking “there’s no way I have the tricks to beat the riders I was up against.”

But I was grateful I found a couple of the better waves in the heat and make the best of it.

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I had an especially great time outside of the event visiting the city of St. Augustine.

St. Augustine is one of the oldest if not the oldest towns in the US.

We had a couple days of downtime to explore and came across a lot of fun sites. For instance, Ponce De Leon’s “Fountain of Youth” and the Castillo de San Marcos, a National Monument of Florida. It was crazy to imagine all the history that happened throughout that town. It reminded me somewhat of a real life Pirates of the Caribbean. I really cherish moments like these on our trips, because it displays how unique all the different stops we attend are. Out of all the different things we did on the trip,

I had the best time being a part of the Super Hero/Villain skim session at the end of the contest.

It reminded me why I skim and why I enjoy skimming. The groms were so stoked to see all of us dressed up and doing what we love, and I was glad I could be a part of that group. It reminded me of how fired up I would get when I used to watch old videos of guys like Paulo Prietto and James Lovett dressing up.

It made me recognize that the most important part of all these events is not about winning, but having the best time.

And I feel I did just that. The joy and happiness that came out of those groms made every moment worth it.

– Words by Johnny Salta

– Pictures by Fabiana Badie & Johnny Salta

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Posted on July 22, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

2014 OBX, North Carolina, by Johnny Salta

[dropcap]”[/dropcap]This has been my third year as a pro and I’m happy to say I think it’s been one of my best so far. I think the difference between this year over previous years, is I finally believe in myself and know that I truly want to present myself the best I can. I’ve been behind the game since I’ve been a pro and I still don’t think I’m close to the top. But that’s not stopping me from still trying to become the best rider I can.

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It’s not always how you finish in a contest but how you present yourself through the entire event.

Of course it feels great to win but my main focus is being a part in helping this sport grow to what I truly believe it can. And this is exactly why I travel to places like North Carolina to compete. You’re traveling to a location where pretty much

everyone that’s attending appreciates the sport just as much as you do.

That is exactly why you can never be too hard on yourself if you don’t make it out of a heat. Everyone deserves a chance to win and everyone deals with a loss, that’s what sport is.

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Before I left for North Carolina, I imagined long liners with multiple trick combos. And that idea made me pretty nervous because I knew that wasn’t my strongest type of skimming. However just like any break, you never know how the conditions are going to be. And unfortunately we were not given the greatest conditions for this years event in North Carolina. I was pretty bummed to not make it out of my first heat of this contest because I was starting to come closer to the top ten of the overall tour. Although, I feel this heat loss will only make me stronger just like any other loss. Every contest is run a little different and you can’t always skim the same at every event to make it through your heats. For instance, places like Brazil, Cabo, and Aliso you’re charging! Trying to get the most critical and big waves you can. However on the east coast, you may not get those heavy conditions, so

you have to loosen up the hips and get more technical with you’re riding.

The top riders on the tour already have these tactics locked down and they don’t even have to think about it now. They’ve gotten to a point where it comes naturally. People always ask me “who do you fear skimming against the most?” And in a situation like North Carolina, I think my answer would be the locals. These guys are skimming these breaks on a regular basis no matter how good or bad it is. And that’s why I believe they may have a slight advantage. Of course there’s always going to be the list of names that I fear skimming against because there always at the top of their game, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be at the top of my game. Instead of getting too frustrated after a loss I’ve learned to accept the loss and focus on working towards the next event. And hopefully taking out my anger in the water and improving my results the next time around. Even with an early round loss I still made the best of the trip and I give it up to all my friends that I’m fortunate enough to travel with. I especially want to give a big shout out to the entire Pruitt family and friends for taking care of all of us throughout the weekend. We were lucky enough to experience their lifestyle and all the amazing things they have to do and I couldn’t be more grateful for that opportunity.

Being surrounded by all the best riders in the world help push me to become a better rider.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the season this year. As of now my goal for the rest of this year is improving on my flaws and locking down more tricks and maneuvers to stand out. Of course Id love to finish this season with a top ten finish overall on the tour. But for now my biggest thing is being a part of helping this sports growth.”

– Words by Johnny Salta

– Pictures by Fabiana Badie

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Posted on June 3, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

2014 South Side Shoot Out

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Solid results from the 2014 South Side Shoot Out in Dewey Beach, Delaware.

Teddy Vlasis takes 2nd place

in the Professional division in challenging conditions. According to Mark Mills, waves were far and breaking really fast, he was really impressed by the performances of the pros and their ability to reach very far waves. In the Senior Grandmaster Division,

Mark Mills took First place And our young Team Rider Aidan Stevenson places 2nd

in their divisions. We would like to thank the rest of the Team present there, Morgan Just, Johnny Salta… But also the contest directors Jason Wilson with Alley Oop, Skim City Greg and his crew, Skim USA and all the volunteers for pulling this great event. Here are few pictures submitted by Mark Mills, and Melissa Stevenson.

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