Posted on January 19, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

Trip to Mexico, part 3: The Barba Brothers

If you ever get the chance to come down to Melaque you are sure to run into one of the Barba brothers. Jorge and Diego’s house is akin to that of the Volcom House on the north shore, overlooking the best skim spot in Melaque and is the headquarters during the contest they hold every March. Their shop down the road in Manzanillo, X3M, supplies boards to the local kids and provides a place to hang out, watch skim and surf videos, and froth out on the waves they found the day before. Since we landed, the Barba brothers have been amping harder than us, driving us through the jungle, down back roads, and over mountains to put us in the best waves in the area. I have known Jorge and Diego for a good while, and seeing their patience and positivity is inspiring to say the least.

That positivity of always finding something good around the next cove paid off as we stumbled upon a wave that was set up perfect for long plane outs into dreamy wraps. Diego said he had never seen the waves that good for skimming at this certain spot as the guys were sprinting back to the truck to grab their boards. Watching the boy’s plane as far as they could to hook into a long wall screaming toward the sand was something special. Johnny Salta was the stand out, making the biggest waves and sticking some large airdrops, which lead to us calling the spot “Johnny’s”. As the sun was setting we all took a moment to appreciate the opportunity to be in such a pristine place, doing the thing we love. Skimboarding is more than UST rankings and who is riding what, it brings people together and is a common language we all understand, and I am happy to see it alive and well in Melaque.

– Words by Kyle McClure / pictures by Diego Barba

Post by Victoria Skimboards.

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Nicolas Rottier

Skim Trip to Mainland Mexico (Part 1)

Today in Mexico the VIC team woke in search of the forbidden liner at Boca De Muertos. Teddy Vlasis, Johnny Salta, and Jack Howie made the trek to get out of Laguna Beach and get themselves into some warm water dream waves. Driving into the beach we passed a graveyard overlooking a peeling right liner sitting on a coastline that seemed abandoned. The river was flowing into the south side of the beach pouring tons of sand onto a bar that sent perfect spinners right onto the sand.

We began the first part of the session that saw the boys getting into some pacific power as the more exposed side of the beach picks up solid swell. To access this part of the beach we had to cross the chest deep river with all the boards and camera gear. Once we made the passage we were so amped to skim that we forgot the camera gear was right at the top of the slope, and as a large set wave came rushing up the slope Johnny Salta sprinted toward the gear and as he scooped the bags he connected his toe with one of the skims leaving a large hole on the bottom of his big toe. A little field dressing with duct tape and super glue had Johnny back in the water.

The waves were fun but the swell was pumping so the Johnny and Jack jumped in for a few waves on their surfs. Meanwhile Teddy wandered back to the sandbar we passed on the way in and started to get a few, and people took notice. We all ran back to the sandbar that was reeling waist high liners down a perfectly angled bar, and the guys were seeing who could wrap and get the furthest down the line. We ended the day with quesadillas and tacos at Tripas moms restaurant, recapping the days bangers over a few cold beers.

– Words by Kyle McClure / pictures by Diego Barba

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 December 4, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

Holiday Shipping Guidelines

STEP 1. PROCESSING TIME

Time that it takes from receiving the order to the day it ships

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CUSTOM BOARDS

6 to 8 business days

Boards made via the Custom Board Builder or Boards that we do not have available in stock

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BOARDS AND ITEMS IN STOCK

2 to 3 business days

To Confirm Availability of Stock or for any questions you can reach us at (949) 494-0059

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STEP 2. TRANSIT TIME (UPS GROUND)

Time that it takes from shipping the order to the first attempt of delivery

IMPORTANT: While Processing Time cannot be altered, Transit Time can be improved by selecting a faster shipping method such as 3-day select, second day Air, or Next Day Air.

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Posted on September 23, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

Welcome Beryl Besseau

We would like to welcome Beryl Besseau in the family today! He has been performing more than well in the contests in France, and Europe! From the Saint-Nazaire area, he is a “La Courrance” local, and surfs very well too!

Visit his profile here: http://ocean.victoriaskimboards.com/beryl-besseau/

Stay tuned for more action shots of him very soon!

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

Skim Stories of Torg Torgsen

Tim Fisken is the frontside turn master from the 80’s. We just called him Torg Torgsen, which was his pen name for the Skimboard Magazine series of stories on a wide ranging subjects back in the day when Victoria published a magazine.

-Tex Haines

Here is an email recently received from Torg Torgsen

This is a board Tex made for me 15 years ago. 3″ fins, deep conclaves, a really unique vehicle. It was a duplicate of a Frankenstein experimental I lost to Reno Abellira. Tex had given me a twin fin of his around 97′. I had been having a blast riding it but the fins kept popping out and the tail was getting trashed. I cut over a foot off the tail and re glassed the bottom a few times due to delamination problems. I set up small fins on the rail as a quad and the board went really good. Reno had been living in Ensenada and a friend if mine had been surfing San Miguel and Todos with him. After I had Tex make this duplicate for me I sent the original model down to San Miguel for Reno to ride. He tripped out on the board, riding it several times, making new eliptical fins and re laminating the bottom for the 3rd time. Unfortunately someone he owed something to stole it along with several of his other boards. It’s whereabouts now is unknown.
There is truly a nexus of connections that bring all this small fin/ no fin/ flat bottom engineering together. I credit Tex for a lot of inspiration and knowledge in this area that many of these shapers think they are just now discovering.
Great to see that Quam has maintained his love for alternative equipment.
That’s Tyler holding the X-15 as well as some recent yellow fin off of the Coronados.
Thank you for that thread Dirk, ….really good stuff.

– Tim Frisken aka Torg Torgsen

Here is an example of articles that Torg Torgsen used to write in the Skimboard Magazine March/April 1988

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

Saturday Session 8-23-14 Aliso

Very nice South Swell hit Southern California this weekend, giving us a great edition of Saturday Session. Ryan Ward, Jared Green, Kyle McClure, Matthieu Thibaud, Johnny Atoe, Jack Howie and many more gave a great show! More swell is on the way so stay tuned for more pictures soon!

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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 July 7, 2014 by Nicolas Rottier

Saturday Session // 7 7 14 // Aliso

Pretty epic conditions for this last Saturday Session at Aliso. Solid south swell, nice slope and perfect tide, with no wind and beautiful weather. Ryan Ward, Nathan Kravitz, Max Bourne, Tex Haines, Sean Malek, Johnny Atoe and a lot more had a lot of fun this 4th of July weekend!

Pictures by Tex Haines.