Complete newbie here once again

[moss]

I'm planning to take up skimboarding as a summer hobby to get out of the hot damn house :P

I've been doing my homework and I think the Victoria woody or speeder would be my best bet. Which one would you recommend? It seems like the only difference is that woody has a fiberglass resin while speeder does not.

I don't want to look like a douche in front of a ton of beach-goers so I think I will practice really early in the morning like around 7am while no one is around :D

Which wax do you guys recommend as well to keep me from falling off?

Thanks.

[Rockporter9]

If you're planning on sand skimming that should be fine and wax doesn't really matter which brand you get. Just get the right wax for your water temperature.

[jake]

if you're just gonna do it for the summer or something then yeah buy a speeder or some other wood board. but if you plan to get serious or at least stick with it i woul dget a board a little betteer like a wedge or a pro or something to learn on.

have you ever skimmed before?

[moss]

nope, I'm a complete newbie to skimming. thanks for the quick replies btw.

my plan is to get a wood board then buy a foam one when im ready to cut some waves up :)

[Rockporter9]

Yeah then either of those will work, but you could also get a fiberglass board that is not a wave riding board, but a sand skimming board which might be a bit more durable.

[Teddy Hartford]

if you are somewhat coordinated and watch some skim movies and study their technique a little i think you are going to outgrow sandskimming pretty fast. You might want to look at a bottom of the line waveriding board. AT least then you can skim some deeper water even if you arent waveriding yet.

[moss]

my friend told me about this board... seems quite expensive though

http://surfingcowboys.stores.yahoo.net/visksk.html

he said that a round board would work best for me

[Rockporter9]

I hope that is a joke. I agree in that you may want to consider that you will outgrow sand skimming very quickly and will want to wave ride and buy a new wave riding board. That is what happened to me. What is your weight/price range. If you really thing you should go with a sand skimming only board then go with those or some other ones, but I would go with a entry wave riding board, so you are not wasting your money.

[moss]

I'm trying to keep it around 150 at most. I weigh 140.

[didj prophet]

no, that would not be a very good board to learn on, if you were stoked on sticking to sand skimming for the rest of your life then that might be a good board for you, stick to a victoria woody or speeder, or a bottom of the line foam board, like a zap wedge or something

my first board was a wavezone glide, i got it from wavezone through ebay for 70 bucks, 100 including shipping and handling, which is not that much more then a woody or speeder would cost you, and it was a good board to learn on, good for sand skimming but it gives you more float then a wood board which will let you start going out into deeper water, you wont outgrow it as quick as a wood board

wavezone's have a bad rep, especially on this message board, and i have to say rightly so, relative to other manufacturer's their shapes aren't very good, they are heavy (my 48"x1/2" glide weighs the same as my 54"x5/8" baker), and their name is really stupid

but they do have some postitive points to them

1. they are cheap! (at least the lower end ones on ebay are, never buy a "high end" wavezone)
2. they are durable for what they are, ive beaten the living shit out of mine and it's still hanging in there, i keep it around for my friends to learn on, it's got more cracks, pressure dings, and rail damage then ive ever seen, im amazed it hasnt delaminated or snapped in half yet
3. despite all the negative points, skill goes a long way, when i do ride that board now im surprised what can actually be done on it since ive gotten better, ive wrapped a few chest high waves pretty cleanly on that thing, although i eat shit on the vast majority of them
4. they are cheap!

wow this post turned out a lot longer then i intended, i hope it was helpful since i wasted all this time on it

[Rockporter9]

I'd go for a zap wedge then large. You can learn the basics with sand skimming, and start to progress to wave riding. It is a great beginner board, lots of people start on it.

[Luff]

All I can say is, don;t go cheap. You'll regret it in the long run. Skimboards will last you awhile if you treat them right. I also got a Wave Zone to learn on, and that board has held up real well. My best advice is, get the best board you possibly van. Go with a Zap Wedge or something. I'd say stay away from wood if you plan on getting into wave riding. You'll just be wasting your money when you have to be a better board later on. Just go ahead and get a decent board now and save yourself in the longrun.

Look around on ebay and eve no nhere for some used boards. And, you can look at skimcity.com because they've got a Used/Damaged but Repaired section. That way you can pick up a board cheaper. I think there's a Wedge on there for like 115.

[Blanton]

I agree, I had a wedge for quite some time. After you pick up a board a relatively flat beach like Huntington would be good to work on the basics. It shouldn't be very intimidating since it's not much of a skimming spot.

[moss]

thanks for the replies again.

since im a complete newbie (i don't skateboard or snowboard or anything)

would a zap wedge be more difficult to learn to balance on than a wooden board?

[loco]

buy a wood board...get the basics down, then go with a foam board...you dont need to spend over 60 dollars on a wood board either...

[Rockporter9]

thanks for the replies again.

since im a complete newbie (i don't skateboard or snowboard or anything)

would a zap wedge be more difficult to learn to balance on than a wooden board?
shouldn't matter

[Luff]

thanks for the replies again.

since im a complete newbie (i don't skateboard or snowboard or anything)

would a zap wedge be more difficult to learn to balance on than a wooden board?

I doubt it. It'll just allow you to go into deeper water, which will help out a lot later on.