need help, what am I doing wrong

[chumbucket]

the video is short but I cant seem to transition from sand to water...the board gets knocked off my feet by water or it just sinks in..it is a victoria foamie and Im not sure what size it is I bought it off some guy on CL and he was probably 60lbs heavier than me...I would also appreciate it if someone helped me with my timing of the wave. Other than that I can get on the board almost everytime at an average speed...any feedback is appreciated, I'll try and post more pictures in a couple days

[Rusty]

Looks like you went a little too late in the clip, the wave broke right before you reached it.
Other than that I'd say you're on the right track, just skim as often as you can and practice your drop & entering the water with speed till your legs fall off.
Try to shift your weight a little more to your back foot when you hit the water.
Sounds obvious, but you want the board to glide on top of the water, not plow through it. You'll know that feel bro.

[lucasskim]

practice practice practice, and try to find a buddy or two to skim with so you guys can learn off each other at the beach

[chumbucket]

thanks guys I appreciate your comments.. and yeah I'll definitely be practicing, skimboarding is the best thing that ever happened to me

[jrizz171]

you are really late so definitely go sooner. just practice everyday and you will start to see improvements just like anything else. once you get the timing down, when u get to the wave bend you knees and push off the wave as you turn. basically just stand up. its second nature after a while! keep skimming!!

[chumbucket]

you are really late so definitely go sooner. just practice everyday and you will start to see improvements just like anything else. once you get the timing down, when u get to the wave bend you knees and push off the wave as you turn. basically just stand up. its second nature after a while! keep skimming!!

thanks a lot jrizz171, I will try what you said on another thread by going as early as possible and then narrowing it down from there

[chumbucket]

here is another video this happens to me all day

[SJskim]

you need to put more weight on your back foot, itll help you transition onto the water much smoother

[jrizz171]

cool man hope you get it down! in that video above i would straighten out the board as you come toward the water and lean back so your nose will get above the water. once you've made the transition you should be good to go!

[Klaustrophobia]

the first thing you want to do is go over the wave with the nose, not the side. lift up on your front foot right as you go over, but put your weight back down once you're past it or you'll loose all your speed and sink pretty fast.

[tmac]

Even getting the timing right for the place you're running to mightn't do you any good. A proper rideable wave isn't forming at that part of the beach from what I can see in the footage. Check out the beach at different stages of incoming / outgoing tide to see when the waves are forming and breaking better right on the shore (if it ever happens there).
Looking at that time of day in the video - I would water drop over where you're currently aiming to finish up and head for the forming wave beyond there (though even that doesn't look very powerful so you'd have to really be carrying a lot of speed). Looks kinda like the mush we get here in Italy most of the time.

[SJskim]

in the second video if you pause it at :13, theres a wave to your right that looks much better than the wave that your running for.

[chumbucket]

Even getting the timing right for the place you're running to mightn't do you any good. A proper rideable wave isn't forming at that part of the beach from what I can see in the footage. Check out the beach at different stages of incoming / outgoing tide to see when the waves are forming and breaking better right on the shore (if it ever happens there).
Looking at that time of day in the video - I would water drop over where you're currently aiming to finish up and head for the forming wave beyond there (though even that doesn't look very powerful so you'd have to really be carrying a lot of speed). Looks kinda like the mush we get here in Italy most of the time.

thanks for your advice, when I water drop do I still get on the board like if it were on sand or do I have to do something different to get on the board?

in the second video if you pause it at :13, theres a wave to your right that looks much better than the wave that your running for.

Yea I didn't see that when we were filming...I usually never run to my right because I'm confident running to my left since that the way I started running when I started skimming but I have been trying to go to the right it just feels weird...

[tmac]

When getting on in deeper water, drop as you normally would but crouch down much lower by bending your knees way more as you get on. You have to get on very lightly to maintain your speed.
Don't get stuck always going backside, make sure you learn frontside too when you're starting out. The longer you leave trying to learn frontside (going to the right for goofy footers), the harder it will become.

[floridaskimmer]

This happens to me when I drop the board into a lot of chop/whitewash. It only happens when I dont lean far enough back. Run faster and lean back, dont let this discourage you and keep trying.

[Jim Gordon]

I really don't like going front-side, but when there is a strong side wind I'll go that way just so I'll not eat shit.

[Hotboxcomp]

aim the nose of ur board more in the direction of the wind and or waves as you are about to drop. Moving the nose depending on the conditions helps me because i have a front foot drop i skim in the wind all the time too. its like a offset aim left get on stri8 is my motto.....and a simple adjustment of ur nose as you drop makes a huge difference good luck and dont forget to get low and add some steeze to ur style

[hostingtrouble]

When you enter the water try crouching towards your back foot, try putting your back hand in the water and that might help you getting the board up so you dont hit the wave but go over it so you can go for waves further than those youre trying to get. If you want to ride those small waves run a little bit more sideways as those waves dont have as much power to drive you back