well done

[physiorol]

I have been thinking for sometime that we should have a forum just for kite skim boarding. OK, Throw in the strapless surfing as a bonus.

I have been kiting on the skim for a couple of years and love it. Have not mastered the no fin skim in the waves though (small surf is OK but pulling off the bottom turn is not easy).


Anybody using a skim in the surf with success? Who has added fins to their skim for the surf?

[Lonny]

Hey Physiorol,

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for the feedback. We hope to have a great place for all of us to talk about another style of riding that does not get much recognition, but certainly deserves its place in kiteboarding and a home to talk about it.

This season I spent quite a bit of time riding in the surf with my skimmer, and also experimenting with a fin. I was riding in up to 25 knots with a Zap Phase5 - 54" x 20.5" x 3/4" skimmer and most of the time I was riding in small 3 - 4 foot surf. My board has the option for one fin, and I was experimenting with a 1" x 7" fin.

Skim_Fin.jpg (47.74 KiB) Viewed 50806 times

Personally, I found the fin to be more of a hindrance than help. It definitely helped when bottom and top turning, but I could not do shovits or 360s nearly as easily. The fin would often catch in mid spin and knock me right off. Plus, I really like the challenge of riding a wave on the skimmer with just the rails and your body position. It definitely feels like a real accomplishment when you make a good bottom turn and off the lip without any fins. Maybe its mental and just feels more pure without the fin. I have certainly not mastered it, and I am not sure you ever could but it is fun riding a sheet of glass on a wave!

However, that being said, I think I need to spend more time experimenting with fins on a skimmer because I am probably too used to riding without any fin(s). I have been working on a prototype for a new skimboard and I wanted to have the option to do a 1, 2 or 3 fin set up, but we have yet to test it.

[physiorol]

Cool.

I currently have a 136 twin and a Cabal rousch fire and was trying to decide if I should add board for the waves. My options were Strapped surfboard, mutant or surfboard. But the other day I found a skim at costco for $43 dollars that I thought I might add fins to and try it out. No idea how it will work. I put on a pair of old wake board fins that I had in the garage. I will post some pics tonight. MY hope is that it will take the place of a surfboard an still allow me to pull some skim tricks on a good day.

I feel the same way as you though. When you can pull off something on the skim without fins it is a real rush. I have a blast doing reos on the whitewater and riding the butter in between waves.

[Lonny]

Nice $43 @ Costco! You can't beat that. Heck, its definitely worth expirementing at that price. Garry, the moderator of the Build it and they will ride forum has a lot of experience building boards and putting in fins. You should post your ideas on that forum and he might have some feedback for you before you fire up your router. Either way defintely post your experiments there so we can all learn from your experiences.

Where is it that you mainly ride? I think if you are riding in smaller surf (less than 6 ft) I would probably lean towards a nice wide surfboard like a Placebo or another skimmer that has optional fins. Jon, one of the bloggers and a moderator of the Surfboard forum absolutely rips strapless on a surfboard. So if you have some questions about what gear works leave a post for him there.

The butter between waves is the best on the skimmer, and I have an idea for a trick I am working on that I know I cant pull with fins. Hopefully, I will post some video of that if I can pull it off

[physiorol]

Yeah I know $43 was pretty good. I bought one for my son to use as a skim and went back and got a second one to put fins on. It is only 45 inches though.

I will put pic in the build it forum. I ride in the san francisco bay area, mostly in the bay but also a bit in the delta and on the coast.

That placebo surfskate looks wild.

[Todd]

I experimented a lot with fins and footstraps. Of course this is just my opinion, but foot straps totally suck on a skimboard. I'm glad I tried it because it let me know how much better strapless is. I also tried back and forth with a fin. A single fin is pretty much useless. I have toyed with the idea of putting two wake fins (one on each side) close to the rail about 14" from the tail. This seems to be a good place on my board to try it out.

I have two placebo surfskate-based custom boards. They are totally sick for waves up to shoulder high, then other boards are better. Because of how compact they are, the aerials are sick and it's really easy to either set the rail or break the tail loose. It's a very unique shape for sure and they make small waves or even flat water a lot of fun. Post up your experiences with the fin placements on your $43 board - I can't wait to hear how it goes.

[Slyde]

I've also tried all the variations of fins, from 1 centre rear, to 4 in TTsetup, to 2 larger rear and 2 smaller front, but never with straps. In the end I've gone back to the pure no fins, no straps Cabal Roush Fire. I've never ridden really big waves, but occasionally we get a day when the wind backs off and the waves clean up a little and the skim is awesome in waves up to head high. If you are trying to do surfboard style carving turns then you need a surfboard, the skim is different. Just relax and go with the fact that it turns like a skim and dont try to make it a surfboard, the style is different. But if you get enough drive from the wave and get your weight right on the tail you can get a type of tight carved turn. Not easy though to keep the board going after the turn as it tends to stal and get outrun by the wave. The kids that ride pure skim off the beach (not with a kite) dont really try to carve up waves, more just one frontside or backside turn onto the face , and if anyone could it would be those guys.
If you stay pure no fins I find that I can always know i can throw a shuvit transition when I need to if a wave closes out in front of me, cause eating a bunch of whitewater in light winds and putting your kite down is no fun!

[Lonny]

Good point Slyde. We are riding a skimboard to evolve something new with a kite, and not trying to ride the skimmer like a surfboard. We are never going to do an off the lip in the same manner as someone riding a surfboard, but I think all of us know that when you ride in the surf with a skimmer it is an accomplishment just to make it outside. I like the feeling of pureness while challenging myself without fins, and learning to think about riding in a different way than we might be accustomed to.

[physiorol]

I may need to go to a surfboard for pure surf feel. I was weighing up between a strapped or unstrapped board prior to coming across that 2nd skim. I love the feel of the skim but hate loosing control on that bottom turn I saw a lot of good waves go to waste.

A surfboard is probably the best option. Gotta get clearance from the wife for that though.

No wind here now so I may miss out on testing it today.

[Lonny]

LOL - Always got to get clearance before proceeding... You might want to post something on the surfboard forum and some of the riders there might give you some feedback on a new surfboard. It was a nice day to ride here today, until the lightening rolled in. Got a nice 3 hours of skimming in before that happened.