Skim vs short wave board, and if skim - which skim?

[gillstah]

hi there

newbie to the forum, from the UK where i ride in mushy UK waves and a couple of flatwater spots. hope that you can help me out.

i currently ride a 6'1" naish CR strapless that i can gybe and almost duck tack, and am looking to do more strapless tricks and want a board that's easier for this.

so i've been looking at shorter / narrower railed wave boards such as the UG freewave 5'4", or a skim. what are people's thoughts on the short wave board vs a skim?


if i did go for the skim route, which is what i'm thinking as it's also cheaper, we don't have a huge range of skims to purchase here in the uk. the ones that are easily available are:

cyclone (spowy from south africa) - cost around £300 new (from ukkiting.com)
nobile (i've seen all your comments on this "skim"!!!)
crazy fly ~ £300 new
zap ~ £200 new (from sandskater)
circle one ~ £150 new (from sandskater)

i'm thinking of the zap or circle one. based upon lonny's experience with the zap/phase5 it looks like this will be my choice. does this sound like a good idea?

i'm 83 kgs, so the zap large (http://www.sandskater.co.uk/products/Za ... -C701.html) would be the one i guess?

cheers
paul.

(ps got the link to here from someone on kiteboarder.co.uk)

[Yann]

Yes, go for the ZAP. I have an Underground 5'4" and it's a great board.... when it's +40 knots! The rails are to sharp for a surfboard and to fat to ride finless like a skim. You just don't get that surfboard feeling with it. I did learn riding strapless with it but it's frustrating to catch rail all the time.

So many people asking me for skimboards right now and I always tell them to check sandskater but they have like two boards in stock right now. Are there any other e-stores that ship within EU?

[gillstah]

thanks yann. zap it is. sandskater have one zap large at the moment (!).

it's amazing just how few skims we have available to us. i thought when i first started looking that there we're only a couple of makes and then when i found all the american ones i realised just how little choice we have... an opportunity perhaps...?

paul.

[Lonny]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to Lose the Straps. Thank you for joining us here, and posting your question!

Personally, I love to ride my surfboard, and my skimmy. In fact, quite often I bring both down to the beach and do at least one session on each in the same day. While there is some crossover they really are pretty different and I do not think one can replace the other. I love both! However, since you already have a surfboard, and you want to save some dollars I would go with a skimmer at this point. In flat water and mush wave skims are a hell of a lot of fun, as I am sure you have either observed or read about here. You can learn a ton of tricks on the skimboard, and also apply them directly to your surfboard.

As far as what board to go with, I have not ridden a cyclone, crazy fly or circle one so I cannot say one way or another whether they are good options for you. However, I have logged a massive amount of time on ZAPs, and have been extremely happy with them. They are built tough, work well in all conditions, and ride great with a kite. I can say with 100% certainty that you will be happy with it, and considering it is almost the cheapest model you have listed that is hard to beat. At 83 kg the ZAP Large should be perfect for you. The measurements on that board should be 54" x 20.25" x 3/4" - I would not recommend anything smaller/narrower especially for lighter wind. Thus, I second Yann's recommendation for the ZAP. Make sure they give you a good set of pads. ZAPs are sold with or without pads, and their stock pads are very good. I would recommend them highly. There is also a review of the ZAP Large by Slyde here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=157#p735

The reason why you do not see many skims in Europe is that there is not a huge following there of tradition skim riders, and the market is too small to support a wide range of product like we have in the US. I think you will start to see more and more wakeskates, skimboards, and surfboards enter the European market as strapless riding begins to take hold with the general kitesurfing population. In the future, I think the majority of riders will have a strapless board in their quiver like an extra sized TT. Sooner or later everyone is going to figure out how much fun strapless can be as well as a TT or bindings.

Thanks again for joining, and get ready for some serious fun when you hit the water! Let us know how we can help you further.

Lonny

[Yann]

Sandskater received a shipment of ZAPs yesterday. Should be on the site in a couple of days. Watch this page: http://www.sandskater.co.uk/zap-skimboards/