New Skims

[NICKYPOO]

Now that we have a couple of resident "Pros" on here, I thought I would bring up a topic that hasn't seen much time or discussion in quite a while, skim. Personally, I'm a skimmer. I never really liked the feel of the surf style boards. Actually it's the thickness I don't really like. I feel like I'm way over the water and the boards always seem to be balanced right on the centerline and then just kind of flop over onto one side when turning. Skims have always felt more in contact with the water to me. When turned, they seem to ride the edge of the board as opposed the the center of the board. Maybe I just haven't ridden the surf style board for me yet.

Surf style boards seem to have taken over the custom market and sadly, skim seems to have fallen by the wayside. When I had my Walzer made, I really thought it's hybrid style (skim style board with surf style fins) was going to be the ticket. It seems like that never really went anywhere? Why? Where are the new skim style boards and who is making them? They have to be out there somewhere, don't they? I though I read somewhere that rag was going to get a skim style? Maybe I'm just getting ahead of a future subject from Wake9 but, I'm going to go ahead and start this discussion now.

Hit it!

[lohe]

I like riding my skim board over the surf.. But I mostly wakeboard

[Timmy!]

Inland Surfer and Phase 5 both make skim boards.

[wakemitch]

I'm definitely a skimmer. I have noticed the same thing as you with skimmers in the minority.
I have tried getting into surf style and it just wasnt for me. I've ridden a bunch of inlands, walker projects, and a couple Flyboys and I just feel awkward. haha. Then I hop on a skim and I feel right at home.

In my opinion I think Calibrated Wakesurfing is making the best skim right now. They are hand made boards built here in Northern California and the shape and construction is so good. Super fast and responsive. Inland Surfer is making skims, XXX, Victoria, Crowley Wake, Phase 5 of course, and Shred Stixx is making the new custom Dominic Legace skim. A lot of people think all skims are pretty similar but ive defintely been able to feel a difference.

[NICKYPOO]

Hmm, I hadn't heard of the new SS. I'd like to see it. I've spent some time on the IS 4skim and really like it and my wife's P5 but, it's a tick to small for me. I love my Walzer but, last I heard he wasn't making boards anymore.

One of these days I need to make the jump over the hill to come ride with some NorCaliens. Ha, I just made that up, NorCaliens.

[wakemitch]

Nick, the Legace Shred Stixx Skim has a very similar outline to his old pro model piscus by Calibrated, but it is a different construction. Calibrated builds their skims in a snowboard press and I believe the Shred Stixx skims are built more like a surf board (dont quote me, haha)

check it here
http://www.vimeo.com/12017057

[dogbert]

Trickboardz. His newer boards are really fast.

[Surfdad]

We just saw Dom at both the World Wakesurfing Championships and the North West Wake Surf Association event - Dom is riding a P5 Drew.

[ragboy]

Dominic Legace was also at worlds and at this recent comp. Fun guy, great surfer, and he was riding a phase 5 also. I would also second what mitch said, we are getting a Calibrated board soon, and doing a day on the water with them, have to get on the calendar.

Also, boards like the flyboy board, I would not say are hybrid, but definitely a surf style board, with some characteristics that help it do things like flat spins better. I just watched james do a 720 with ease today.

We have 2 TWP JWSMs, just got a new flyboy, should have a calibrated skim soon, and can get a demo inland board at almost any time. You aren't THAT far from us. Schedule a time, and we can bring a boat load of boards and let you demo them on our incredible new RZ2 wake. The wake kicked butt today boys, it really did. James and Chase we catching Yards. It became the word in the boat, he caught a yard. Because they were EASILY 3 feet or more of the top of the wake or more. They were boosting. Pics coming.

[NICKYPOO]

Nick, the Legace Shred Stixx Skim has a very similar outline to his old pro model piscus by Calibrated, but it is a different construction. Calibrated builds their skims in a snowboard press and I believe the Shred Stixx skims are built more like a surf board (dont quote me, haha)

check it here
http://www.vimeo.com/12017057

Kickass vid! Thanks for posting up the link. That is a cool lookin board he's on. Is that the SS or the Calibrated? Interesting with the fish tail and the channels in the nose and on the tail. It looks pretty long as well, almost 5'? Or is he just really short?

Trickboardz. His newer boards are really fast.

Oh yeah, I always forget about Larry. Sorry Larry. I have one of the original Surf Skates and never ride it. It's just too small for me with the amount of wake I generate. Kind of funny how the $400 I spent on the FAE was one one the best $400 I've ever spent and the $250 for the Surf Skate was one of the worst $200 I've ever spent, all in the same purchase. Not Larry's fault. I've seen it ridden amazingly but, I can't seem to make it work for me. My wife can ride it all day long but, she loves her P5 and pretty much just rides it although she did have a really good time on my Walzer last time out. IDK. Chicks man.

Dominic Legace was also at worlds and at this recent comp. Fun guy, great surfer, and he was riding a phase 5 also. I would also second what mitch said, we are getting a Calibrated board soon, and doing a day on the water with them, have to get on the calendar.

Also, boards like the flyboy board, I would not say are hybrid, but definitely a surf style board, with some characteristics that help it do things like flat spins better. I just watched james do a 720 with ease today.

We have 2 TWP JWSMs, just got a new flyboy, should have a calibrated skim soon, and can get a demo inland board at almost any time. You aren't THAT far from us. Schedule a time, and we can bring a boat load of boards and let you demo them on our incredible new RZ2 wake. The wake kicked butt today boys, it really did. James and Chase we catching Yards. It became the word in the boat, he caught a yard. Because they were EASILY 3 feet or more of the top of the wake or more. They were boosting. Pics coming.

I've noticed that the new Flyboys look to have some pretty hard rails, much like a skim. What is the thicknesses on those?

How far east do you guys get? You're up by Paradise right? You guys ever get over to Antelope? I think we are going to be camping up there in a couple weeks. Road trip?

[Surfdad]

The FlyBoy has a tucked rail just about the full length of the board. It's razor sharp where the bottom meets the tuck, but truly out at the rails, there is a 1/8" or soooooo tuck under. James likes a little more float in his board, so the one he rides is about 2.25" rail to deck, 2.0" concave to deck. The production boards are .25" thinner.

[wakemitch]

Nick, the swallow tail on skims is sooo good. Way better than a pin tail. Swallow tails are much faster. People are worried that they dont ride as well backwards, but I think they ride better backwards than pin tails.
In the video Dom is riding the shred stixx. he is listed as a Shred Stixx rider so thats weird he was competing with a phase 5. Maybe his board isnt ready yet which is surprising because Shred Stixx said the boards are available for custom order.

Ragboy, that's awesome you are doing a trip with Calibrated. More people need to know about their boards. I have a feeling they are going to blow up next year.

[Surfdad]

We own a goodly number of skimmer and surfs and if I had to offer my 2 cents to the dialog I never liked the homogenous nature of skimmers. Literally the only difference between them would be the length. Outlines, rockers, rails, thickness, etc's were virtually identical. Calibrated's swallow tail was the big deviation from the standard! Until I see a SS in the flesh, I'll consider it non-existent.

What all that similarity did for me was make all the boards feel the same - Mitch indicates he can tell the difference, I never could. I'd guess sliding all over the place just feels the same to me regardless of the board under me

Speaking of sliding...my old man reaction times just aren't fast enough to do much other than slide around and flail around and fall around I just never took to them, much the same way that Nick and Mitch never took to surfs.

If I had to quantify that, my guess is that there is a steeper learning curve with skimmers, unless you have some background of riding on your rails, or just have a natural affinity for that style, whereas riding off your fins for the most part can be accomplished by most any biped rather quickly. I'd think that the extra flotation normally found in surfs also helps newbs, makes it easier to develop your surf legs and I am sure on some level once folks learn on a thicker more bouyant board, they probably develop a preference for them.

I think that from a manufacturing standpoint, it's REALLY hard to differentiate a custom skimmer from all the rest. From an uneducated consumers standpoint, they literally all look identical, so at that point what is the major point of differentiation? It's price and price alone. Nobody wants to jump into that battle with P5 at an almost price point, IS defining that price point and Triple X dancing gleefully around the price point.

[Surfdad]

@ Mitch

Dom said he couldn't get the signature model from SS and that is why he was on the P5. In the video, I keep looking for the channel that is in that "dom sig" and I could never see it in any of the video segments where dom is riding. Anybody with better eyesight see the channel when Dom is riding?

[NICKYPOO]

@ Mitch

Dom said he couldn't get the signature model from SS and that is why he was on the P5. In the video, I keep looking for the channel that is in that "dom sig" and I could never see it in any of the video segments where dom is riding. Anybody with better eyesight see the channel when Dom is riding?

Right at the beginning of the vid when he is on the platform getting ready to drop in. 28 seconds in.