Grupo Mayan Water Sports

Skimboarding is yet another beach water sport activity. Unlike surfing though, skimboarding starts on the sand, say the Grupo Mayan experts in water sports. In skimboarding, skimboarders run towards the water or along the water’s edge holding their skimboard, which is like a tiny flat surfboard. They then drop the board onto the thin slick of water left by retreating waves and attempt to ride it. They use their momentum built up from running for forward propulsion. If the skimboard is ridden into the waves, the skimboarder uses the waves to carry them back in to shore.

Surprisingly, skimboarding is actually not a new sport, say the Grupo Mayan experts in water sports. Photographs exist of lifeguards skimboarding at Laguna Beach in Caliornia in the 1920s, using simple pieces of plywood.

The early skimboards were often circular in shape, which is actually not a good design for this activity. It was the early 1970s when skimboards started to take on a more shapely design, similar to surfboards but on a much smaller scale, say the Grupo Mayan experts in water sports. The material used for construction also switched, from plywood to fiberglass. A man by the name of Tex Haines started the first skimboard manufacturing business, but these days skimboarding has become so popular that they are manufactured by many different companies.

While skimboarding is primarily something that is done ‘just for fun’ at the beach, there is also a competitive side to skimboarding as well. A competition is held annually at Laguna Beach in California, with competition for all ages and skill levels.

For most skimboards, Southern California is the physical and spiritual home of skimboarding, say the Grupo Mayan experts in water sports. Not only is this area where skimboarding originated, but it also boasts excellent conditions for skimboarding as well. Having said this, skimboarding is popular through the coastal US and Europe (particularly in Portugal and France), not to mention in Australia (of course), Asia and South America.

In regions where there is no access to the coast, or where there are no beaches with suitable conditions, aficionados of skimboarding have turned to skimboarding on inland bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. Flatland skim scenes have in fact developed all over the world, and in some highly unlikely places. But that’s people for you – always adaptable.

Here’s a fun skimboarding fact to end on: in Recife, Brazil, it’s become too dangerous to surf because of sharks. So the surfers in the area are turning to skimboarding as a way to get their kicks, and a big skimboarding scene has developed there, say the Grupo Mayan experts in water sports.

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