How to end the year off properly…

Throughout my years of skimboarding I have encountered a recurring problem when welcoming new faces into the skim culture. Often times when someone is asked to come out and skim with the crew the return response is: “I’m not really good enough to be out there riding with you guys.” While this may be true in a solely performance based environment; the beauty of skimboarding is that performance need not apply. So where does this leave us? The best way I can convey what it means to be a skimboarder is that you need heart. Heart can be many different things to many different people, but at it’s purest form it is the drive you feel to get out and skim. Heart to the beginner may be the motivation to keep trying until you land on the board and cruise away. To the veteran ripper it can be the search for the perfectly executed trick. But the common theme is the drive within and willingness to keep trying. That is why beginners and experienced riders alike can share the shallows and get stoked on each others personal achievements and progression. Still not catching what I’m selling? Lets try this out…

Who: Charbotski

What: Last Skim of 2011

Where: Meadow Pride

When: December 30th 2011

Why: Cause she’s a bad-ass mamma-jamma!!!

 Looks good enough to be summer. But in reality it’s frigid out there.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Shallows right there.

Seeing that line makes me want to skim. Don’t you?

Perfection.

Despite frigidly cold temperatures that kept away at least one other skimmer (who will remain nameless), Charbotski ran home to get a board and brave the cold for the ultimate end to her year. Having been out in similar conditions, I know that if you don’t have heart then logic rules. And there’s no way anyone would be foolish enough to face these elements on logic alone. But the one fact Charbotski can take home from this experience is that it was totally worth it. Her words sum everything up quite nicely: “When you are riding the wave you aren’t thinking about how cold the water is, you are thinking about how effing awesome it feels!”

Felcho

P.S.

Thank you for sending the photos my way and sharing this with everyone. It is greatly appreciated.