Skimboard?

[pebbles]

Maybe your kite spot is better for surfboards, but mine surfboards suck. We get small waves and 6-9ft tides with lots of sand-bars. I prefer the slippery feel of the skimmer slicing through the water to the draggy feel of a surfboard with those fins.

I'm interested why the sharp rails are less efficient to a surfboards? I've always felt efficient going up-wind or down-wind on the skim.

[Matteo V]

Maybe your kite spot is better for surfboards, but mine surfboards suck. We get small waves and 6-9ft tides with lots of sand-bars. I prefer the slippery feel of the skimmer slicing through the water to the draggy feel of a surfboard with those fins.

I'm interested why the sharp rails are less efficient to a surfboards? I've always felt efficient going up-wind or down-wind on the skim.

Sandbars are a blast. Flooded grassfield's are really fun too. Just lots of little nicias that a skimboard does fit into. And I've kited Lake swell, River swell, ocean overhead to ankle-biters, and lots of extremely shallow water where you definitely take some hard hits when you fall. Overall, when coupling with the power of a kite, skimboards are very much lacking in overall capabilities and a wide envelope of operation. Read that as "you're severely limiting yourself."

The worst part about skimboards is the light wind lie that surrounds them. A long straight rail outline such as on a light wind twin-tip, is much more efficient than a highly curved rail outline on skimboard. But skimboard rails are better than surfboard rails for grip since they carry the hard rail all the way forward. The hard rail is the shape or very sharp edge of that rail which engages the water. However, a surfboard with a straight or outline to the rails makes up for those rails being soft. Thus a surfboard makes up for having soft rails, which actually handle chop really well, by having a straight outline. And that's before you get to the fins.

Put fins on a straighter outline and you can engage both to some degree. Whereas a skimboard lacks those fins and a kiter or has to make do with that extremely curved outline being very inefficient.

[pebbles]

I don't think there is a lite-wind lie. I have tested quite a few lite-wind TT's over the years back to back with my skimboards and can only remember the Glide as being better. Many have been as good or almost, but end up feeling like a boat. The skim is just another fun option for those willing to put the time in.

It's too bad I don't see anyone else on a skim-board.

[jumptheshark]

Loads of skim footage and info here.


http://www.losethestraps.com/sdc-misplaced-lts/

[Herman]

I do not understand what the op means by grip! Deck pad, waxed deck ............ If he means grip on the water then I assume he means he finds it easy to edge the rail. For me skim boards are anything but grippy in the surfing sense because they have a sharp rail all the way round and no fins. The forte of a skim board is being able to slide it about as well as carve and shallow water. The all-round sharp rail acts as a good release and this enables them to slide.

If you look at a SB or windsurf wave board you will usually see a rounded rail in the mid section and a sharp rail aft. The rounded rail is for grip the sharp rail is for efficient water release / drag reduction. A rounded shape may seem counter intuitive with regard to grip but if you think about pulling the rail out when immersed you may start to visualise why a fatter rounded rail can have more grip. Just putting this up for general interest & passing time.

Fins also provide grip but that is a whole new story!!!

[Slappysan]

want to try out directional boards. I have a skimboard with some grip so I figured it would be good to try with.

It sounds like you have taken a wave skim out to kite skim with, which is loads of fun and something I do all the time but it's not what you should be doing if you are just trying out directionals for the first time.

Wave skims have no fins and are more akin to learning how to ride a hydrofoil than a surfboard.
Kite skims (and wake skims) have a small fin and it makes a world of difference in ease of use.

Learning to ride a finless skim is a great goal and I have lots of fun doing it but it's going to take time and you should learn to ride a surfboard first.

Also be aware that skimboards have almost no rocker and do very poorly in choppy conditions. I ride my finless skim in low tide situations where the shallow water provides flat sections and very clean tiny waves.

You can see the type of conditions that make me choose the skim here:

[edt]

i always figured the reason skimboards had less drag than surfboards had nothing to do with the rail it's just fins and rocker. Seems to me that fins are the #1 source of drag then #2 is the rocker, #3 is outline of the board and last place is #4 the shape of the rail. Could be wrong tho just what I've felt through the years. Skimboards are sick piece of equipment if you can throw down but I always felt surfboards are easier.

[JakeFarley]

After I got proficient in riding a TT, I decided to branch out to ride just about anything (except for a refrigerator door which some have tried). My first skimboard was home made out of a sheet of plywood about 2' x 4'.

I used it with and without fins (one on each end in the center). It was super slippery and fun to ride on flat water and could go upwind pretty good even without the fins. In right conditions I would ride it along the shoreline in about 2" of water, but most of the times in light wind on the grass flats when the tide was too low for a surfboard or even a twintip. I tried doing surface handle passes with it but was not that good at making it a full 360 as I would catch an edge. It was definitely fun to ride under the right conditions.

[Trent hink]

Just to point out the difference, with a skimboard you need superior edge control. With a surfboard, you ride the board flat and engage the fins.

[kiteykitekite]

Fins are weird on a surfboard as they can help with upwind or hinder it. They are not all equal as toe in angles can be different, etc. On a skim the flatness is what helps the most, but you must have a big one. The bigger like with a surfboard the better it goes upwind and the more low end you will have. It's the same across all things including hydrofoils, twintips and kites where bigger equals more low end. Efficiency plays always a part, where more efficient is better. The generally rule for that is thinner and flatter is better. Hard to find kites like that though especially in the largest sizes.

You can edge a surfboard, you can also ride it with no fins or less fins. You can also ride a skim board flatter. You are right though you will edge a skim more, especially on waves. I would say the biggest difference is they require more balance, feeling very loose. If you watch that video you will see how Dom holds his hands out. This is how you maintain balance. Works good on a hydrofoil or surfboard too. With a kite you hold the bar with one hand. Good if it is setup so you can steer easy with one hand. With slack lines it is easy to push the bar where ever you want. Also good if you can ride with either hand on either side of the bar, and both hands upside down and reverse So you can switch how and where ever you want.

I'll give you the skim board challenge, riding over 3x or 4x head whitewash. It's a sport in itself. Makes any wave riding on anything look easy. Like trying to stand on a bucking bull.