Tricks Page
This page will help to describe what the trick entails as well as trying to establish how to do it
Below describes some tricks
360° or more
This is when the skimboarder is skimming across the water whilst spinning, the easiest way to do this is to bend down (don’t forget to have your centre of gravity over the middle of the board, otherwise u stack it, ha ha). Then place your hand in the sand in the direction you want to spin then once u start spinning twist your hips and pull in your arms so that you spin more than 360°, this is cool for a beginner.
Whilst skimming across the water push down with your back foot and lift up with your front foot so that your board lifts up in to the air, this will only work in you are going fast enough, you can even do it off the top of a wave if there are some.
This is quite easy, run really quickly and put the board down on the water, then jump on to it with your stomach, be careful to keep your mouth shut otherwise you get a mouthful of water, which is not nice.
This looks easy but its fairly difficult for a beginner, I tried this when I had been skimboarding for 4 days and it worked. Its difficult to tell someone how to do it but I will try. With your back foot push the board away from you, towards the water whilst jumping into the air above it (parallel to the sea or whichever way you do it and depending on your stance). This will mean that you are in the air when the board is spinning below you. Once the board has spun 180° or more you land back down on to it and carry on along. This is a bit tricky as the board either doesn't spin fast enough or you land on it wrongly.
This is an easy trick to learn, whilst sliding along the water put your hand on the nose of the board and lift your front leg up behind you so that you are supported only by your hand and your back foot.
This trick can be fairly tricky if you do not get it right, as you can slide along on your ass or your side if you do not sit on your board properly. To start off doing this trick push your board along the ground and run up behind it, what I find easy to do is to get on the board so that both feet are facing forward and nearer the front of it. Then put your hands on the side of the board and place your backside on the middle (or towards the back) of the board so that your sitting with your legs out in front of you. Now the harder part of the trick has been completed, all you have to do now is to lay on your back so that you are completely flat back remember to look where you are going by raising your head up a little.
Im not really sure if this can actually be called a trick. This is where you approach the waves nead on. You throw the board on the wash straight towards the wave and get on in teh normal style, you then head straight to the wave and once your at the top of the wave you jump off and hopefully you go flying through the air with your board going the opposite direction, it hurts if you land on your side into the water.
These turns can either be done frontside or backside, the backside turns are easiest I feel to complete (depending on your stance). The frontside turns become easy in time. The best way to complete this trick is to throw the board diagonally to the waves coming in and then get on to the board in the normal style. As the next wave is coming in you distribute your weight on to the heels of your feet so that the wave pushes the board back towards the beach or shore whilst also pushing your back foot into the wave to allow you to come back in on the wave. Another way of doing this is to do exactly the same process but you could lift the side of the board that the wave is approaching as this helps greatly with the turn. This can also be applied for the frontside turn.
This trick is a bit more advanced than the other tricks on this page. To do this trick face out towards sea. Throw the board so that it skims out towards the wave, after you have done this, get on to the board and when you reach the top of the wave do a front sommersault by pulling your head down towards your knees so that your feet come up above your head and then hopefully you will land back on to your feet. This can be done even off the smallest wave or no wave at all depending on confidence. A good place to practice this first might be on a trampoline to gain technique.
This is done in a slightly different way to the front flip. Throw the board so that it skims out towards the wave. Get on to the board in the normal style and as your skimming go slightly sideways and when you reach the top of the wave arch your back so that your head is going back towards the beach/shore and then bring your feet round so that when you land your back is still facing out to sea. (hopefully you land on your feet and not your head, ha ha)
Headstand
This trick is very difficult to complete but I will try and describe whats the best way possible to complete it. First of all is to try it on the board when its not moving, place both hands shoulder width apart in about the middle of the board like you were just about to do a handstand and then you can try placing your head just in front of your hands and then letting go with your hands, practice this as believe me its much more difficult to do when your boards sliding across the wash. Once you have enough confidence or your feeling a bit idiotic (usually the latter for me) try this slowly at first and then pick up a bit more speed when you confidence increase. Warning i have injured myself by grazing my back and injuring it, its looks funny when you do it incorrectly and properly, most of the time though I found that i have done it worngly.
Three people on a skimboard at once (the threesome)
We invented this move through one o out idiotic nights skimboarding in Broadstairs. We have managed to find out that we can fit three people on a skimboard and I bet your wondering how we do it. Its a bit difficult to explain but I give it a go. The first person holds the board and has about a 10metre gap between him and the second person, the third person is then a further 3 metres or so on from him. They have to be standing all facing the way the skimboard will travel. Right the first person pushes the board out and then gets into the skeleton position, the next person then gets on top of him in the smae position and then the third person does the same. It might look a bit weird but it is funny when someone falls off or gets injured. People stare thinking what the hell they are doing but it makes them laugh. Make sure the person holding the skimboard can do the skeleton trick otherwise it would ruin the threesome trick.
Manual
This was invented by half pint well basically you put pressure on the back foot to lift the front of the board up this sounds really easy but you need to get some height with the nose but if you lift it up too high then you will stack really bad.
Nose manual
This is the same as a manual but instead you r pushing the nose of your board down this one is harder than the manual
