What is a skimboard used for?

by Joost Nusselder | Last Updated:  16.04.2022
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You may have seen people riding on small boards in the ocean and wondered what they were doing.

Skimboarding is a board sport that involves riding on the surface of waves. The board is similar to a surfboard but is smaller and has a pointed nose.

Skimboarders use their momentum to ride on top of the wave and then use the board to glide. This activity is a great way to enjoy the waves without swimming out far. It is also a good workout, as it requires balance and coordination.

What is a skimboard used for

With skimboarding, you can enjoy the same feeling of riding on top of a wave that surfers do, but without putting in hours and hours of timing the perfect wave out in the ocean.

You skim on shallow water or the waves that break near the shore.

What is a skimboard used for?

Skimboarding is a board sport that involves riding on the surface of waves. The board is similar to a surfboard but is smaller and has a pointed nose. This activity is a great way to enjoy the waves without swimming out far. It is also a good workout, as it requires balance and coordination.

This makes it an excellent activity for those near the beach who want to enjoy the waves without venturing too far into the open water.

What is a skimboard and what are its uses?

A skimboard is a small board used to ride on the surface of waves. There are different kinds of boards depending on the skimming you want to do.

  • Wave skimming has boards explicitly designed for that purpose, where you ride out into the ocean to catch a wave.
  • And there are boards designed to be used on very shallow water somewhere inland, like a river or lake, called flatland skimboarding. Flatland skimming often involves doing tricks like skateboarding.

You might have seen kids use wooden boards when doing tricks (or when they were beginners in the ocean) or foam boards or even foam-core ones when advanced riders ride the shore breaks and break waves.

Skimboarding requires balance and coordination as riders use their speed from running with the board in their hands to glide on top of the wave, much like skimming a stone.

Skimboarding can be done in shallow water or near the shore, making it an excellent activity for those near the beach.

– Skimboarding is inexpensive

– You can skimboard year-round, no matter what the weather

– It’s an excellent workout for your arms and legs

– Skimboarding is a great way to enjoy the waves without having to swim out far

– It’s a good activity for those near the beach who want to enjoy the waves without venturing out too far into the open water.

Conclusion

As you see, skimboarding is not at all precisely like surfing. The only thing surfing and skimming have in common is that both use a board, although the skimboard is much smaller.

And often, it resembles skateboarding more than it does surfing.

Also read: these are the best skimboards to buy right now

Joost Nusselder, the founder of Kauai Surf Report is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new sports with everything surfing at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2019 to help loyal readers with surfing and water sporting tips.