A thriving skimboarding scene has emerged from the shallow pools and streams along Puget Sound’s sandy beaches. On Saturday, some of the region’s top skimboarders will test their skills in the Dash Point Pro/Am, billed as the largest skimboarding competition in the Northwest.
Riders throw their board onto a thin layer of water, run onto the board, then hydroplane as far as their momentum will carry them. Tricks incorporate elements of skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding.
“People just adapted to whatever they had to have fun,” event coordinator Tim Mackey said Thursday as he set up ramps and rails at Dash Point State Park. “Skimboarding in this area adapted to become more like skateboarding because of the lack of the waves.”
About 60 people from as far away as California, Utah and British Columbia are expected for the competition, in its seventh year. Registration starts at 9 a.m., and the contest starts at 11 a.m. In the pro category, $1,000 is up for grabs.
Mackey is one of the founders of sponsor DB Skimboards, which was started in 2003 by then-sophomores at Stadium High School in Tacoma.
Though some of the founding members went farther than others to attend college, they all come back to Tacoma every summer to work on their company.
“This is pretty much what we do from June to September,” said Mackey, 22, who attends Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California.
Others are Bryce Hermansen, 22; Kyle Hermansen, 26; Richard Docter, 23; and Isaac Thomas, 22. They organize competitions, film skimboarding movies, teach skimboarding summer camps and work on expanding their product line.
“Right now we’re in the between stage, transitioning from being a summer job, trying to make it a full-time – I’m not sure if you could say career,” he said. “But we’re looking to keep doing this after college and see what we can make of it.”
“It’s a good summertime activity for kids of all ages,” he added.
DB Skimboards premiered its latest film Thursday night at the Blue Mouse Theater in Tacoma. Parts of it were filmed at Dash Point and Chambers Creek. The movie’s title: “Believe In Your Dreams.”
Cole Cosgrove: 253-597-8267 cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com
Northwest Skim Tour
Saturday: Dash Point Pro/Am, Dash Point State Park
July 10: Anchor Point Open, Alki Beach, Seattle
July 17: Chambers Creek
Aug. 7: Double Bluff, Whidbey Island
More information: nwstour.com
DB Skimboards: dbskimboards.com
Learn to skimboard
Skimboarding summer camps will be offered at Dash Point and Chambers Creek in July and August.
For more information, visit www.dbskimcamp.com.
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