Hiratsuka Beach Skimboarders

Mike Grist Japan, People / Culture 12 Comments

Skimboarding is a lesser-known cousin to surfing, though quite different in the approach. Where surfers go from the sea to the beach under the sea’s power, skimmers go from the beach to the sea under their own power- which is to say, basically they run at the sea carrying a short board, drop it in the shallows, and jump on. Perhaps then it’s more like skate-boarding than surfing.

My friend Jason loves skimboarding, and I’ve gone along with him a few times, including 3 weeks ago to Hiratsuka beach where I took some video- which I hope he forgives for its somewhat irreverent air.

TOKYO

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Comments 12

  1. The last diving looks painful. Were you ok then? I gave up immediately when I tried it for the first time. Good try! 🙂

  2. You managed to look somewhat graceful and ‘in tune’ with the waves despite the nasty spills. I fear my own attempts have been neither graceful nor very tuneful. That’s it, I want another shot at this skimboarding thing…

  3. Although I have no idea of how riverdancing connects with skimboarding, I have to disagree with Jason. If you’d ever watched Riverdance, you wouldn’t say it isn’t cool. It was a great show with great music.

    Nice head plant into the waves Mike, hope it didn’t hurt too much.

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    Jason- I’m glad you can forgive me, and Riverdance, well, it just popped into my head. It’s what I feel like when I try to hop on the board quickly- so does make sense.

    Maho- Thanks, and weirdly enough- not one of the falls I had hurt at all. I was in some pain-free zone, I kept running, falling, then getting up and doing it again. Maybe because the camera was on? I don’t know- a sudden surge of energy!

    Lucas- Graceful? Awesome, you should see me on roller-blades, you’d love it. ‘Mike, it’s like watching Swan Lake when I see you skate into a tree!’ Get on board via Jason for some more skimming before the season is over!

    Rob- Yeah the shaving- FAIL, right? I actually shaved some, freaked myself worrying I’d have shave lines in my chest, so only did the few soft strokes you see on the video.
    Or, werewolf!

    Dale- Manliness, thanks bud 😉

    the Can- Yeah the Riverdance thing- did you ever try Skimboarding? The way Jason does it is one thing- but another technique involves jumping on the board straight after you’ve dropped it- and it’s very difficult- the board is where your feet want to be- so it is like a dance figuring out where to put them.
    As for the head plant, I completed a somersault and landed on my back on the water- so no pain at all, it was actually pretty fun.

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  6. Рассмотрите идею создать pdf-книгу по вашему блогу? Можно все интересные и полезные статьи скомпилировать в pdf и давать возможность скачивать и читать в офлайне?! Мне бы понравилось!

    In English- You will examine the idea to create the pdf- book on your [blogu]? It is possible all interesting and useful articles to compile into pdf and to give the possibility to draw off and to read in offline?! It would be pleased to me!

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    Зина- Hi, and thanks for the comment. I’ve been thinking about turning the haikyo posts into a book- if it happens you’ll be the first to know :).

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