Two thousand and fourteen has come to an end, and I find myself looking back at what could quite possibly be one of the most amazing years of my life. This is all thanks to the sport of Skimboarding. I decided to dedicate myself to the season, as I was finishing up my two thousand and fourteen spring semester at school. I knew I had only missed one stop and could commit myself to the rest of the tour (knowing that there are two dropped scores at the end of the season). Over the past couple years I have learned a lot about becoming a professional rider and it definitely isn’t just an entry fee to make it. In 2013, I finished dead last in every event I entered whether it was Skimming, Surfing, whatever. As that year came to an end I couldn’t have been more bummed on myself and wanted to give up on the whole competing thing. But if there’s one thing anyone in the sport of skimming knows, is were all one big family. Everyone I was connected with reminded me to stick with it and keep in the water. So the journey began…
My first stop (2nd stop on the UST) was Cabo. Throughout all my time spent in the water skimming, my 2014 trip to Cabo was the best wave conditions I have ever experienced. I like to look at Cabo as the “pipeline of skimboarding”. Super heavy shore break and probably the best wrappable barrels that have been found. The contest had an amazing start, but I think there were a good handful of riders and well-known names that could say the event ran into some issues midway through. This issue came up at multiple events and I would agree both sides of the issue had good reasoning. However, when it comes to a time of making a decision of whether or not to run the event in questionable conditions, I really think the riders should have majority vote on whether or not the contest should go on. A lot of big names were taken out in early rounds that could have potentially be ran the next day in better conditions. Decisions like this can change results such as the United Skim Tour Champion at the end of the year, even though it may not seem like it at the time. (Before I go on, please note that I am not saying the 2014 Champ did not deserve his crown, because I truly think he worked the hardest I’ve ever seen him skim this past year.)
Another major issue that I think the majority of riders, staff, and even fans can all agree on is judging. Anyone that has any experience with judging can say that it takes a lot of time, patience, and awareness to score riders as precise and correct as possible. We are limited a certain amount of time and the waves coming in that time period are very limited. Riders that have been competing for a while, know that it is recommended to not go for the same waves. Although, when conditions are not at their best and there’s three to four riders in your heat you’re all fighting for the best waves. It would be nice if we had the technology, similar to the ASP where we could replay rides, but obviously were not on that level. One thing that stood out to me on the East Coast was calling out rides during heats. That way if there were two riders running in opposite directions, you had someone informing you to keep aware of both directions so you could use better judgment. It would be great to see the same names judging throughout the entire season; names that are knowledgeable, unbiased, and dedicated to the sport of skimming. There were a lot of very close calls this past year, that once again could have changed the overall end of the year results for several riders.
Room for Change?
I think there’s always room for change and improvement. I think there’s a huge handful of big names from all over the world that have not been able to be a part of the entire tour for whatever reason. And I think adding in all these names to the Title battle would change the overall ending results significantly. There’s a lot of talent and passion in the world that has pushing this sport forward. I believe time will play its part and bigger sponsors will start to recognize how unique and special this sport really is. I don’t think competing is the most important factor to get our sport known. Spread the stoke to the groms, work on media, and inform people that don’t know what the sport skimboarding is. We’re a family, not against eachother, trying to show the world what we are most passionate about.
As much as there may have been some negatives on the tour, I find the positives will always takeover the negatives. My heart and passion will continue to work as hard as I can to help this sport progress. I believe this sport is still at a very early age and the level of riding is progressing drastically each year. As of right now you definitely recognize the solid Top 8 names on the tour, but everyone behind that list of names is really hungry. And they are all pushing themselves as hard as they can to work their way to the top.
– Johnny Salta
Photo credits
Fabiana Badie
Tex Haines
Mary Hurlbut (front page slide)
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