Adventures in Skimboarding

Who would have thought that a simple day at the beach could turn into such an adventure? Here is the story of sun, friends, beers, and skimboards. Oh, you thought that story was The OC? Well you think you know, but you have no idea. Besides, The OC was cancelled, God bless its soul…

Conrad and I arrived at Richmond beach around noon, right on time to meet Courtney and Clark. During our typical Courtney waiting period (approximately 1 hour), Conrad and I shared some special moments. Beer was sipped, photos were taken (confidential, sorry) and stories were shared until our counterparts arrived.

We congregated in the usual spot and immediately set up a BBQ pit. While the charcoals lit, Clark gave me and Conrad a quick lesson on how to skimboard. Essentially, you sprint as fast as you can and chuck a 1/2″ thick mini surfboard out in front of you and attempt to jump onto it while it glides in 1-4 inches of water. I watched Clark easily lay down 40-60 foot glides without effort. He’d throw in the occasional 180 or shuv-it for style; I was impressed. My confidence was boosted a little by seeing how easy it looked, but I quickly reminded myself that Clark is no human. He is an agile and athletic beast, with catlike reflexes and balance that would rival one of those freaky circus tightrope walkers. Following my first attempt I realized that I had my work cut out for me.

After flailing about for a few minutes, I started to pick it up and skim across a small tide pool a few times. Conrad saw how much I’d improved in just 10 minutes, and put his camera down to join in the fun. We’ll just say that it took him a few more tries to get the hang of it… Instead of complaining and pouting about his skimboarding shortcomings, Conrad decided to blow off some steam by heading into the open “sea”. He waded out and jumped in with enthusiasm, then headed back at about half the speed as hypothermia tightened its vicious grip on his motor skills. (Keep in mind it’s just April and the Pacific is frigid even in August.) After his dip in the sound, though, Conrad’s skills improved in a major way. I guess he just needed to get in touch with his inner jelly-fish.

Just before heading back to the BBQ pit, we noticed some neon red liquid oozing from Conrad’s foot. We took a quick look and realized that during his deep sea adventure, he’d managed to slice his foot open. Blood poured out into the sand and all over his sandals. It turned out to be a pretty brutal barnacle shanking, and we wondered if medical attention was in order. The beers said no. Good thing too, because incidentally, Conrad might not actually be a human. The hue of his blood was like nothing any of us had ever seen. We were pretty convinced that he’s from outer space, sent here on a mission to sing wicked karaoke and hack computers. Ashamed that we hadn’t figured out the obvious sooner, we all trudged back up to the campfire and got serious about healing wounds.

In order to not ruin the day, Conrad decided to suck it up and just have us field-bandage the wound. Clark and I grabbed supplies and opened his first aid kit (nice work Clark). We thoroughly cleaned, rinsed and wrapped the wound. A few pulls of whiskey, a tight wrap and some good elevation stopped the bleeding within an hour.

The rest of the day was filled with your usual beach activity - more friends showed up, BBQ’ing continued, frisbees were tossed, and my quest to conquer the sport of skimboarding continued. Kate showed up in the afternoon in typical fashion - with a bottle of wine in hand - and immediately challenged me to a rock throwing contest. Which she lost.

By early evening we were all sunburned, tired, and a little tipsy - a great ending to any beach BBQ adventure. Walking to the parking lot we discussed reuniting later that night for some live music at Nectar. Due to sheer exhaustion, nobody made it out that night, but that didn’t put a hamper on a super fun Sunday.

…..and T-Pain