500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [63]
You can do lots of cool tricks on a skimboard, which is typically smaller and thinner than a surfboard. Skimboarding is similar to surfing, but skimboarders start on the sand. When they see the right wave, they run toward the ocean and drop their boards on the thin layer of water receding from the wave. Think hydroplaning. Skimboarding uses momentum from running and speed to slide along the surface of the water as the tide withdraws from the shore and out to the breaking waves. At this point, the boarder can shift his or her weight and direction and ride back to shore similar to a surfer. Skilled skimboarders can even ride down the line like a surfer, or launch off the wave and do aerial tricks, such as a Wrap, a Superman or a Coffin (lying on one’s back on the skimboard with feet facing straight out).
Old photographs of Laguna Beach lifeguards skimming across the sand on large plywood boards indicate this sport dates back to the 1920s. Today, the skimboards are made of much more sophisticated materials than they were back then: fiberglass or carbon fiber wrapped around high density foam. The sport now thrives in Laguna Beach, where many pro skimboarders live, and elsewhere in the world including on inland lakes.
Laguna Beach is still considered the center of the skimboarding universe. Some companies who make skimboards, such as Victoria Skimboards, are located here, and it’s the site of the annual Victoria Skimboards World Championships, an invitational event for qualified amateurs and pro riders. Watching this event can induce a little adrenaline of its own.
For all things skimboard related, check out Skimonline.com, a website maintained by pro skimboarder Aaron Peluso. Here, too, you’ll find a list of Skimspots suggested by the webmaster and other skimboarders around the globe. World-class skimboarders have made Tenth Street in Laguna Beach, with its sidewashes, home. Ninth Street is usually a straight wave. It’s also known for its powerful shore break. —LF
www.skimonline.com.
John Wayne Airport, Orange County (15 miles/24km).
$$$ Montage Resort & Spa, 30801 South Coast Hwy. ( 866/271-6953 or 949/715-6000; www.montagelagunabeach.com). $$ Casa Laguna Inn & Spa, 2510 South Coast Hwy. ( 800/233-0449 or 949/494-2996; www.casalaguna.com).
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Windsurfing Cape Town
Top Freestylers & Beginners Play Here
South Africa
With so many beach-lined shores on the Indian and the Pacific oceans, inland lakes, and rivers, you won’t have to go far in South Africa to find good wind and currents. Windsurfing is a popular sport in this country, so if you head here it won’t be necessary to bring your own board and sail. You can easily book a tour, with lodging, rentals and more at several locations. The point is to get out on the water and take advantage of the fantastic windsurfing conditions off the coast of remarkable Cape Town.
If you stay in Cape Town, you’ll have your choice of top windsurfing spots nearby. The Langebaan Lagoon, about a 1-hour drive from Cape Town, is a hot spot for boardsailing and other watersports. Although the surf may crash against some of the rocks near the shore, the lagoon located within the West Coast National Park is sheltered so you won’t find big waves. The lagoon is ideal for beginners because of the flat water, but some of world’s top freestyle windsurfers come here to train.
The folks at Cape Sports Center, which is a large retail shop in town that also offers lessons and monitors the wind forecast, say the Southeaster is a reliable wind. On a normal day, it starts blowing around 10am and builds—at times in a gusty fashion—until peaking around 3pm before it begins to die down.
Langebaan Lagoon is equally popular with kitesurfers and other watersports enthusiasts.