Peter Haines going aaaaahhheeee! circa 1978
Launching. Why not? What’s wrong with today’s young skimmer’s? Don’t they read the ancient texts? Getting air! That’s it! And if you got too high, or the water was too shallow, or you over-rotated you were toast, taco’d, bent, numb, twisted, torqued, out, crying, slapped silly, stinging back blackouts, yes you were hurt.
So, why isn’t this typically youthful exhuberance practiced any longer, except by old farts like me, desparate to win a heat? IT’S STILL FUN, for crying out loud! Are today’s youth are too inhibited by what their peers think, to indulge themselves in one of the truely great feelings in skimming? Is this possible? Launching! Jay Williams could do triples back in my days at Vic. Dave Crowley took it to insane risk levels in the East Coast Championships, doing triples into a foot of continental shelf. Conley Ware is my favorite of all time. A trained (how do you teach psycho big balls?) diver with the Laguna High School swim team, he could mix up variations of tight tucks and twists into perfect jackknife entries. On a diving board he carried the team to win meets. On a skimboard it was just plain awesome. He could also do handstands on the rail of the Aliso Pier about 50’ up, and do an invert, double back flip into the ocean, at night! So, no big deal, bring a little wildness back into the sport.
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