Above: This year’s competition in Dewey Beach features 200 entries — a record for the event. Photo courtesy VisitSouthernDelaware.com.
By Mary Ellen Mitchell
Dewey Beach is home to the World Championship of Skimboarding held every August since 1982, sponsored by Zap Skimboards. From August 8-10, amateurs will compete for awards and notoriety, while pros compete for the same — plus cash prizes. As one of the longest running skimboard competitions in the world, this highly anticipated throwdown boasts a $15,000 pro purse, the largest in skimboarding history.
By way of illustration, skimboarding, a.k.a., skimming, is an extreme sport that combines elements of surfing and skateboarding. In one fell swoop, skimmers sprint from the beach, drop their board on the slip of water left by the receding wave, jump on their board with both feet, and hydroplane out to the face of the next wave, where they perform twists, flips and jumps, before surfing back to the shoreline.
Skimtown, USA
The sport was nonexistent on the East Coast until 1979, when Dewey Beach native Harry Wilson, the enterprising 13-year-old owner of Dewey Surf & Sport, discovered that Bon-Aire Industries had discontinued their popular Sandpiper skimboard. Wilson bought the company’s molding equipment and became the manufacturer and distributor, while selling the Sandpiper at his surf shop
Wilson went on to innovate, creating the Sandblaster, a more streamlined, oval-shaped skimboard with pointed ends, made of polyurethane foam and fiberglass to enable a faster ride and greater buoyancy for performing dynamic moves.
To help grow the sport while promoting his Sandblaster, Wilson sponsored the first professional skimboarders of Dewey Beach in 1981. One of his pros was Skimboarding Hall of Fame great, Dave Crowley. “We nicknamed Dave, ‘D.C. Air,’ for his acrobatic double- and triple-flips off the board, performed just like a diver,” Wilson says.
Crowley recalls the turn of events that led to a watershed moment in skimboarding history: “In the summer of 1979, there was a group of us in Dewey who wanted to learn how to skimboard, but we had to teach ourselves, because hardly anybody was skimming on the East Coast yet. When we discovered the Sandblaster at Harry Wilson’s surf shop in 1981, it was a game-changer.”
Harry Wilson in 1990 with the Sandpiper skimboard he invented. O&A file photo/Lindsay duPhily.
The following year, “Harry invited a group of California skimmers to Dewey to compete against us,” Crowley says. “That was the beginning of what became the annual world championship that put Dewey on the map as the skimboarding capital of the East Coast. And then we went west, and soon everybody started skimming, all around the world.”
“Additionally — and I’ve competed all over — to me, Dewey has always had the most fun shore break on the East Coast,” he says.
Years later, Wilson brought his innovation and passion to Zap Skimboards, a family-owned, Florida-based brand that has sponsored the world championship in Dewey Beach ever since.
Fast Forward
Although Wilson remains active in the skimboarding community of Dewey Beach and beyond, his son Jason picked up where he left-off, organizing and running the world championships for the past 10 years. Not surprisingly, the younger Wilson started skimming when he was 6 years old and turned pro when Zap sponsored him at age 15. Today he travels the world with Zap as an ambassador of the sport, noting trends along the way.
Competitors says Dewey’s shore break is one of the best on the East Coast. Photo courtsy VisitSouthernDelaware.com.
One observation Wilson has made is that skimboarding has grown immensely in popularity over the past 40 years, “especially over the past 10 years or so, as many top skimmers have become social media influencers,” he says. “Enthusiasm for the sport has recently exploded on a global scale.”
“What’s more, this year’s world championship is at maximum registry, with over 200 skimmers, the highest we’ve ever had,” Wilson says.
As if he’s not busy enough, Wilson also runs Alley Oop, a skimboarding camp in Dewey Beach that will co-present the world championship with Skim USA, the organization that promotes the sport to amateurs nationwide.
“This competition is a stop on the Skim USA tour for amateurs, and the United Skim tour for pros,” he says.
“Additionally, interest in Alley Oop programs has increased substantially, especially among girls, who comprise the largest growth sector in skimboarding right now,” he says. “Locally too, there are a couple of great, up-and-coming skimmers.”
If You Go
Wilson is expecting around 20 vendors and 1,000 spectators on the beach for each of the three days, which will get rolling at 9 a.m.
Delaware’s Dave Crowley works his magic during the 1990 Skimboarding Championships in Dewey Beach. Crowley was later inducted into the national Skimboarding Hall of Fame. Photo courtsy VisitSouthernDelaware.com.
“We’ll have great music and a variety of food for purchase featuring some local chefs, as well as drinks, merchandise, and promotional sampling,” he says. “It’ll be very much a beach festival.”
Accordingly, a key aspect to the fun is that spectators on the beach are close to the action, and there’s great camaraderie among the athletes, who are accessible, humble, and excited to meet fans.
And that’s not all. The kind, community vibe spills over into the Art of Skimboarding fundraiser on the evening of Saturday, August 9, at 6 p.m., at the Creative Market in West Rehoboth. Mini decorative skimboards painted by local artists will be auctioned, with proceeds benefiting Skim USA. An awards ceremony will conclude the event on Sunday, August 10, from 3 to 5 p.m., followed by an after-party at Nalu Surf Bar & Grill in Dewey Beach, starting at 9 p.m.
Last, but not least, those planning to join the skimmers for fun in the sun should arrive early to find a good spot to take in the action, which is centered on the McKinley Street beach.
“Parking will be attainable, but it’s going to be a hot, busy weekend in town, so come early, and bring your sunscreen,” Wilson says.
— For more information, visit AlleyOopSkim.com
