  Matt early & alone
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17 Man Heat at 1st Skimfest
First cramikskim Skimfest 8-9-03 Liamantour Beach pictures & words by the wm
The first ever cramikskim skimfest went down in historic fashion on Saturday evening at Limantour beach. The location picked because of the direction it faces and it’s ability to come together at this time of the year with a high evening high tide. Since Limantour’s location is very remote, I expected only a handful of skimmers to make the trek. When the Fenster and I arrived, we were met by Ozzy, Bike Mike, DAK, & Matt. I assumed that would be all who would show as we quickly realized that conditions were meager. Swell was puny, tide was still low, and the w was howling. We determined that nothing good would happen till at least 6 PM so we kicked it and waited. As the time rolled by a few more skimmers showed up and 6 o’clock came and went without much changing. Around 6:30 I couldn’t take it anymore, and it was starting to clean up quite a bit, so I ran and got in the water. Within 10 minutes the beach was packed with skimmers coming from all over the beach to attack the miniscule offerings. The EBSC & BBSC were out in force. As Philip put it, “I haven’t seen this many skimmers in the lineup since Left’s.” The w was dying down rapidly and weather was incredible. Water temp was very nice as well (unusual for Limantour). The theme of the day was, “if it were just 2 feet bigger…” We decided to have a free-for-all contest; one heat, 15 minutes, anything goes. At 8:00 we started the heat and the vibe was intense with a record 17 skimmers duking it out for a cramikskim t-shirt and a 12-pack of beer (12-pack of Mountain Dew if the winner was underage). The action was insane and grueling for the competitors. Unfortunately, even though it had mostly glassed off, there were no sets for the first 12 minutes of the heat. At the end of the heat, some nice bumps started rolling through that created absolute chaos as 17 riders at a time would clear the beach criss-crossing paths to get the waves of the day. The contest area was only some 30 yards wide, so to see 17 guys clear the beach at one time to charge one wave was pretty amazing. Everyone skimmed really well, but when the smoke cleared the judges had unanimously chose 4 contest winners. Jeff from the EBSC took best wipeout honors with his spectacular face plant on dry sand. 3rd place went to Dustin who was killing it and going big with a variety of sick tricks but having some difficulty bringing them all back to the beach. 2nd place went to Justin who was one of the only ones to get a semi cover-up in the finals with his left ear definitely logging some barrel time. Justin and Dustin were both killing it all day and I thought they would win the contest. But out of the blue, Thomas, with wrecked knee & all came out and tore Limantour a new a-hole. Strong frontisde hits and a sick backside DTL grab barrel at the end sealed his victory. Thanks for everyone who showed and made the skimfest a success. Thanks to the sponsors Keyser-Out! Productions, Budweiser, & Bike Mike’s Orthopedic Surgery Room. Also thanks to the judges Matt, Ozzy, & 3 Wheel Fenster for helping me out. Hope everyone had a good time – see you at the next one! Oh yeah, and Justin, Dustin, & Jeff need to send me your addresses so I can send you your t-shirts.
Photos from DAK:
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