GoPro cameras are our go-to choice for filming extreme sports of any kind, but we weren’t nearly as creative as this duo who attached their GoPro to a broom handle and started winging it back and forth while skimboarding.
This short video, entitled “Skimboarding in a Storm,” is supposed to be noteworthy for its display of courageous watersporting in the face of meteorological danger. I was much more impressed by its cool camerawork.
The idea is pretty simple: attach the rugged, waterproof Go Pro camera to a stick and pass it to the skimboarder as he whizzes by so he can film himself skimming. But when they start tossing the monopod to each other in the air and catching it, the results are pretty awesome. [Neatorama]
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Ten out of ten! Music Rocks….particularly where they throw the camera. The manufacturers of this thing were just given the greatest free advert they could ever hope for.
DoctorEcks
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: Skimboarding is like totally the most wicked bad-ass dangerous extreme sport, like, ever.
njdevil
I have to say I am quite impressed with the quality of the GoPro footage there. Might have to pick one of those up for my next Hawaii trip!
UpIrons
@jmcm: And I can now say that I’ve seen someone ollie a wave. Not that I’ve watched many surfing videos, but that did look fun.
Asraiil
Pretty cool! From what I’ve heard here it’s not too hard to skimboard, but holding a broomstick with a camera on top makes it much more impressive.
butternine
@Nathan Obbards: I surf a lot in storms and make sure to have a new tether for the bigger storms to ensure that I don’t get detached from my board, because a surf board can save your life in a rip current.
r.b.3
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: It’s just fun. You don’t have to be able to die for it to be fun.
That said, if you go somewhere with decent shorebreak like Sandy Beach outside of Honolulu, you can easily get your neck broken or get bludgeoned against rocks.
Check out this video of some pretty great skimboarding: [www.youtube.com]
Clancycoop
@r.b.3: In that shallow of water it’s not that strong. I grew up in Southern California near the beach, so I know all about rip currents and riptides and have been caught in both. They don’t really go past knee deep in the water. It’s only once you start going past knee deep that rip currents really start to get scary. Of course, waves were coming fast enough that the danger of anything happening is far less than if the waves were infrequent.
Nathan Obbards
@jmcm: Whew, yes, I see the appeal now. Very different from the only skimboarders I’ve seen, doing nothing but falling on their asses after a 10-foot ride, a shore breaker crashing into their faces.
Gordonium: The Drunk Element
@Nathan Obbards: the danger during a storm is the rip currents.
r.b.3
extreme is not a word I’d use here, but to each their own
sydcinema
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: I don’t get the danger element they’re trying to promote here either. Then again, I’ve been scared shitless out surfing while friends were catching 10-12 breaks. The camera work is cool though.
That said, look up some of the videos from skimboard championships. Those guys are insane and show the whole danger element. Some of them are practically surfing on shorebreak and there are guys pulling aerials in less than a foot of water. Unlike while surfing (well, far less likely with surfing), if you screw up an aerial, you can really hurt yourself.
Nathan Obbards
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: I think they were a little hampered by holding a broom with a camera on it, but skim boarding can actually be pretty cool. usually you launch off of a breaking wave and get some descent air in which you try to flip around as many times as you can, or turn around and ride the wave in. (or set up some boxes and basically skateboard on the beach)
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
jmcm
Kinda Extreme Skimboarding Captured By Very Extreme Camerawork … http://bit.ly/bpEFDZ
@Sexandpolitics: Ah, gotcha. I made the above statement with a few unmentioned assumptions, like being willing to enter deep water.
Gordonium: The Drunk Element
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: you obviously aren’t afraid of hitting your shin. Moreover, as Duke Nukem would say, you have “balls of steel” if you aren’t afraid of getting hit in the jewels.
Professional_Iceberg_Hunter
@Gordonium: The Drunk Element: For me, sad as it is to say, it’ll be the closest thing I’ll ever get to surfing due to my deep water phobia. I’d say it’s rather like skateboarding to me, but a little smoother ride. I enjoy it a lot when I go to the beach.
Sexandpolitics
Skimboarding: because I’m to afraid to get into the ocean.
I kid, I kid. I don’t surf (terrified of deep water) and I don’t skim board (almost hit me in the gonads once), but instead I dirtbike.
Go land go!
Professional_Iceberg_Hunter
Skimboarding is incredibly fun, and not that hard to get decent at. The boards aren’t too expensive either.
Just don’t do it around too many people, when you fall you can kick it into the air with some speed and that can hurt someone pretty badly.
Broom/camera idea is excellent as well. I would love to see this technique used in other circumstances.
The5thElephant
Cool camerawork, but I still don’t understand skimboarding. Not one little bit. It seems like the thrill would be about proportional to the danger, which in this case is a 2-foot crumbling break.
Gordonium: The Drunk Element