Surf Cat

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“The secret to life,” says Anthony D Liuzzi, “for a filmmaker anyway is to make you’re a movie about the subject you love most in life. I imagine it is every filmmaker’s dream to make a movie that is based on this concept.”

For Liuzzi, it was an honor to have been given the opportunity to make “Shorebreak”. The documentary film—co-produced and distributed by Little Studio Films—is an oral and visual history of competitive skimboarders in the Laguna Beach town of southern California.

I was honored when given the opportunity to create this historic documentary for the global skim family. Their culture is so rich and diverse it can only be understood from the inside out.

In making the film, Liuzzi traveled the world to film the top competitions and bonded with A-list action sports superstars like The Bryan Brothers, Brad Domke, Jamie Obrien, and Tony Hawk who all appear in the film.

A skimboard is a type of surfboard that’s been described as a moving skateboard ramp on water. And that’s pretty apt.
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One of the key differences lies in the board design—unlike traditional surfboards the skimboard doesn’t have a “fin” or “skeg”. Which from a design perspective is akin to a “keel” or “rudder” on a boat. It emulates a dolphin fin coming off the board to help the surfer carve turns and set a line or direction on the wave.  A skimboard doesn’t have these features—a skimmer is forced to use the edge of the board or “rail” to control direction or “line” on the wave. Liuzzi compares it to skipping a stone across water. “Imagine if you could control or manually change the direction of the skip of the stone you already tossed. Which only happens when the edge of the stone enters the water creating an edge. Not having a fin allows for opportunities and fewer limitations in the movement for doing tricks and speed to get to parts of the wave that normally are impossible to reach.”

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Their approach to the wave also differs, Liuzzi says.

So surfing starts in the water, laying on the board. The surfer paddles with the waves and try’s to catch the wave heading toward the shore. Paddling, positioning, and timing allow the surfer to catch the momentum of the wave going toward the beach. A skimboarder starts on the sand. They sprint toward the water and jump onto their board going full speed. Carrying the momentum into the shallow water and go directly head first into the waves. They time and turn off the wave just before it breaks and carry the momentum toward the beach. Landing safely onto dry wet sand or the mere inches of water that coat the shoreline.

In the age of #MeToo, skim boarding sounds like a panacea for toxic masculinity—the sport has included women competitively equal since 2010 and the family atmosphere of surfing communities is anathema to the degradation of women. Additionally appealing is that surfers are environmentalists by the very nature of the sport. They interact directly with the ocean—it’s no man-made controlled swimming pool environment.

Liuzzi adds:

It comes from the love of what we do and the understanding that it’s not always there or going to be there. People forget that waves change every day and affect the sand and shape of the beach. Creating magical moments lasting sometimes only a few hours of perfect conditions. The surfers and skimmers consider this a gift and have grown an appreciation for the ocean and its power. So this is why you see surfers taking the time to pick up trash and help try to keep our oceans alive. If every person picked up three pieces of trash every time they were at the beach, Over 150 million pieces of trash would be picked up every year!

The film’s ending underscores this point and, without divulging any spoilers, the takeaway Liuzzi says should be this:

It doesn’t matter if you’re the best or the richest. What matters are the people and life experiences you choose to surround yourself with during your lifetime. The skimmers share a unique common ground. When do you have the 10-time world champion playing with the amateur athletes at any given moment in any other sport? This happens almost every day in the sport of skimboarding.

The film will be available on Amazon stream November 14, 2018.

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Photo credit: screenshot from the film Shorebreak