Surf Cat

Catching surf at Wrightsville Beach is a popular pastime, yet only a handful of locals ride waves on the finless oval crafts called skimboards. Matt and Will Buchanan, brothers who grew up skimboarding in the island’s shorebreak, hope to change that.

Several years ago, they launched NC Skim School to introduce others to the sport. Meanwhile, they’ve been honing their own skills in regional and national competitions.

In 2014, Will Buchanan won the Senior Men’s Division of the Zap World Amateur Championships of Skimboarding, a contest that drew more than 200 skimboarders from around the world. This June, his brother Matt turned professional when he won the Sea Bright Skimbash in New Jersey. One month later, Matt Buchanan competed in his first professional contest, the Outer Banks Skim Jam.

When he’s not running his skimboard camp, Buchanan is practicing for his third contest of the summer in Vilano Beach, Fla. Aug. 18. The skimboarding conditions in Wrightsville Beach, he said, are “pretty good compared to most places.”

High tide and offshore winds make the best skimboarding conditions, he said, when sizeable waves are breaking on the sand. But manmade structures on Wrightsville’s beach strand also create a unique and consistent skimboarding location.

Under the right conditions, waves will deflect off the south end jetty wall that separates Wrightsville Beach from Masonboro Inlet, he said, and peel down the hard-packed stretch of sand.

“It’s a different kind of spot that a lot of people don’t know about,” he said. “It’s a pretty cool wave.”

And he and his brother usually have the place to themselves. Buchanan estimated there are fewer than 10 locals who skimboard regularly. He would like to skimboard with friends, he said, but “considering the community is so small, you either skimboard by yourself or you don’t skimboard.”

In addition to running a camp, he’s hoping to increase the sport’s popularity by holding a contest next year. If he can get the support of national organization Skim USA, he believes he’ll be able to draw some of the best skimboarders from around the region, thus exposing the local community to the sport at its highest level.

“There are so many dynamics that go into skimboarding,” he said, describing racing down to the water, throwing the board and skimming across the surface of the breaking wave. The best skimboarders can launch into the air, flipping and twisting like a skateboarder.

Buchanan skateboards too, but he’ll try new moves on his skimboard first since the consequences of wiping out are less painful.

“I’ll try something ridiculous on my skimboard and then try to do it on my surfboard or skateboard,” he said. “There are so many possibilities on a skimboard…it’s such a unique sport.”

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