#51: Skimboard on the Atlantic Ocean
The story to No. 51 begins a year before my bucket list was created.
I was in Fort Walton, Fla., visiting my uncle when I saw this kid gliding across the water. The tide would come in; then moments later, he would throw a board on the water and quickly jump on as he proceeded to zip down the beach.
That was the first time I had seen skimboarding, and I knew that I had to learn to do it at some point.
Flash forward a year and I'm scribbling down a hundred things that I want to do before I kick the bucket. With the list being about the experience, I added No. 51 to 53 - all three items being skimboarding in a different ocean.
The problem with skimboarding as an item on a bucket list was one minor detail: I didn't know how to skimboard nor did I have a clue on how to get started.
That's when I found myself on a 12-hour ride to Topsail Island off the coast of North Carolina. I have been fortunate enough for the past six years to travel each summer with my buddy Kyle Arrowood to the beautiful Atlantic coast.
Upon arrival, this small-town guy found himself rummaging through a surf shop. Finding a skimboard that seemed appropriate, I went merrily on my way. Soon after, I was standing along the beach with the dilemma of how exactly I was supposed to do this.
So I did the only thing I knew how to - monkey see, monkey do. At best, you could call it trial and error as I attempted to skim like the person I saw a year earlier. Time after time I would take a running start, and as soon as I hit the board, I'd launch it upward and fall almost every time onto my back.
After almost two days, my back was cut to shreds from the seashells that lined the beach. Three days in, I could go 15 feet. On day four I finally did it; the first time I threw the board down, I jumped on and, with a successful try, rode a wave down the beach. Four days of practice and a year of cultivating the idea met at that point.
The most gratifying part of skimboarding and No. 51 was the fact that it was a skill I believed would be fun but in which I had no experience. So by setting No. 51 as a goal, I was privileged enough to learn a new skill and hobby. Now, I own two boards and look forward to skimboarding in the Gulf of Mexico this summer.
My message to all my readers is go out and try that skill or sport you've had your reservations about. Whether it's playing a guitar or joining a club, go after it.
You'll fall like I did, to be sure. But nothing is as satisfying as achieving that ability - or in my case, an item on your bucket list. You never know, you might just find a new hobby.
Until next time, you stay classy Athens.
Austin Wyant is a freshman studying international studies and a columnist for The Post. Next step, surfing?
E-mail Austin at aw149110@ohiou.edu.
4 Opinion
Austin Wyant
