Sub Zero Skim Jam IV: Wrap Up

Standings
#1 Brennan Wolfe

#2 Bryce Rudland

#3 Scott Copeland

(Words of Brandon ‘B-Dub’ Wright)

Well, that was crazy. That was the best skimboarding event I’ve hosted to date, this time with the help of my boy Brett Wildeman! We had the sickest skimboarding conditions right in the backyard of the Big Fish Lodge in Port Renfrew and managed to throw the most unreal after party in the lodge.

Quick note: All of the photos of the skimboarding can be found HERE and all of the party/lifestyle photos can be found HERE!

Day 1:  Friday – Day Before The Event

A relatively small crew of us drove up out a day early to get everything setup at the Big Fish Lodge, when we got to the lodge the first thing we did was run out the back door and checked out the waves… Ohhhh snap – they were perfect. Beautiful waves rolling in on amazing sand, the waves even had a shoulder and were throwing liners down the beach(completely unheard of for the most part in BC).

Scott (Scoco) and I managed to skim for approximately 3 hours on Friday and had photos taken by Brett Wildeman, Bryce Casselman, and Jesse “#1 Skim Fan” Gibson. Friday night was amazing, our crew of about 12 got together and made a massive potluck dinner… Jeff Zamluk of Zed Skimboards was out on his jetski most of the day dropping crab traps – he caught about a dozen crab on Friday alone!

Day 2: Saturday – DAY 1 of SUB ZERO SKIM JAM

So Saturday rolled around – everyone got up at around the same time and we managed to put together another awesome potluck style meal, I personally at and ran straight outside to check out the waves… They were insane again! I was so pumped, I got into my wetsuit right away and skimmed for an hour or two on my own – my ‘soul skim’. I figured it was important that the event organizer/judge was familiar with the conditions that the riders would be encountering.

Once the event commenced everyone was pumped up and skimming so hard. There were a grand total of 7 skimboarders riding in the event, the smallest turnout I’ve had for an event but it was still the stiffest competition out there – it seemed like everyone brought their A-game and was crushing each wave. Bryce Rudland managed to absolutely demolish a few waves and managed to lock onto one siiiicckkk liner, it blew my mind. Brennan Wolfe was super consistent and locking in some beautiful backside 180s and crazy laybacks. Scott Copeland was absolutely killing it and made us all squeal from his sick style. Matt Henderson was going after only the biggest waves – this guy was ridiculous, he had some smooothhh rides but just was a sucker for punishment. Chris Strelby got out and skimmed before the event, I got to watch him for about 20 minutes and he threw down hard – I was stoked to see a briefcase drop to air… Blam!

Now for the madness – the after party. We had Half Broke Horse and Sunhawk perform at the event, it was absolutely spectacular. The evening started with Chris Davies and I warming up the crowd with some jokes and Christmas carols over the PA – we cleared out the entire living area, everyone went into the kitchen area to talk… That felt wonderful. It was amazing to realize that the only jokes I knew were ripped off from movies, hah, so everyone knew the punchlines. Ohhh well, I had fun. Once Half Broke Horse came on everyone started going crazy, their celtic style music just blew us all away – we had tons of people dancing and jumping around! The energy was just pumping through the lodge!

After Half Broke Horse had finished up their ~45min set Sunhawk (who is currently in the finals for Battle of the Bands in Victoria) came on stage and started really pumping up the energy with their crazy rock/pop style. By this point everyone had drank their fair share and people were starting to get really wild… I decided that I needed to be the one to finally push everyone over the edge – time to make people do crazy stuff for free swag! The events included a shotgunning competition (won by Rob Belrose), a limbo competition (won by Robin), a DANCEOFF (won by Jesse ‘Dolphin Boy’ Gibson), a freestyle rap competition (won by Brett Wildeman), and a walk off competition (won by Irvin Naidu).

Day 3: Sunday – DAY 2 of SUB ZERO SKIM JAM – Recovery Day

So with the help of daylight savings time everyone got up at around 10am, I believe I was the first one up out of over 30 people, and yes it was 10:30am. I’ve never seen so many damaged bodies in my entire life – over 30% of the parties tossed their cookies either the Saturday night or the Sunday morning, it was pretty funny. I was very successful in my drinking, I managed to maintain myself in the 3-zone (that feeling you get after you finish your third beer where everything is funny and you forget about any aches or pains from the ocean), so I safely got to watch and listen to people puking from off the balcony… Classy!

The skimboarding competition finished up on Sunday at around 2pm, the waves were just as unreal as any of the other days… This time I decided to judge from the water/in the lineup. I skimmed the entire time, trying to keep out of the way of the competitors, I was feeling too left out not to. I can safely say it was one of the most fun skim sessions I’d ever had, around all my friends and just thoroughly enjoying the scenery and the energy from everyone watching.

At the end of the day a winner was announced – Brennan Wolfe. He managed to throw down some of the craziest laybacks… One in particular stood out in my mind, he got on a huge shoulder and rode the entire thing out while in the layback position and managed to pop himself back up. When that guy gets fired up he loses his mind, he almost broke my hand giving me a high five after that one! Bryce Rudland came in a VERY close second, he was very consistent both days and make everyone go crazy with his long side slips and huge waves! Scott Copeland came in third and managed to keep everyone pumped with his amazingly smooth style.

I want to take a quick moment to thank all of the sponsors of the event:

Big Fish Lodge
Zed Skimboards
Tac Apparel
Forever Skim Mag
Skimboard Culture.com
Sitka Surfboards
Coastline Surfshop
Duncan Paving

Another huge thanks to Half Broke Horse and Sunhawk for coming out and throwing down some great tunes!

One huge shout-out to my boy Brett, he was a huge help and was a huge part in keeping everyone happy and safe at the event! Atta boy!

I hope to see everyone out again next year – and hopefully we’ll even drag some of the damn yankees out from down south!

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