Text By Aaron Peluso
Photos By Joe Bailey

Of course this was only phase one of project whiplash.  A trial if you will.  Although this was not the first time bungee skimming has been tried, it is the first "all out" attempt that I know of.  I mean, we had a freaking boat!

It all started with chief motivational officer Ben Kotin.  He was into it.  Constantly bringing the 'unlimited potential' of bungee skimming.  I was of course the skeptical bastard I usually am until one sunny day when I was sitting on the beach filming.  It was a pretty big day and an 8 foot set was rolling through.  The set waves were totally unreachable.  But then on one wave Ben pointed and said "see look, perfect bungee skim wave" (or something like that).  The wave had perfect timing but there was just too much dead water in the way to reach it by running.  But at that moment I envisioned a skimboarders dream, a sling shot to whip you out beyond previous limitations and into the unridden realm.  The wave peeled across the beach eventually doubling up and turning into a solid 10 foot barrel.  It broke so perfectly it probably would have been an in and out.  At that moment I was sold.  It had to be tried.

Bungee skimming starts with buying a lot of equipment, and Ben was on it.  We (he) had 200 feet of half inch bungee cord.  By testing it with our skateboard we decided that tripling it up provided the optimal pull.  We had an anchor complete with a heavy chain to lie on the sea floor, a full pitch of climbing rope, a ski rope, a large buoy, and several small floats to keep the line from sinking.  Oh yeah, and a borrowed boat.

Bungee skimming also starts early in the morning.  Since midday attempts at the end of summer would surely result in hassling, ticketing and or arrest, we avoided the problem by doing it as close to dawn as possible.  People Laguna don't care what the hell you do before 7AM (cause they are still sleeping).  We arrived at Dana Point Harbor around 5:30 AM and loaded the boat with gear and gas.  I noted the plaque on board which said "This boat runs on gas not thanks".  Witty.  By 6:45 we arrived at Aliso and began setting the anchor.  Friends were already waiting on the hill.

From the seafloor the chain went like this.

Anchor > Chain > Climbing Rope > Buoy > More Climbing Rope > Bungee > Ski Rope

This allowed us to change the overall length a little bit by changing the length of the ski rope.  It took a good deal of swimming to get it right but after a half hour or so everything was in place.

The first runs were not very powerful.  We decided that we were starting too far up the beach and so we shortened the ski rope a little, then a little more...  Eventually we got to the point where we had to swim out and even shorten the climbing rope!

There were two small ropes hanging off the tow handle which allowed friends to pull the bungee back to the skimmer waiting on the sand.  This worked pretty well in terms of power but was hard to pull and hard to hold waiting for a decent wave.  It was definitely one of the biggest problems we encountered.  Trying to keep seven skimboarders pulling on a rope when skimmable waves are breaking 15 feet away is a lot like herding cats.

The amount of pull we got from the bungee was good, but barely adequate.  Several people got launched and some even managed to stay on their board while doing it.  Most did not however and more people ate it on the sand than made it to the water.  In fact, I have never seen so many great riders take it on the chin so many times in a row.  You could definitely get hurt if you are not careful.

All in all it was fun but not a total success.  Everyone was in agreement though that with a few changes it could definitely work.  We needed some more equipment though.  With another anchor, a winch, a quick release (possibly off a glider) and some more bungee it seems like success would be possible.  We could set the other anchor up on the beach and attach a winch to it.  Instead of having all these skimmers tugging on a rope you could winch the thing back yourself.  With a quick release you could also wait as long as necessary for a good wave which is critical if you want to get 10 foot barrels.  A little more bungee would definitely provide enough pull, especially with a winch.  In fact, you would be nuts if you weren't scared of how much pulling power that is going to be.  But if you don't break your neck, I think it would work.

The Phase One participants were:

Ben Kotin
Aaron Peluso
Miles Grobman
Andy Chiavetta
Mike Stanaland
Morgan Just
John Collins
Joe Bailey
Taylor Osborn

Phase Two coming soon...