By:  Jota

I remember the morning of January 15 2004.  After two months of passionate hard work, Felipe and myself, took the car and went to the airport to pick up the pro skimmers that are were coming to our skim contest.  It would be the first PRO/AM skim contest ever to take place in Chile.

We arrive at the airport in Santiago, the biggest city in our country and also the capital.  First we began searching for Drew Danielo; that was a big problem because we remember this guy as just a blond and skinny teenager.  Unfortunately for us, “Tatoo man” as we called him, had dyed his hair black the previous month.  After three trips around the airport we finally found him because of the skimboards he had in his luggage.  Then we went to wait for Jus Martel, Keith “lokito” Perry, and Budda (some people call him Chad Martel, or also “Chat” because he is very shy at speaking).

With all “Kind Industries team” together we went to my truck, a Mitsubishi Montero. The problem was that this guys had a lot of luggage (a lot of it was prizes for the contest).  I had to steal a rope from a big truck to put the boards at the roof very fast, before they notice our robbery.

We drove two hours to Zapallar, were the contest took place, with several stops because the American guys were a little cramped behind seats. But when Budda starts speaking everybody relax.

Finally we arrived at Zapallar, where the PROS started skimming immediately.  The local skimmers, and also the Chilean crowd got crazy watching them.  They made a lot of friends and hot girlfriends like Josefina and Barbara during that day and the night, so by the time the contest arrived they knew more people at Zapallar than a lot of guys that spend the summer there.

We waited for the BIG DAY, January 17, the day of the contest. All the organization seems to have paid off, or so it seems anyway. The only problem was the lack of waves, but not to Drew...

Things begin with the young boys division (4 - 12), where riders do their best competing for a new Zap Skimboard that is the first price of that division.  There Max Reuther impresses the judges with a solid style and a lot of tricks, and takes home first place and a new board!.

Then the women division starts.  In that division girls from 10 to women of 40 push their legs trying to win.  Mother and daughter were pitted against each other in this division, with the daughter edging out he own mother!  In that division the younger girl, Roberta Irarrazabal, won, beating all the older girls by far.

The largest division took place next, 13-17. In that division about 20 skimmers push themselves to the limit.  Phillip Game (mini Drew Daniello), won with a strong style.

Next it was the old guys division, 18 and up (that is very old to a Chilean skimmer).  It  wasn't very impressive, but this guy Javier Zabala definitely made the difference.

Finally the good Chilean division shows up. In this division, called Chilean PROS, the crowd started to arrive in a massive way.  It was very strange to skim with so many people watching you, but after the first wave you forget everything. We tried as hard as we could, and I was very lucky to win my division.  But Fernando Chavez was skimming very well and it was a close heat.

After the Chilean PROS the most anticipated division began, the real PROS, the American PROS.  In this division the crowd definitely got crazy, and over a hundred people were on hand to see these guys and the incredible things that they were able to do.  It was definitely the best part of the championship.  The only problem was controlling the crowd.  There were so many people that they didn't respect the closed competition area.  In that division Drew was definitely the man, and also the crowd favorite; Jus Martel finished second and he was the girls favorite.  For example during the championship I listened to a girl saying “He has the best body I have ever seen”; Kito finished 3rd doing a lot of impressive and big aerials that made the crowd go even more crazy.

When the championship was finished, we had dinner at my house, and then, with like 13 guys and girls in the Montero, went to Club Ice where we partied all night until 7 in the morning.  That night we met a lot of people that were in the beach for the championship who viewed these PROS as gods. For Kito it was the “piscola night” (piscola is a typical Chilean drink), and with Jus they practically paid the entrance for the Club for 10 girls (they really spent a lot of money that night).

The next morning we woke up pretty late, and we waited for the afternoon high tide.  That day the waves were very good, with 8 foot barrels breaking in the sand.  The Chileans and the PROS started to skim, and immediatly the crowd began to swell.  People in the crowd were overheard saying things like “This guys totally rips!!”; and they certainly did.

Special thanks to Lost, that was the main sponsor of the championship, and because of it we had everything we wanted. Also to Rotter & Craws, Exile Skimboards, Zap Skimboards, Victoria Skimboards, Kind Industries and Exodus. All these sponsors gave a lot of prizes.  The skimboard companies each sent a pro to the championship, and because of that championship was a total success.

Also thanks to all the skimmers that helped me the same day of the championship, especially my Dad and Felipe. Also thanks to all the pro skimmers that came down here and to Karen Steward, Tex Hainers and Aaron Peluso that sent them.  Finally thanks to Paty Pops, Josefina, Alfonso, Michell, Barabara, Foco, Chaves, Minimi and to all the people that helped in any kind of way to make this event a good time for all.

For More Info On Skimming In Chile Checkout: Skim Chile

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