For the first time since the UST Tour was created skimboarding has a new face at the top.  In what was probably the most competitive year to date, Paulo Prietto outscored all others to secure the top spot.

Grady Archbold made appearances on the east coast for the first time in several years and it paid off.  Not only did he win two east coast contests, which helped launch him to second place, he fell in love with the place and now visits Florida even when there aren't any contests.

Morgan Just missed a contest, sustained a serious knee injury, and still managed to rank third, blowing people's minds with his innovative skimboarding all along the way.  It is worth noting that he is the youngest competitor in the top four and will no doubt be challenging others for the top spot for years to come.

Bill Bryan, the winningest skimboarder of all time by far, took on a somewhat more relaxed version of the skim tour this year.  He still proved that he has what it takes by winning three of the five tour events he entered.  Even after missing four tour events he still was able to earn a solid fourth place on the tour.  Hats off to Bill who still continues to amaze everyone who sees him skim.

Unfortunately this year (as well as last) almost all West Coast contest organizers failed to save their heat sheets, and hence full pro results for those events are lost forever.  Therefore, contestants who didn't place well enough to be announced at the contest at West St, Cabo, Santa Cruz and Aliso get zero credit for their 5th, 10th or 16th place finish. 

As far as the top four go, this was not a hindrance and calculating accurate standings.  However, below fourth place the calculation gets muddied to the point where no accurate and fair determination is possible.

WEST COAST CONTEST ORGANIZERS NEED TO KEEP THEIR RESULTS.

Beyond the fact that it is unfair to the competitors and amateurish, this is also a matter of retaining records for skimboarding history.  When you toss those results out they are lost forever.  When skimboard historians (!) look back in 60 years they will have limited information to work with because we didn't take care to preserve it.

On a positive note, special thanks to Harry Wilson and Skim USA who does a very good job of organization and record keeping for east coast events.

So, placings below 5th place are not reliable due to inaccurate record keeping (for the second year in a row).  Instead of just not publishing the results like I did last year, I have chosen to publish the results based on the best information I have available.  Results below 5th place are likely to in actuality have been a little bit different so I designated those results with an asterisk instead of a number.  While their exact placings may not be known, we do know that they are all great skimboarders and have deserved mention as the top athletes in our sport today.

1) Paulo Prietto
2) Grady Archbold
3) Morgan Just
4) Bill Bryan
*) Jamie Lovett
*) Austin Bleiweiss
*) Jason Wilson
*) Brandon Sears
*) Justin Boisclair
*) Koty Lopez

Note:  Additional contest info, or information that wouls adjust the results is always welcome.

*** Grady and Morgan have blank spots for their results in Cabo.  Both were first round exits and while one no doubt did a little better than the other, the possible point differential would not have been enough to change the standings as listed.

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2005 UST STANDINGS CALCULATION***