Hometown::  Laguna Beach California
Born:  1974
Skimboarding Since:  1982
Sponors:  Exile Skimboards
Has been Skimming Pro Since: 1994
Nickname:  Chia, Chiapet
Stance:  Regular on a skimboard, goofy while skateboarding and snowboarding

Go to the Andy Chiavetta Multimedia Page

Notes: Chia grew up in Huntington Beach.  For those of you who don't know, Huntington (known as surf city) has beaches that look similar to those on "Baywatch".  They are good for jet skiing in the waves and prancing around in a Scarab with Pamela Andersen, but not for skimboarding.  The mere lack of waves didn't stop him from trying though.  For years he would skimboard whenever he could, hoping that tomorrows high tide would bring the waves in close enough to ride.  In fact, he had never seen anyone ride a wave on a skimboard before he started doing it.  He thought he had invented a new sport!  Then one day, as he was walking home from the beach a piece of paper on the ground caught his eye.  It was an old Victoria Newsletter with pictures of people riding huge waves at Aliso.

Chia now lives walking distance from Aliso.  As soon as he got his first car he spent most of his time and money traveling to Laguna to skim.  He also worked at the Victoria factory for a number of years.  This gave him some knowledge of how skimboards are made, and after working for an aerospace company, he started making his own boards.  At one point he was selling quite a few boards but decided that he wanted to work on bigger more challenging things.  He now builds custom airplanes, by hand, with fiberglass.  It is quite impressive to see him do.  He still makes boards (damn good ones too!), but only for himself and his friends.

Although Chia doesn't usually do too well in skimboarding contests, he is an excellent skimboarder, and one of the most dedicated that I know.  Of course my opinion is a little biased because he is a good friend of mine, but make no mistake, this guy can skim, just look at the pictures!