www.skidboard.co.uk

Many hours of fast sprint running whilst chasing the board up and down the beach for hours on end meant that a Skidboarder became really fit. Kim was entered that year in his school sports day and broke both the school records for the 400 and 1500 meters!

By april 1970 Kim had built yet another Skidboard. This time from heavy duty 'exterior' plywood. The board measured two feet ten inches across and was a quarter of an inch thicker than its predecessors. With its underside coated in fibreglass resin (to maximise the boards acceleration and minimise scratching from stones) - the top final coat of varnish being sprinkled with fine sand for grip! This particular skidboard 'The Clockwork Special' was to prove the best yet and a distance of 100 yards could easily be achieved with it.

The weight of the skidboard was very important. Too thin and light it lacked momentum and was flimsy - it would also flip over in a breeze. The speed after being thrown down had to match that of the rider chasing after it. If it was travelling too slow then a rider running at full pace would simply carry too much body weight forward and fall off in a wet heap. If the water was extremely shallow (which was the best scenario) a skidboarder could reach speeds in excess of 25mph.