A group of high school students from Northeast Tacoma fell in love with the sport of skimboarding nearly a decade ago.
There was just one problem — the equipment needed for skimboarding didn’t live up to their expectations. That’s when the group realized that their passion for the sport was being held back by the quality of boards that were available.
So the entrepreneurial Stadium High School graduates decided to take matters into their own hands and start their own skimboarding company back in 2003, making boards.
DB Skimboards is owned and operated by a group of five Stadium High School graduates, who are all in their early 20s. All five have either graduated with college degrees or are well on their way to earning their diplomas.
“At first this just meant going to the local hardware store and making crude, hand-made boards,” said owner Tim Mackay, a 22-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo. “These performed well and other skimboarders took notice. More and more local beach-goers were interested in DB and so skimboarding went from a summer past time to the ultimate summer job.”
Seven years after starting the business, DB Skimboards continues to send its boards all over the world and has since expanded its product line to include skateboards and apparel. The boards range in price from $100 to $200.
Skimboarding is a sport in which a board is used to glide across the water’s surface.
Unlike surfing, skimboarding begins on the beach, with skimboarders running and dropping the board onto the thin wash of previous waves.
They may use their momentum to “skim” out to breaking waves, which they then catch back into shore in a manner similar to surfing. Another aspect of skimboarding is “flatland,” which involves performing tricks derived from skateboarding on the wash of waves without catching shore breaks. “Flatland” skimboarding is what DB Skimboards specializes in.
Flatland skimboarding uses a wooden board about three times as wide as a skateboard and one and a half times as long.The board is thrown across a thin film of water. While the board is still moving the rider jumps on and skims across the water.
Mackey is joined at DB Skimboards by partners Bryce Hermansen, 22, Richard Docter, 23, Kyle Hermansen, 25, and Isaac Thomas, 22.
Bryce Hermansen is currently studying business management at Western Washington, Docter, a University of Washington business grad, has been handling the day-to-day operations of the company for the past year and is also the creative director of the company’s annual film that recaps its summer exploits. This year’s film is titled, “Believe in Your Dreams,” and premiered in Tacoma on Thursday.
Kyle Hermansen graduated from Western with a degree in manufacturing engineering and helped get DB Skimboards in countless retail locations across the county and Thomas is currently enrolled at Western as an education major. Thomas will be student-teaching at Brown’s Point Elementary in the fall and is also in charge of DB Skimboard’s summer camps, which are geared toward children from 7 to 16 years old. DB Skimboards is planning on hosting six camps during July and August. For more information, visit www.dbskimboards.com.
DB Skimboards is also hosting its biggest event of the year today, June 26, at Dash Point State Park in Federal Way, 5700 Dash Point Rd.
The Dash Point Pro/Am will begin at 11 a.m. and will include four divisions. The purse for the professional division will be $1,000. The Dash Point Pro/Am kicks off the skimboarding season in the area and is a big attraction for the local community and skimboarders from all over Washington. Many skimmers will also travel from Utah, California and British Columbia to compete. This is the seventh year of the Dash Point event and DB Skimboards is expecting around 75 competitors and hundreds of spectators.
