Chip chips away at skimboard competition 

Chip Sanders is back on the skimboard circuit, and is leading in the point totals, or maybe he’s trailing, he’s not sure which.

“They haven’t posted it yet,” he said, as he drove back Monday from the Skimmunity Showdown at Sandbridge competition in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he took first place among Senior Grandmasters, for men ages 40-49.

He’ll get 1000 points for that win, just as he did for his top finish at the April 24 Panama City Beach Skim Jam, 

He’s tightened up the gap, but he still trails by about 100 points the leader of the pack, Victor Enriquez, who took a first at the Sept. 2021 Skim Bash, a competition Sanders didn’t take part in.

Sanders took a third place, and 810 points, in his opening event, the March 13 Shore LB Throwdown in Vero Beach, an event which Enriquez won.

“I should have won, I was self-inflicting myself, I was jabbing myself,” he said. “I was my own worst enemy in that contest.

“The conditions were very bad,” Sanders said, with winds gusting as high as 26 mph. “It was the first one of the year after COVID, and your sense of balance gets off. It was hard for the first few moments of it.”

Sanders is a factory rider for Zap Skimboards, and has run off three straight wins since his opening competition.

He easily topped the field at the May 14 Spring Fling Skim Jam at Venice Beach, home of Zap, 

“So happy to bring home another first place piece to add to the collection,” he told the world on Facebook following the win. “The name of the game is called Kick Azz now Celebrate.

“Big thank-you to all my fans and supporters,” he wrote, thanking Apalachicola caterer Danny Itzkovitz for gassing up his truck for the cross-state trip “A thank you to beautiful St. George island for giving me a platform to do what I love to do!

“Be thankful you woke up this morning, now you should get up, go out into the world and do what you wanna do!” he wrote in another post. “Never let anybody hold you back from accomplishing something you set out to do. Whether you are in a relationship or not, get out there and complete your goal?s and be great.

“Your health is your wealth, not money?,” Sanders wrote. “There’s no one special person, we’re all great. If somebody’s holding you back, don’t be afraid to stand up to their dictatorship??. You’re in the greatest country in the world, don’t forget that. Now get out there and go live it up.”

In addition to skimboarding, Sanders has been learning to master a hydrofoil as well as wake surfing.

In three weeks he’ll be at the Outer Banks in North Carolina for more skimboarding competition On August 4, he’ll be at the world championships in Dewey Beach, Delaware.

He also will be competing on a different tour at the Florida Pro Am in St. Augustine, and then it’s on to Newport Beach, California in October for more competition.