Skimboard in your yard

Most kids’ toys today seem like safety was a major aspect of design and effectively took a lot of fun out of the toy. Growing up safety was considered, but it was the last thing before they sent it out the door. This is why I was so happy to see in this week’s Target ad your very own Skim Board set. Its called the Banzai Surfer Skimmer Board. It gives you an inflatable slide and I guess multiple skim boards of different colors.

At the beach I always saw kids with their skim boards. One of my cousins must have had one at some point or we at least borrowed one. I tried once but didn’t really get the hang of it. What happens often, even for the kids that know what they are doing, is a wipeout right into the sand. This is what concerns me with this set. When you wipeout, you aren’t landing on sand. Most likely this will be setup in the grass, which isn’t quite as forgiving. I’m fairly confident someone has set this up on the sidewalk. Leading to all sorts of fun times.

While searching I found this instructional video that I assume is included with the set. It shows you how to set it up, use it, and shows some tricks from professional surfers that you instructed not to try at home. I don’t want to ruin the video for you but the use it section goes as follows: ‘run, drop, and skim.’ That was the entire use it section before the tricks started. Take a look …

Target’s page for this item also mentions that it only supports up to 100lbs. I saw boo to that. However, from the instructional video, I’m pretty sure those ‘professional athletes’ weigh more than 110lbs. I think the issue is popping the slide. If they didn’t modify the one for the video, it looks safe for adults.