SEA BRIGHT: BACK IN THE SKIM OF THINGS

Jun 22, 2017

The summertime edition of the annual Skimbash tournament returns to the waters just off Sea Bright, this Saturday and Sunday. (File photo by Peter Lindner)

Although at first glance the array of aerial leaps, spins, and acrobatics have more in common with skateboarding than with surfboarding — and the sometimes slapstick finishes to the maneuvers have the spills running neck-and-neck with the thrills — there’s little doubt that the event known as SkimBash is sufficiently serious to attract polished competitors from many hundreds of miles away.

There’s serious prize money at stake, too, when the nationally sanctioned summer edition of Skimbash returns to “the pristine beach and consistently good wave conditions” of the Sea Bright shoreline, for a two-day stay this Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25.

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June 22, 2017 - 11:00 am |

ON THE GREEN: PADDLE, SKIM, RUNBIKESWIM

Sep 8, 2016

All ages and skill levels are invited to take it to the river on Saturday, when Paddle the Navesink Day returns to the Red Bank waterfront, above, while Skimbash brings top Skim USA Pro/Am Tour action to Sea Bright. (Photo above by John T. Ward; below by Peter Lindner)

The beach-badge booths are boarded up; the “Bennys Go Home” banners lovingly folded with the care befitting a precious family heirloom. But on the ocean beaches and waterways of the Greater Red Bank Green, it’s still very much Local Summer; a busy interlude of family-friendly festivals, recreational opportunities and other welcome rituals.

The weekend ahead sees the reappearance of three such signifiers of Local Summer living — including the September edition of SkimBash in Sea Bright, and the annual Iron Girl Women’s Triathlon on Sandy Hook.

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September 8, 2016 - 12:00 pm |

SEA BRIGHT: SKIM, SWIM INTO LOCAL SUMMER

Sep 10, 2015

The annual September edition of Skimbash brings top Skim USA Pro/Am Tour action to Sea Bright this Saturday — and the Athleta Iron Girl Triathlon hits the Hook on Sunday — as Local Summer continues apace.

In case you haven’t gotten the memo, it’s Local Summer — the sun is still riding high in the sky and the evenings are still long and languid as you allow them to be; even as the beach-badge booths are shuttered and the “Bennys Go Home” banners are lovingly folded and stored away in vac-seal bags for another season.

Veteran locals can tell you that September on the greater Green is a busy interlude of family-friendly festivals, recreational opportunities and yearly ritual tournaments — and this weekend, two genuine signifiers of Local Summer return to nearby beaches, with the re-appearances of SkimBash in Sea Bright, and the Athleta Iron Girl Women’s Triathlon on Sandy Hook.

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September 10, 2015 - 12:00 pm |

SEA BRIGHT: THE ‘BASH IS BACK

Jun 19, 2015

The summertime edition of the annual Skimbash returns to the waters just off Sea Bright Saturday and Sunday. (Photos by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge.)

A locally launched attraction begins anew this Saturday and Sunday when SkimBash returns to “the pristine beach and consistently good wave conditions” of the Sea Bright shoreline, following a two-year relocation in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

If that doesn’t ring true somehow, you’re probably thinking of the September Skimbash that continued post-Sandy during the “Local Summer” interval. This, however, is the June edition that’s been unseen on the borough’s municipal beach since 2012.

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June 19, 2015 - 2:00 pm |

SEA BRIGHT: SKIMMING WITH THE ‘SHARKS’

Sep 3, 2014

Top skimboarding talent converges on Sea Bright this weekend as the annual Skimbash event brings the Skim USA Pro/Am Tour action to the borough’s municipal beach. (File photos by Peter Lindner)

It’s fast becoming one of the most anticipated sporting events of that post-Labor Day interlude known as Local Summer — a nationally sanctioned tournament that draws top competitors from up and down the Atlantic shores, as well as the Gulf Coast.

Not even the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy could wipe out the spirit of SkimBash, billed as the “premier Pro/Am skimboarding contest on the Jersey Shore,” and an annual occurrence that’s put Sea Bright on the map for a certain segment of the populace — thanks in large part to Jersey Shore Skim Camp owner Felecia Stratton, who inaugurated Skimbash in 2003 (it was folded into Skim USA’s national pro tour in 2009).

On Saturday and Sunday, September 6 and 7, the stretch of sand and surf out back of Borough Hall will once again come alive with a gathering of the pros who compete for cash — in addition to the talented sharks, shredders, newbies and groms anxious to show off their skills, and the all-ages aficionados who are there to cheer on their favorites.

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September 3, 2014 - 6:30 am |