IN PHOTOS: Riding across the tides, skimboarding gains waves in Butuan City

BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – Growing slowly for over a decade, the small community of board-riding enthusiasts here has gained waves through the extreme sport of skimboarding as they gathered in Masao Beach last November 16 for the biggest skimboarding event in Caraga’s capital. 

The event was dubbed the largest gathering in Butuan, with 35 skimboarders from Butuan City, Buenavista, and Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte; Lianga and Tandag City in Surigao del Sur; Surigao City; Gingoog City, and Opol in Misamis Oriental; and the farthest from Mati City in Davao Oriental.

Challenged by the lack of support and funding to fully kick off the event, the organizers, together with local skimboarding enthusiasts and supporters, contributed a small portion of cash and gave away mementos as a form of reward for those who traveled to participate in the occasion. 

“We have been doing this event annually for more than five years now, and amid the lack of support to kick the event to its fullest potential like the one they have in Bacuag in Surigao del Norte, we’re still able to gain some support from locals, enthusiasts, and even some small business owners just to keep the event running,” said Al Kristian Paquibot, event organizer of team Ayg Pada Brah and BXU Boardriding Enthusiasts.

Paquibot pointed out that even if they lacked the needed financial support, they wanted to push through with the event to keep the local skimboarding community alive and encourage more to join and start the sport. 

“For us, we hope to have people, especially our younger generation, to be enticed in the sport and learn, like right now, we have skilled skimboarders from Mati, Tandag, and Opol that can show our local skimboarders some unique skilled tricks that will hopefully inspire them to practice more and gain more from this experience,” said Paquibot. 

The event’s Open Category champion King Jhon Bucong from Mati City in Davao Oriental stated that he traveled and joined the event to support the local skimboarding community and help it grow.

“I spent around P1,500 coming to Butuan, while the total cash prize money I got was only P1,800, together with some items they gave me such as a trophy, hat, bag, watch, and shades. For me, it was more than about helping boost a local skimboarding scene, and hopefully help them grow,” said Bucong. 

Bucong was the champion of the Junior Men’s Category during the 14th Penang International Skimboarding Competition held in Malaysia on September 20, 2024. 

“Being someone who has won twice in the international scene, for me, helping out other skimboarding events to flourish is an honor because we in Mati City also started small with almost no one supporting us. But now, our skimboarding competitions are supported by our local government, other organizations, and institutions. They just keep on creating more skimboarding competitions. Who knows? The next national and international champion might be someone from Butuan,” said Bucong.

The event’s organizers hoped that the 2025 event would be bigger, with more support coming from different groups and the local government. – Rappler.com