Skimboarder Blair Conklin talks about viral videos, social media and the health of his sport
Skill level? Out of this world. Photo: Skid Kids//YouTube
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A few years ago In the midst of the pandemic, Blair Conklin and I found a way to organize a nice little trip through the American West. Actually, it was the perfect mission because we had a lot of space (social distancing was the order of the day). The inertia took the skimboarding world champion to three of the West’s best natural river breaks to see what a guy used to smashing shorebreaks can do in whitewater rapids.
To say he rocked it would be an understatement. He was so much fun to watch. But there was one moment that stuck out to me. As we drove through Boise, a small city that forms the eastern tip of a triangle with Seattle and Portland in the Pacific Northwest, Blair climbed out of the water after brushing Boise’s standing wave. On the sidewalk that faces the river, he couldn’t take two steps without a kid coming up to chat him up or someone asking him to sign his board. He graciously obliged.
There are two reasons for this: First, Blair is just a good guy. Second, his ability to create viral skim content has made him known to people of all ages around the world – and helped him gain more than 3.5 million YouTube subscribers.
The Laguna Beach, California native is now a recognized legend. He’s a three-time world champion, and his enviable athletic skills have helped transform the once-niche sport of skimboarding into a global, viral phenomenon. When we caught up with him, he talked about some of those viral moments and his journey as a social media entrepreneur. No one has balanced visual stimulation and social analytics quite like Blair. So well that you can’t walk past a wave in the ocean or on a river without someone knowing your name. It was pretty remarkable to witness. Enjoy the listen!
