Big Wave Surfing with no Waves!

When we were down on the beach at Santa Monica yesterday, Christmas Eve, I saw this young man on some kind of really small surfboard. He would stand and watch the waves come in and break and the water would come up the wet sand, and then when it started to go out, he would throw this little surfboard  ahead of him on to the remains of the water on the beach, which was only about one inch deep.  Then as the board raced in front of him he would run after it, and jump on it, and would surf on what seemed like no water at all!  He was really good at it.  He would stand there for a couple of minutes waiting for the right wave, and then he would ride his board for twenty or thirty feet and he looked like he was having fun.  The process is called "Skim Boarding" and apparently has been around for some time.