Skin boarding capital of the Philippines: Tanauan, Leyte

Tanauan holds the distinction of being the birthplace of Skimboarding in the country. In 2000, an American tourist from California visited the town and introduced the water sport to several youngsters. He also taught the locals how to make skim boards. Since then, a friendly Skimboarding competition has been held every year. The sport caught the fancy of nearby towns and other parts of the country, bringing an increasing number of participants to the annual competition in Tanauan. Year after year, the sport is slowly being recognized attracting not only local water-sport enthusiasts but foreigners as well.

Skimboarding is a popular recreation sport in the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain and many other places, albeit not as popular here as surfing. A discipline of surfing, Skimboarding involves riding a board on wet sand or shallow water. But unlike surfing where one has to look for big waves breaking far from shore, Skimboarding starts at the beach where short-break waves could be found. The skimboarder would run fast, drop and mount his board before reaching the break point of the wave. The skim boards are smaller than surf boards because they do not require as much buoyancy. Skim boards are usually oval or teardrop-shaped, although some are circular. The National government in tandem with DPWH is said to be eager in helping Tanauan develop the Skimboarding site to promote tourism in the area.

Today, Tanauan is highly regarded as the skimboarding capital of the country. And why not, since 2005 it has already hosted 4 National Skimboarding competitions and has also produced International Skimboarding champions.