Count it! Photo: Screenshot
Pond skimming is pretty dang entertaining. Well, watching everyday people lubed up on beer attempting to make it from one end of a body of water to the other in bathing suits is entertaining. There are a lot of wipeouts. There is a lot of cheering. And so many people tumble head over feet the moment they touch the water that seeing somebody finally dock safely at the tail end of a pond is cause for screams worthy of a Game 7 walk off.
And this brings us to a worthy discussion — one that now involves two unofficial claims to the longest pond skims ever. Does a skim only count if and when the skimmer/skier/snowboarder/person touches back down on dry land?
That’s what’s being debated now after Norwegian freeskier Benjamin Forthun possibly set a new world record. Forthun skimmed 112 meters (367 feet) across a pond at the summer ski resort Folgefonna. It didn’t take long for somebody on social media to point out that the (unofficial) world record for this task is 155 meters, which was set by Philippe Troubat on a monoski back in 2010. Troubat’s record came at the Défi Foly contest, where the best skims are simply measured by how far a contestant can make it across the lake before sinking into the water. Forthun was quick to point out that the difference between his new claim at a record and the one people have accepted as the world record for about 15 years now.
“I know about that one, but he didn’t make it back to land, he went swimming,” he says. “I feel there’s a difference between going from land to land instead of just skimming until you sink. Pond skimming is all about making it back to land. But that’s my opinion.”
What say you?
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