Austin Keen: blending skimboarding with wakeboarding

Austin Keen continues his adventure into the unknown. This time, the dreadlocked skimboarder grabbed a long bungee rope and got towed by a boat at 45.5 miles per hour.

The idea came from Marco Thompson, an action sports entrepreneur with a taste for creative stunts. The duo made it a reality at Mission Beach, in California.

The visual result is quite impressive.

Keen glides dozens of yards across the surface of the water, then jumps over the wake's whitewater, connects with it, and performs a wide variety of tricks.

"When you replace a tow rope with a 25-foot giant bungee, this is the result. It resulted in an explosive whip-in. My average speed at my fastest point was about 40 miles per hour," explained Austin Keen.

In a way, the talented skimboarder from Tybee Island is blending skimboarding and wakeboarding with adding a subtle twist - can you glide across the water for more than 100 yards (91 meters) without a tow rope?

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