History of Skimmer USA

Many well-intentioned fitness buffs have a rowing machine stashed away in the garage. They've since moved on to a fitness club membership where they occasionally continue to row inside a building. Rowing machines are not much fun. Fortunately for the sport of rowing, Dave Emmer has taken rowing out of the garage and put it back outdoors in the water where it belongs.

"I wanted to create something as efficient to water as a 10-speed bike is to land," says Emmer. What he has come up with is a lightweight dream of an innovation in rowing craft known as the Skimmer-an ultralight, fast rowing craft ingeniously stabilized by two stiletto-thin hulls. The Skimmer can be taken out in the wind or waves that would keep most rowing shells at the dock.

Rowing is recognized as one of the most efficient and complete forms of aerobic exercise, but the lakes and oceans are not full of rowers because traditional rowing shells are cumbersome and notoriously unstable.

"My design overcame the three most common objections of the single-hulled racing shell-too long, too heavy and too unstable for one person," says Emmer. "I shortened the hull, developed duall pontoons for stability and made the Skimmer ultralight."

None of these innovations have compromised the speed of the craft. The Skimmer has consistently placed in the top 20 percent when entered in competitions.

Emmer comes from a high-tech background. Emmer formerly owned a San Jose firm that implants ion into silicon chips. While Emmer's first sketches of the Skimmer were on a napkin in a restaurant, he ultimately incorporated the latest, most innovative technology as well as the best of traditional crafts-manship found in rowing shells.

Each Skimmer is handcrafted using high-tech, oven cured epoxy laminates with a honeycomb core and reinforced with carbon fiber. The result is an elegant and handsome rowing craft that is functional, efficient and suitable for almost any condition from choppy seas to glassy lakes.

The Skimmer is really a stunning example of what can happen when superior design, advanced technology and excellent craftmanship are combined.

As Emmer puts it, "If your fitness routine is a hassle and not fun, you won't maintain the effort. Few activities can match the elemental joy of rowing. None can its benefits. Rowing is an opportunity to trescend the limits of land; to explore nature; to integrate body, mind and spirit in a singular pursuit of fun. Rowing a Skimmer makes fitness fun."