Skimboarding is based primarily on the principle of hydroplaning. Skimboards are smaller and thinner than surfboards because they do not require as much buoyancy.

The skimboard is a craft of varying size, usually of some oval, tear-drop, or square shape, though some people use circular boards.
The square board is one of the easiest designs to learn on. The best size board, in most cases is about your ankle height. Modern skimboards are made out of fiberglass or carbon fiber and take advantage of a high density foam to serve as a core. The fiberglass/carbon fiber is a fabric which becomes stiff when saturated with resin and left to cure. When this fiberglass or carbon fiber is laid over a shaped piece of foam, saturated with resin and left to cure, a skimboard is made. Compared to a surfboard or bodyboard of similar areas, skimboards are not very buoyant. It is rare to see a skimboard thicker than 2.5 cm. A well-made skimboard will have some nose lift, or rocker, and may come with a rubberized traction surface also known as a stomp pad or traction pad, but these are more common on surfboards. If the board does not come with a stomp pad, surf wax can be used. Traction pads can be purchased for a low price at most surfing stores. Traction pads come in all shapes and sizes and are mainly used to cover only the back portion with arch bars covering the middle section of the board where the front foot goes.

Advanced skimboarders are able to do much more impressive tricks on their boards. The most common advanced move is called a Wrap. A skimmer can wrap the wave by throwing the board down toward the ocean, jumping onto it, and then hydroplaning out to the wave. When the skimmer reaches the wave, by shifting his or her weight the skimmer can wrap around it, which also propels him or her back to shore. To take it further, a very advanced move is called the Wrap Barrel. This is when you wrap the wave, but instead of coming back to shore, you turn farther and get into the barrel.

Another Style of skimboarding is often called side skimming. This style of skimboarding inolves doing the normal on-step but once you have landed on the board you turn the board sideways, looking as though the side of the board is going sideways first. This technigue allows for the rider to have less surface friction which allows the rider to maintain a faster speed unlike the traditional way of going straight out into the on-coming wave.