Rehoboth Beach skimboarder finds passion in the waves

Jamie Celano may have grown up in Wilmington, but his heart has always been in Rehoboth Beach.

“Every summer, I lived here my whole life,” he said. “My family had a summer home down here, so that’s where I got into skimboarding and surfing, and just being in the ocean.”

After graduating from Archmere Academy and then Lynchburg College in 2003, he ended up working for alcohol distributor Century Wines, which became Breakthru Beverage, and has been with them almost 20 years. He moved to Rehoboth Beach for good 15 years ago with his wife, Jen, all the time with an eye on the waves.

Celano started skimboarding when he was 5. The proximity of his family’s Dewey Beach home at the end of the street near Dewey Beach Surf and Sport made it easy.

“I naturally fell into it,” he said.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Celano said, the small stretch of beach was the heart of skimboarding.

“It just so happened to be that’s where we stayed,” he said.

Every summer, the skimboard championships were held at the end of New Orleans Street, and he made sure he was there. 

In his first competition at age 6 in the late ’80s, Celano took third place in the 8-and-under division. There were no skimboard lessons back then. He learned on his own.

“You run real fast, and stay young,” he said with a chuckle. 

Now 43, he’s competing in the senior grand masters 40-49 age division after taking a break from the competition brackets for 30-year-olds.

It helps having his sons Jamie, 12, and Luke, 9, keeping him fit and young at heart. 

“They started competing, so they got me back into it,” Celano said. “That’s the reason I’m really competing again. I have a newfound love.”

This past summer, Celano won four skimboarding contests on the East Coast from Florida to New Jersey, including the World Championships of Skimboarding in Dewey Beach. His favorite prize is a Shibumi chair.

“All I wanted was this chair and I finally got it,” he said. “It’s a high-end beach chair. You feel like you’re floating in it.”

Surfing is also his passion, and he has a workshop at his home where he crafts his own surfboards.

Looking into the future, Celano said he expects to be competing for at least a few more years.

“As long as my sons are into it, I’ll be into it,” he said. “It’s a fun sport, you’re at the beach, you're with your friends. It’s not like you're sweating in a field in the middle of the summer in the heat.”