diff --git a/app/components/skill-card/_SkillCardIdentity.vue b/app/components/skill-card/_SkillCardIdentity.vue
index 2d4aa287..8023351f 100644
--- a/app/components/skill-card/_SkillCardIdentity.vue
+++ b/app/components/skill-card/_SkillCardIdentity.vue
@@ -23,6 +23,17 @@ const emit = defineEmits<{
   avatarError: []
 }>()
 
+const avatar = useTemplateRef<HTMLImageElement>('avatar')
+
+// An avatar can fail before this card hydrates, such as in a row that
+// hydrates only once it scrolls into view. Its error event then fired with no
+// listener, so the mount reads the image instead.
+onMounted(() => {
+  const image = avatar.value
+  if (image?.complete && image.naturalWidth === 0)
+    emit('avatarError')
+})
+
 /** The author names the owner, so the byline needs only the Repository after it. */
 const where = computed(() => view.author ? view.repo : view.source)
 </script>
@@ -31,6 +42,7 @@ const where = computed(() => view.author ? view.repo : view.source)
   <div class="skill-id" :class="[`skill-id--${size}`, wrap && 'skill-id--wrap']">
     <img
       v-if="view.byline === 'full'"
+      ref="avatar"
       :src="view.avatar(size)"
       alt=""
       :width="size"
diff --git a/layers/marketing/app/components/BoardRankedList.vue b/layers/marketing/app/components/BoardRankedList.vue
index 9d53a503..ceffa270 100644
--- a/layers/marketing/app/components/BoardRankedList.vue
+++ b/layers/marketing/app/components/BoardRankedList.vue
@@ -55,11 +55,25 @@ const chunks = computed<ListChunk[]>(() => [
     <ol class="board-list editorial-ledger list-none p-0" :start="chunk.start">
       <li v-for="(row, offset) in chunk.rows" :key="row.key">
         <TrendingBoardItem
+          v-if="chunkIndex === 0"
           :row="row"
           :rank="chunk.start + offset"
           :surface="surface"
           @avatar-error="owner => emit('avatarError', owner)"
         />
+        <!--
+          Rows past the head render on the server with every post, and hydrate
+          once they scroll into view. Hydrating all thirty rows at once was
+          the board's longest task.
+        -->
+        <LazyTrendingBoardItem
+          v-else
+          hydrate-on-visible
+          :row="row"
+          :rank="chunk.start + offset"
+          :surface="surface"
+          @avatar-error="(owner: string) => emit('avatarError', owner)"
+        />
       </li>
     </ol>
   </template>
diff --git a/test/unit/skill-card-avatar-error.nuxt.test.ts b/test/unit/skill-card-avatar-error.nuxt.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c75ad0e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/skill-card-avatar-error.nuxt.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { mountSuspended } from '@nuxt/test-utils/runtime'
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import SkillCard from '../../app/components/SkillCard.vue'
+
+const skill = { owner: 'gone-owner', repo: 'skills', name: 'vite', registryPath: '/gh/gone-owner/skills/vite' }
+
+const prototype = HTMLImageElement.prototype
+const original = {
+  complete: Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(prototype, 'complete'),
+  naturalWidth: Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(prototype, 'naturalWidth'),
+}
+
+/** Every image reads as settled, broken or not, as it would after loading before hydration. */
+function settleImages(width: number): void {
+  Object.defineProperty(prototype, 'complete', { configurable: true, get: () => true })
+  Object.defineProperty(prototype, 'naturalWidth', { configurable: true, get: () => width })
+}
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  for (const [key, descriptor] of Object.entries(original)) {
+    if (descriptor)
+      Object.defineProperty(prototype, key, descriptor)
+    else
+      delete (prototype as unknown as Record<string, unknown>)[key]
+  }
+})
+
+describe('skill card avatar', () => {
+  it('reports an avatar that failed before the card hydrated', async () => {
+    settleImages(0)
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(SkillCard, { props: { skill, layout: 'row' } })
+    expect(wrapper.emitted('avatarError')).toEqual([['gone-owner']])
+    wrapper.unmount()
+  })
+
+  it('stays quiet for an avatar that loaded', async () => {
+    settleImages(36)
+    const wrapper = await mountSuspended(SkillCard, { props: { skill, layout: 'row' } })
+    expect(wrapper.emitted('avatarError')).toBeUndefined()
+    wrapper.unmount()
+  })
+})