remora1 wrote:

It was a career-ending skate injury that caused the shift to my guitar obsession. Still surf occasionally, just longboard cruising these days!

Never had an Alva deck, but I fondly remember my Alva Speed Skin wheels.

The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann

You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.

Kawentzmann wrote:

Never had an Alva deck, but I fondly remember my Alva Speed Skin wheels.

Wow, what a great doc! Sure brings back memories. I was skating amateur with the Tunnel Wheels team at the time. Skated regularly with Waldo, Blackhart, Ayres, Salba, Schnieder. Did a couple sessions with TA and Jay at Fruit Bowl. Crazy times! Fun fact: In the Go For It movie poster at about 8:30, that's me doing the frontside carve over Tony's head.

Bill S._______

HELLDIVER on Facebook

Last edited: Oct 19, 2020 17:11:57

Kawentzmann wrote:

remora1 wrote:

In the Go For It movie poster at about 8:30, that's me doing the frontside carve over Tony's head.

Wow, now THIS is cool!

That's rad remora1!

Paul

The Dead Planet Surfers

My avatar is me at Fruit Bowl on the plywood extension. That place was amazing! I was lucky that I was part of the South Bay Tunnel/E.T. Surfboards crew (Waldo Autry,Doug Schnieder, Greg "Queever" Ayres, Kevin "Worm" Anderson.) Skated all the SoCal spots and made several runs to the Arizona pipes. Then I shattered my hip at the Upland Pipeline skatepark and I was done.
To me that was the most amazing thing in the documentary - decades of insane skating and Alva never broke a bone! How is that possible? I had broken both arms before the hip incident. I'm 59 now and the hip has been a CONSTANT reminder of my misspent youth!

Bill S._______

HELLDIVER on Facebook

This 1965 short film was shot in the South Bay, Belairs country:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRIt3aDX7-k

Last edited: Oct 20, 2020 11:22:01

Remora1, in the website photo, is that you on the wood extension at the Fruit Bowl? If so, I'm very impressed. I managed to get away with only breaking my wrist at the Concrete Wave in Anaheim. Skated on and off until I was 55. Skateparks started re-emerging in the 90's and I couldn't resist. 7 trips to the hospital in 7 years made me realize cruising is a little safer.
Summerfun, I have that DVD. I love it, no words, but a full understanding!

Great website! How long were you on the team and where are you in the photos. The '70's were the best days for skating, the color ads first in Surfer and Surfing magazines, then Skateboarder, followed up by a few other skate mags. Then, at least for me, all of the skateparks showed up. Urethane wheels changed everything and not knowing limits pushed kids beyond what was thought possible and almost 50 years later they're still not finished. Anyway, I could go on, but I won't. Maybe sometime we can get together and reminisce and share a couple of glasses of Geritol.

That's an awesome shot! Since you're from San Pedro you must have attended the SG 101 conventions that were in Alpine Village. I believe I attended all of them there. If so, we may have crossed paths a few times. I'm definitely for the Rum if we can get together next year. I hope Jeff can find something in the area for 2021.

remora1 wrote:

My sister just sent me this doc- pretty epic account of the influence Skateboarder Magazine had back in the day! Bonus discovery- you can find every issue scanned and free to view at skateboarder mag com
Found my full page shot!

I discovered that movie a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure we ever had Skateboarder here in the UK - we had Skateboard! Magazine instead. UK skateboarding seems a world away from the USA variant!

I've recently put a slalom board together to learn some cone dodging. A whole different deal to transition skating. Bennett trucks, big wheels and soft bushings. Been enjoying it so far, would be good to try a proper race. I found I was able to do less and less in a skatepark at 54 years old and it wasn't a pleasant feeling, so I thought I would learn something new.

It's sort of less demanding but I'd say the slams are worse - no warning, one moment you're riding cones, then next moment you aren't.
This is the set up I put together

I also got a LDP that you can get up to a pretty good speed just by pumping.

http://thewaterboarders.bandcamp.com/

Last edited: Jul 04, 2021 15:53:43

I skated in the 80s as a kid, when Powell-Peralta were dominating and ramps started getting huge. Hit a pebble going down a huge hill on my Santa Crush Slasher and probably still have some road rash scars from that. I dabbled a tiny bit into the 90s but gave it up for mountain biking. I'm almost 50, perhaps time to pick it up again?