Skateboarding came out
of the Malibu surf scene
in the late fifties. Side-
walk surfing was all it
was for a lot of years.
The bank riding in the
schools that used to be
the big deal was like
the long, drawn-out
point waves where
you'd keep working the
form, going down the
line. Now the emphasis
is much less on travel-
ling: It's more like
attacking whatever's
there and whatever you
can think to do.
-Craig Stecyk
One theory about the
birth of skateboarding
says that skaters were
originally one-celled
amoebas that evolved
through various stages of.
life from protozoa to
bottom dwellers and fish
until they eventually
became surfers. Then
one day when the waves
were flat, the surfers
crawled out of the water
and their boards grew
wheels. That explains
where "frontside" and
"backside" came from.
Frontside is facing the
wave and backside is
with your back to it. The
only problem is when
you blow a frontside
carve grind, you land on
your backside. Fossil evi-
dence proves surfboards
are the real reason skate-
boards (continued on page 53)
John Holeman (preceding pege) blasts a full-bore lien air out of cascading white water. Chris-
sequence) commits a surf-styled ollie-to-lipslide. One of the forefathers of skate/surf crossover,
Southem Califomia ditch. Vert master Chris Miller (below) drops in at a favorite break near Del
tian's brother, Nathan Fletcher (preceding
Jay Adams, (above) slashes a layback in a
Mar pier
IT'S ALL ABOUT GETTING
LOW AND GYRATING
DAVID HACKETT
FHRISHAY
FLETCHER
MEX
Fo
The mind-blowing athlete
known as Christian Fletcher gut
his start at the Kahuku hospital
sit the North Shore of Oaha
Named for Erol Fhnt's charac
ter Fletcher Christian in the epic
Sim Mutiny on the Bounty
Chrian Fletcher was destined
to have an intimate relationship
with the sea. He comes from a
long line of top surfers. His
grandfather, Willy Holman is
considered one of the sport's
pioneers. His father, Herbie
Fletcher is a legendary long-
boander Christian was caning
and a little board before the
age of one and was soon laying
on 2 in side pools. By age two
Christian had caught his first
wave. Since then he's plo
need a new level of suring
one that resembles high-
powered skating more than
traditional wave riding. He is
the father of the newest fletcher
his son Greyson, As controver
stal in person as in action,
Christian is my an indivitial
pecially when he rides in on
above and around the oceans
of the world
When did you start surfing
competitively!
first corest at five
and got fint place in the eight
and-under division I beat Corky
Carroll's kid who was nine. 1
always wasted to be a surfet
but I never knew what was
going to come out of it. When I
was sixteen, I started making a
handred dollars a month being
a pro and I was stoked
When did you start skating!
I've been skating since I was
ne cruising down the hill with
my brother in diapers on the
font of the skate. I've got a pic-
ture of me in Carlsbad Skatepark
when I was five, cusing and
the bowls
So you've always done both!
Except I quit skating for three
years when I was 13. That's
where I blew it because I would
have leamed a lot skating
You have a reputation for being
a rogue in the professional
surfing circuit
What's a rogue
Like a mad elephant, tearing up
the trees and slewering people
with its hunks
Ever fought the judgest
No, but one of the head
ASP judges told my dad 1
should slow down because they
didn't understand what I was
doing. So the judges were hold
ing the suring back
And you didn't dig that!
I decided to aut contests
When was that
Two years ago. I only surfed
the Pipe Masters and the con
lests down at Trestle's, only
selected ones at good spos
Was there an incident when
you approached the judgest
Yesh, they were giving me
Interference calls I shouldn't
have had, where I didn't even
contact with a surer or
anything I told them that they
were biased judges and that I
wanted to be judged by people
who could surt, not a bunch of
at fucks who sit on their aes
and eat McDonald's all day
Are they the same judges for all
of the contests!
Yup. They're biased too. I
you have a Bodyglove websit
on ll do a lot better than
you would if you had a different
wetsuit on
What's your approach and atti
tude towards surfing
type
Hning fun and going out and
trying new maneuvers, arting
a radical as I can A lot of the
ather pros don't even have hun
They all stress too much. I
Rays have fun➤
51