This page: Cara-Beth has
been bustin' backside
airs since before most
of you girls were in
training bras.
That page: Fay Jaime
womanhandled a feisty 50-50
over the box.
88 THRASHER
Chicks With Sachs
Words and photos by Wez Lundry
HANG TE
UNIONBAY
ESCONDIDO EXCONDIDO-SCONDIDO ESCONDIDO ESCONDIDO RONDE
B
N AN EARLY SEPTEMBER
Saturday, while the trade show peo-
ple hobnobbed in San Diego, the
Escondido skatepark was closed to all
skateboarders who had testicles. It was the
second annual Vans All-Girl Skate Jam, the
third girls-only contest in a year.
The night before the contest, the park shut
down for the general public at the usual hour
but stayed open so some of the girls, who
came from as far away as Florida and
Montreal, could keep skating. There were
about a dozen of them riding that night,.
checking out the course, just cruising around
and goofing off the way skateboarders do.
Saturday was the day of the contest. The
worst part about the whole day had to be the
number of cops who were lurking. What the
hell were all the cops there for? To bust men
if they tried to barge the course? I don't like
cops, especially if they're trying to "regulate"
something they know nothing about. Not too
punk. The contest started around noon with
the beginners' division. Most of the girls.
looked as though they had been skating for
about a year or two, which was the case. The
format was two ten-minute jams of about ten
people each, then a cut to ten, and then
another jam for those top ten. A few rippers
stood out, advanced to the final cut, and
skated again. Most of the girls seemed to like
this jam format because it took the pressure
off of having all the attention on just one
person during her run.
After some more practice and a little confu-
sion, the advanced girls took to the course for
their jam. The format was the same, without a
cut. Some of the girls skating in this group
weren't too stoked on the format, and I wasn't
too sure about it either. It's much more difficult
to pick the standouts when the skill level
increases as much as it did between the two
divisions. Who do you keep an eye on and
when? What if you only look at a skater when
she's bailing tricks, but the rest of the time
she's staying on? On the other hand, the con-
test was supposed to be about fun with no
pressure, so I guess it was effective.
The crowd was getting the rowdiest during
this section. Were guys supposed to yell? Most
of the girls didn't take offense to seemingly
harmless screams such as "sisterhood is pow-
ALL GIRLSHATE AMUONA
erful!", "girls kick ass!", and other shit
like that, but some did. I guess it
depends on where it's coming from and
how. Still, I think all of the guys who
were there were just checking stuff out
and trying to be encouraging, with the
exception perhaps of Sage Bolyard, who
is constantly looking for tail.
Some of the girls took to the handrail
with 50-50s and boardslides. Cindy
Gorsett just ollied over the whole
thing. Jaime Reyes seemed to get stuck
on boardslides on the flat bar, but she
also tore around the course. Elissa
Steamer busted boardslides down the
handrail, ollied off a six-foot quarter-
pipe, and kickflipped to fakie over a
banked hip. Again, it was hard for me
to see what everyone was doing all of
the time, but some people say Cindy
should've come in second.
Next up was the mini-ramp contest. At
this point Duncan announced that
Science Fair was in the audience and, as
Snow
VALLEY
a former teenage gynecologist, was
there to assist anyone with their injuries.
Again, beginning and advanced took to
the mini-ramp that had a spine, hip, and
bowled section. Most of the beginners
were carving around and grinding, but
Louise Hénault-Ethier from Montreal
seemed to be ripping extra hard. I guess
that's why she won. The advanced was
pretty much dominated by Cara-Beth,
who did airs both ways over the hip and
the spine, as well as grinds everywhere,
at high speeds. She took first, but also
strong in second place was Lindsi
Thompson, who won beginner street
and vert as well.
The vert competition was the final one
of the day, and as usual, fewer people
skate vert than anything else. Some of
the girls who were there just to skate
vert had been hanging around all day,
drinking beer in the van or whatever to
pass the time. When it came down to it,
however, they were set to go, and
89