RETURN OF THE
A
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL BURNETT
HAMMERHEAD
S YOU NIMBLY TIE UP YOUR PANT LEG AND GAZE
lovingly at your Muska model, it's hard not to marvel at the perfection of
your gear. The smooth lines, the crisp wood, the countless technical underpinnings that
combine to produce your equipment-truly a marvel of science and aesthetic refinement.
"Skateboards, right now, are perfect," I've heard people say. "Double kick, mellow concave, 54 mil-
limeter rock-hard wheels-perfection." It's a sentiment that Christian Hosoi must have truly felt when eyeballing his
Hammerhead design for the first time, some 15-or-so years ago.
"Whoo-hoo!" he probably remarked as he brought the deck up to his eyes, then quickly snapped it downwards into
the backside boneless position. "I could blast on this thing," he surely said with a smile.
From the shape, which mimicked the deep-sea predator, the hand-holds towards the nose, which were excellent
for grabs, the bountiful nine-inch-long tail, the Hammerhead was the tool for the times. For a skater and a
generation hell bent on blasting airs, it was perfect.
Heroes rise and fall, styles come and go, shapes change and wheels sizes waver. Today's top seller is
tomorrow's joke. Only skateboarding is forever.
Left to right: Danger levels shot through the
roof when Geoff Rowley decided to 360° flip the
huge beast down the ten at UCI. The fact that it
was performed in canvas slip-on Vans makes it
almost unimaginable. Barely alive when the
Hammerhead was created, Jeff Lenoce floats a
boat-style kickflip over Warner Ave's beloved
dumpster. Hosoi had the Christ air, and you
know what Andrew Reynolds has. The original,
Christian Hosoi, demonstrates the intended
usage of the Hammerhead with a piked Judo in
the land of Oz, circa 1987. Wa-bam.