The Legacy of Warren Bolster

August 1976 Surfer Tommy Ryan takes a speed run in a kneeling position on yet another La Costa hill. The slalom runs were eventually moved here because it was steeper, narrower and even more out of the way.

Here Tommy shows the fish riding technique we both used when surfing at Newbreak — whose takeoff was so steep that we often had to take the initial drop on our knees. Adapted to downhill skateboarding, the approach made for a good style shot, but we have no record of his speed.

Tommy also raced slalom for Turner — one of the two biggest teams, alongside Gordon and Smith. Both brands offered flexible decks that let you to increase speed by pumping. We had a lot of friendly weekend races where everybody raced on whatever they wanted.

It was on this street that Henry Hester and Bob Skoldberg liked to set up impossibly offset cones, then sit on the curb and laugh as we all slid out trying to make them. But it was great learning, and the guys who practiced here dominated the competitions — unless Tony Alva and his crew came down. Then it was close, because they could ride their wooden boards so well.

At other times, guys like Tommy would do speed runs here, and others like Bruce Logan would try long, fast nose-wheelies all the way down the hill. One day the Santa Cruz guys showed up, and one of their crew made a nose-wheelie all the way down like Bruce.

But he didn’t do too well at stopping — huge road rashes for him!

Sometimes we’d go to other hills in the development; there were too many to name and ride. Black hill was probably the best because of its incredibly smooth asphalt. Heroin Hill was the fastest but had a rougher surface. Losing control there was much more common, and the hill got its unglamorous name because of all the road rash crashes at the bottom.

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