John Tavaris 1st place.

It has been awhile since the Windward side has had a large contest. This is the first one in the 1997 ASH Series: brought to you by 808-skate, and Ergo the reporter.

What could capture the essence of Kailua better than a dreadlocked reggae keyboardist ollieing his way to first place?

I went to kailua bright and early on sunday morning with team FBM to FSU. we started by going to the dump {whats it really called? (community refuse center???)}. if you've never been to the dump, you should go. especially if you have lots of shit to get rid of. its really cool to watch garbage fall two stories into a big pile of other garbage. after enjoying our rubbish throwing, we proceeded through kailua town to fsu on the stunt woods.

Darren 180 shuv

Needless to say sweat and fun and smiles abounded. after we were done skating we went to the venue of the skate contest: the kailua rec center. on the way i saw THE HYDRANT. Besides the fact that the ground was smooth, the skating was free, and i wasn't getting sunburnt, everything sucked.

After we left Kale did the 180 version over the rail

People were having fun, and the community got to see a sanitized version of skateboarding being sold for the purpose publicly sanctified skate areas. Even M.C. Joe Hoff was keeping the vernacular clean, and innuendo to a minimum, and anyone consuming alcohol was doing so on the strict incognito program 'cause i witnessed no imbibing.

Alika Freight Train to fakie

Highlights include: slappies in the gravel parking lot,the several competitors who seemed to have brought their own personal pep squad, and especially provoking was the exchange between the local just-barely-teenager kailua skateheads discussing the pros and cons of the competitors last run, and what kind of points they deserved, and what kind of deductions should surely be imposed. apparently, making an attempt at the handrail warrants conferring of "bonus points". i gave my 'bonus points" to the guy skating in airwalks. its hard to skate in airwalks. it was also really nice to see the air of competition these boys felt. with no irony, one boy stared into his friends eyes pointing and gently saying "you da man! you da man" after his friends splendidly competitive run.