HONOKAA – Dozens of skateboarders from around the state hit the bowl and street ramp of the Honokaa Skate Park on Saturday to kick off the first Hamakua Summer Slammer.
About 45 contestants turned out for the contest, hosted by the nonprofit Association of Skaters in Hawaii as part of its annual summer contest series and sponsored by Hilo’s Oasis Skateboard Shop and Honokaa’s Hele Surf &Skate.
It’s the first time the Big Island has been included in the annual series, which expanded to Neighbor Islands last year with a stop on Maui. Prior to that, contests took place on Oahu.
Skaters collect points throughout the series, with the overall winner earning an all-expenses-paid trip to Woodward Skate Camp in California.
ASH founder Chuck Mitsui said he formed the group, which now has about 700 members, to be a voice for skaters around the state and help promote “safe and legal places to skate” by working with local governments and community groups.
The summer contest is a way to showcase those skateparks as well as, of course, the skaters themselves. The format is competitive but generous: Mitsui gave skaters multiple chances to test and land their best tricks during runs, at one point offering his own board to Noah Brug of Hawaii Kai so Brug could try a kickflip.
“We really try to get people who are into competing involved,” Mitsui said. “I love seeing a lot of little kids come out — that’s the future of skating.”
The contests tend to be family events, he said. Around the Honokaa park, people set up tents, chairs and picnic blankets to watch the contestants and enjoy free hot dogs (a staple of each contest). Three judges from Oahu took notes on each run and each trick, with division winners earning a new skateboard and a “best trick” winner scoring an iPad.
Skateboarding is “starting to boom” on the Big Island, said Max Byers, who works at Oasis Skateboard Shop and competed in the sponsored division. “There’s a really young group of people here in Honokaa.”
Both Byers and Mitsui were happy with Saturday’s turnout.
“This is what we want from Big Island skating,” Byers said.
Several competitors came from Oahu and Maui.
“It was sick,” 15-year-old Joseph Sanchez of Aiea, who took third place in his division, said of the Honokaa park. “Really challenging.”
Nine-year-old Braedon Harris made the trip from Oahu with fellow skaters Malae McElheny and Blayse Ferreira, and said he liked the flow of the Honokaa skate park.
“You can get a lot of speed and air from one side to the other,” he said.
That’s intentional, Byers said.
“The people who built it were skaters, so the flow is better,” he said. The same group also built Waikoloa’s skate park.
“I like dropping in on one of the ramps,” said Omni Anderson, 9, of Hawi. Anderson said she skates at her hometown park “almost every day,” and has been working on her ‘no comply’ trick (popping the board using only your back foot).
Like Harris, she had high praise for the Honokaa park, and said the day had been fun so far.
“The contest makes it fun,” she said.