Half Pipe Construction (1978)

The story is that I wanted to build a ramp. My dad said I could (though I don't think he understood how big it would be), so Tim and I designed and built it based on the ramps found in Skateboarder Magazine at the time. We measured everything out, and set the 4x4's in the ground with cement.

The next day we were stoked and ready to start building. We had to let the concrete set. We laid out a string that was ten feet long, and made a 10 foot radius. Using 3/4 inch plywood for gussets.

Then we started putting 2x4 fours in place (after cutting them to the right length). A few more at the bottom to make it stronger. The end of the day, I remember we put sheeting up to the place where you see the 2x4's stop, it was about 6pm or so, and we were so excited, we rode the "mini" half pipe for the remainder of the night, until about 9 or 10pm.

We were riding it just a couple of days after putting the posts in. We were so stoked. Just 8 feet wide, and not totally square (like we really cared about that). It was on this ramp that we learned to ride vert. And with an 8 foot wide 12 foot high ramp, a person learns how to go straight up and straight down. This was the ramp, with only one layer of 1/2 inch plywood. I later widened it to 16 feet, and added another layer of 1/2 inch plywood.

Here I am learning fakies.

Tim learning fakies too.

Learning kickturns.

I remember that when we built it, we didn't know if we would ever be able to grind, or reach the top. We would mark how high our back wheels would go, and try and get higher each day.