Thrill-Seeking Skaters Flock to Local Parks

Brookings, Oregon (AP) -- 04/27/2003

It can easily be said that quality is one of the most important aspects of life, and the same holds true with skate parks: The better one is made, the more enjoyment and satisfaction the user is likely to get out of it.

Outside the skateboarding community, few people know that two of the best and highly-renowned skate parks in the world exist in Curry County; the Port Orford skate park which opened in June 2002, and the Brookings skate park which opened in December 2001.

Jumping over the pool at Brookings and getting upside down in the cradle at Port Orford are two feats that bring instant status in the realm of skateboarding and provide a bar to measure a skateboarder's abilities.

Both were built by Oregon's Dreamland Skate Park Design Team, which built the highly-respected Burnside skate park in Portland. Members of Dreamland have been shaping concrete and skateboarding together for many years.

The Brookings skate park is located at the north end of Bud Cross Park and its 8,000 square feet features a swimming-pool replica surrounded by a tall concrete bowl which allows the skateboarder to transfer in and out of both.

Kent Dahlgren of Dreamland Skate parks said Brookings is one of the team's favorites because its wave-like design resembles riding on water.

"Being a wheeled-sport, the notion of 'flow' is of critical importance to skateboarders," Dahlgren said. "Brookings 'flows' much unlike any other skate park we are aware of. Some consider it almost completely unique, and for that it's quite famous."

Brookings is notorious in the skateboarding world because of the jump that sends a rider over the swimming pool (about 12 feet across), requiring the skill and nerves of a professional to accomplish.

Dahlgren said the jump serves as a "binary" goal; one must be brave enough to do it and the best line to hit the largest wall can only be found by flying over the swimming pool.

"You either make it or you don't," Dahlgren said. "An attribute of our design philosophy relates to the definition and placement of 'goals' which force participants to progress. There are things you can't do on that far wall at Brookings until you learn to jump the gap. There is no compromise to this."

Both Brookings and Port Orford skate parks feature "over-vert" sections, where the walls of the bowls actually bend past vertical. Dahlgren said those sections produce a very important element for skateboarding: Velocity.

"The only real disadvantage to a vertical face in a skate park is the fact that once you exceed a certain velocity, while following the right line, you find yourself airborne," Dahlgren said. "This actually robs you of speed, which for many is what it's all about."

Thomas Munyon, who skates the Brookings skate park regularly, agreed with Dahlgren and said the advanced design of the skate park allows him to "get going really fast."

At just under 3,000 square feet, the Port Orford skate park is located in Buffington Park and was built for skateboarders who like to go fast. It features a five-foot bowl that drops into a much wider 13-foot square bowl containing a perfect radius half-dome, called a "cradle" in the skateboarding world.

Dahlgren said the most endearing and challenging feature of a cradle is simple: the ability to get upside down.

"For that, Port Orford is famous and well loved by us," he said. "The first concrete cradle in the world was built by us in Rattenberg, Austria. We are currently building another one in Lincoln City, our second skate park in that town."

When asked the best technique for getting upside down in the cradle, Dahlgren said speed is the key.

"This scares many, but the fact is, once you roll into the right 'line,' you are basically compelled to follow a path that just happens to take you upside down," Dahlgren said. "It's all about mass and inertia. "

The trick is finding the right line, Dahlgren said.

"A 'line' in skateboarding is not unlike a 'line' in surfing. Due to the complex attributes each participant brings to the table, each person's line may be different," Dahlgren said. "It comes down to skill and experience. The more competent a person is with the extension of their body, i.e. the skateboard, the more likely they'll find the line at parks like Port Orford."

Jason Shoey, Port Orford surfboard shaper, said the cradle is "a unique vortex" and Mark "Red" Scott of Dreamland Skate parks deserves a lot of credit for the many high-quality skate parks he and his team have designed and built.

"Skateboarders build parks that skateboarders ride," Shoey said. "This is the most high speed park in the world. It wants you to go full speed."

Port Orford's Rodin Lohry said the skate park is as "burly as you want it" and allows skaters to go as fast as they can go.

"I've seen the most amazing skateboarding here at this park," Lohry said.

Compared to Brookings, Lohry said the Port Orford skate park has a higher learning curve.

"When they first put in the skate park here, I could barely skate it," Lohry said. "I came down, paid my dues and kept going for it."

Dahlgren said because skateboarding is an "opportunistic sport fueled by a goal-orientation" and is "driven by challenges which fall within the physical constraints of a given landscape," the advanced designs of both skate parks provoke dedicated skateboarders to push themselves farther than they would normally go.

When asked what he would tell to people who say that the Port Orford and Brookings skate parks are too advanced, Dahlgren said he hears that complaint in almost every city where Dreamland has built a skate park.

"As I recently told the community in San Jose, California (where Dreamland is building a skate park), 'It sounds like you want an easy skate park, and if that's the case, you've clearly hired the wrong firm. We aren't considered the best skate park company in the world because we build easy skate parks. We, through our design and construction, build great skateboarders through challenging skate parks,'" Dahlgren said.

In the end, there are always skateboarders who simply excel and, in time, attract other skateboarders who watch and then learn how to ride the park, Dahlgren said.

"I would welcome an anthropological study of participants involved in one of our older skate parks, such as Burnside," he said. "These parks are often disliked and feared at the onset, but after the tenth visit to the park by the same professional skateboarders seen in all those magazines, the kids start to become curious. Eventually a small number excel, and they in turn, attract more (skateboarders)."

Brookings local Leon Parker, 17, said those who say the skate park is too advanced need to be dogged in their approach.

"Just keep trying to skate it," Parker said. "It's the only way to progress."

Shoey said the Port Orford skate park's advanced terrain gives the younger skaters in the community a chance to attain a level of professionalism they couldn't normally achieve in such a small town.

"The children's ability is always there," Shoey said.

A unique aspect of both skate parks is the ability of skaters to use their inertia and leg pumping to move throughout each park, offering endless lines for those with the stamina.

"You could ride this all day long and not step off your board," said Port Orford local Ryan Mathis, 23.

Mathis said he and other local skaters would like to see the skate park expanded to include a "street" area , as a large, unused area of mud and dirt sits adjacent to the Port Orford skate park.

Port Orford Mayor Gary Doran said the city currently has no money to build an extension to the skate park, but as money becomes available an additional area will be built.

"We have been hauling in a lot of fill dirt. We are setting up to expand the park someday," Doran said. "It's on our master plan. It will be more moderate for beginners, but no plans are drawn up yet. We hope to do it before too long."

Doran said Pacific High School students are building bleachers and benches for spectators at the skate park.

Shoey said the skate park also has a positive effect on the local business community, as "hundreds" of professional and amateur skateboarders came to Buffington Park last summer to skateboard.

"If the skate park wasn't here, they would drive right by," he said.

Skate parks are also planned in Gold Beach and Crescent City, which will provide four skate parks in the South Coast within one day's driving distance.

Beginners wishing to ride either skate park should not be intimidated by the terrain nor the local skateboarders who frequent the parks.

Beginners only need to climb down into one of the bowls, get on their boards and see how far up the walls they can go or just ride around until they get used to the speed of the smooth concrete banks.

Skateboarders must be careful to avoid collisions with other skateboarders, especially at the Brookings skate park where riders can run into each other going full speed in the middle of the park without seeing each other until it is too late. Skateboarders who are drunk should not ride in the park until they are sober.

Helmets, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards are required at the Port Orford skate park. At the Brookings skate park, helmets are mandatory and pads are highly advised.

Skateboarders interviewed at both skate parks said anyone can come and skate there all day long, as skateboarding is more fun when sharing it with friends.

Article courtesy AP.