On the Rails

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Hamptons Magazine

On the Rails
WHY THE SKATEBOARDING KIDS ARE REALLY ALL RIGHT.
WHEN SKATEBOARDERS roll through town, they look at everything differently than you and I would. They see a park bench on a sidewalk or steps with an iron handrail and all they can think is: “Could I skate that? Could I grind it? Is it makeable?”

Many of the kids that skateboard in the Hamptons take it up because they don’t like the usual team sports. “Lots of kids get rejected from teams,” says George Williams, a skateboard instructor with the Flying Point Surf School. “With skateboarding, it’s just you and your board. You’re on your own.” But that’s not to say that skateboarders aren’t a tight-knit group. “We’re defi nitely a ‘more the merrier’ type of group because it’s cool to watch someone new do tricks,” says Jake Alegria. “He’s not stealing our wave; we don’t argue like surfers and we aren’t territorial. There’s plenty of time for everyone to do their thing.”

FROM LEFT; Flying Point Surf School instructor George Williams nails a kick flip; Kimball and Avram look on

Skateboarders tend to hang in packs out here partially because they feel beaten down. (There’s no skateboarding anywhere in town.) Mark Zucchero, who owns the area’s six Flying Point Surf & Sport shops, says skateboarders get stigmatized as derelicts for no reason. “The cops sometimes go after them in the parking lots like they just found John Dillinger,” he says. “Most of them are good kids though. I know them well because I have to carry 20 brands of each bearing, truck and deck. Each kid is so particular about what they want."


BOARDING BOUND

Skate parks that are ready to roll

EAST HAMPTON SKATE PARK
16 Abrahams Path, East Hampton
Summer: Daylight hours
School year: 2 PM–dusk
MONTAUK CITY SKATE PARK
South Essex Street, Montauk
Daily 10 AM–dusk
NORTH SEA SKATE PARK
1370A Majors Path, Southampton
Daily 10 AM–dusk
RED CREEK SKATE PARK
102 Old Riverhead Road, Hampton Bays
September–June: Monday and Wednesday–Friday 3–7 PM; Saturday–Sunday noon–7 PM
July–August: Daily noon–8 PM
THE TOWN OF RIVERHEAD SKATE PARK
Stowsky Park, 101 Palaski St., Riverhead, 208-3826
June 29–September 6: Daily 2–10 PM

My 10-year-old, Jack, has seen the skateboarding light. (Actually, it might be more accurate to say that he’s completely obsessed with the sport.) To help him feed his passion, I signed him up for dozens of lessons through the Flying Point Surf Shop with Williams at the Red Creek skate park just west of the Lobster Inn in Hampton Bays. (Word on the street is it’s the best one around since “all the others are beat.”)

The Southampton skateboard crew (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT): Beau and Xander Peterson, Jack Kimball, Benji Avram, Jaypo Pollak, Josh Dolson, Jake and Derek Alegria, George Williams, Justin Gulija and Joe Tropea.

Things got really crazy when Williams and his roommate, Derek Alegria, built us a half-pipe in our backyard. One weekend we held a skateboard exhibition with the best riders around. They boosted huge airs and nailed long tail slides with heavy slams along the way. (Translation? A bad wipeout—Jaypo Pollak left with an eightinch battle wound down his right calf.)

To see these guys support my kid—who happens to despise the pressure of team sports—and welcome him into their crew assured me that none of them were derelicts. Far from it. The smile on Jack’s face made me want all of them to move right into my home for good. “Mom,” said Jack upon hearing the proposal, “that would be sick.” H

BY HOLLY PETERSON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY SUNSHINE MARGARITIS

FLYING POINT STORE FEATURED