ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

A few more posts by Paul Dunn, copied from Facebook.

More of the 2002 story.
June 2002. Our beloved Bobby Turner has passed. The newly "Phoenixed" Turner iteration, being led by Howard Gordon, working with Peggy Turner and with me at Howard's hip -- and with the the team comprised of Mike Maysey, Martin Drayton, Gary Hall, John Gilmour, Kim Cespedes, Simon Levene, and Howad's kids Dylan Lucas Gordon and Lauren Gordon, are set to make a splash (the team would also grow to include Beau Brown, Tiger Williams, and a few others).
The FCR guys pulled some HUGE strings and set-up a re-play of the legendary "Catalina Classic." Previously played in 1977, it was, in essence, a tribute to the 1970's legends of the sport. Hutson, Piercy , Ryan, Jamie Hart, Bob Skoldberg, Mike Goldman, Dennis Shufeldt, etc., etc...!
So here we are.. arriving at the pier coming off the ferry. Soaking it all in. All kinds of crazy thoughts running through my head, bc I know the historical significance... PLUS, eight years earlier, I worked her on the island as a harbor patrol officer (long, long story!).
Kenny Mollica flies in with his wife on a helicopter (or he chartered one as part of the weekend) and the stage is set: tight slalom the 1st day and a hybrid on the 2nd day.

Catalina 2002 - Continued.
From what I remember... FCR wanted to run a tight slalom the 1st day, Saturday, so that the hybrid could be run on Sunday. Somehow the FCR guys barged the starting ramps over the 30 miles across the Pacific Ocean to Catalina, had it off-loaded and set-up for practice on Saturday morning. Maysey and I, pretending to have a LOT of swagger, head up to the hill for a couple of practice runs.
The course was moderately tight and very pump-able. Against Howard's wishes, I un-bagged my "Black Hawk Dunn" board: a custom BT rig that had just the right amount of response for a course like this. The rest was easy. The "me-against-them" pairings fell... and day was mine. I am not being heady... Remember, I was on a mission for Bobby Turner... And I would do anything it would take to stand atop the podium.

Catalina 2002 - Day 2
This was the day where it was quite clear that a pump-able, forgiving que was the way to run. Howard was stoked that I was gonna stick with the newly-introduced "Hybrid" decks. He had worked closely with BT to come up with a unique sandwich construction that would provide a pump-able response deck, coupled with a lateral stiffness that us pro's needed to turn edge-to-edge.
Maysey and I spent HOURS and HOURS refining this formula so that HG could sent the "formula" down south to create a "board for the masses" that could go up against any other.
The day unfolded. After a few practice runs the match-ups started. Of course now, 20.5 years later, much of it is a blur. One thing I remember was being exceedingly nervous as I was getting ready to climb up the starting ramp for the semi-final pairing against Chris Chaput.
Most of the skaters around me heard me exclaim, "I am NOT gonna lose to a freestyler!" And it was a tough two races. But I edged-out Chris and met Richie Richy Carrasco for the final. All I had to do was not hit cones. Ed Economy, the starter handed me a Coors Light and I took a big swig to calm my nerves.
Craziness. Richie put up a good fight, but Catalina was kind. A double bullet for the weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzRzoRzZGzM

Copied from Facebook post by Paul Andrew Dunn January 30, 2023.

Long post coming up, so here goes…
I have reached and inflection point in my life and, since just turning 62, I think it’s time to let go of some of the items that are gathering dust in the deepest recesses of my closet.
So, yes, I will be selling some of my Turner boards and clothing in the coming weeks so that they might find new life for someone who’s “fast twitch” muscles are still intact.

But first, a story:

NOTE: Having written this, I realize there are MANY stories behind the “Rise of Turner 2002” since I was shoulder-to-shoulder with Howard Gordon during that year. So maybe this whole thing will turn into a longer string of stories.

*****

On a Friday night in April of 2002 I was driving my wife’s car up to the 1st FCR “Battle by the Bay” race – not really knowing what the weekend would bring. Some months earlier a great man named Howard Gordon had the keen idea to resurrect the Turner brand since there was growing interest with regard to slalom skateboarding. Would I be interested in helping develop new boards and designs for the “New Turner?”

I was all in. Howard only lived 15 miles away and I suspected that with his energy, technical skill and business acumen, there was a good chance Turner could have a strong presence this slalom renaissance.
Howard had made contact with Bobby Turner (BT) some months earlier, after he had watched the 2001 Morro Bay “Worlds” where my friend Gary Cross took the top spot. Howard was the father of two bright, energetic kids, Dylan Lucas Gordon and Lauren Gordon. As a group, we, along with Mike Maysey, Terri Brown-Benko and occasional drop-ins from Jack Smith, had been skating our local hills trying all kinds of different iterations on the new Turner prototypes that Howard and BT were working on.
The general thought was that the hand-made fiberglass boards that BT had made in the past were too expensive to make and market for the “new-to-slalom” skater, so Howard convinced BT (with some protest) to go in with a dual-pronged approach: custom sleds for the higher echelon and stock-ish boards for the newbies, weekenders, etc.

So here I am, jamming up the 101 with Van Halen’s “Women and Children first” CD pumping at full volume as I get my ass jacked for the race. I must have played and re-played “Everybody Wants Some!!” at least 20 times from Paso Robles to Gilroy.
The FCR guys (Don O’Shei, John Krisik and Jack Smith) put together an amazing show: scaffolding, barriers, banners, cone girls, etc. It was like it SHOULD be: pumping music, play-by-play, drama, racing. It WAS happening.
The first GS day was awesome. It was a single-lane best time event. Us Turner guys did well. Afterwards, we took some team Turner pics at a loading dock, then we all laughed and hung out with the Comet crew (N-Men Gary Cross and Charlie Ransom). Next day was the hybrid event. Howard wanted me to ride a new-style “Hybrid” Turner that had just came out of the mold. I didn’t have a lot of practice time on the new stick so I went with my vintage “Balckbird” that BT made for me in 1989 in exchange for me giving him a 1977 yellow “needle-nose” that I bought from Surf n Wear that year.

So it was on. The hybrid runs went down well for us. The final four were set. After that, my memory is gone… I called Bobby Turner to tell him the good news: that Mike and I were in the final four and for sure one of us would podium. Peggy answered the phone. Before she could say anything I barked out something like “we are IN Peggy! Podium for sure!”
I thought she would hand the phone over to BT. Oddly, she simply replied “That’s great! Bobby just died!”
I was in shock. I said “Whaddya mean he died???”
Peggy: “He had a heart attack. Happened about an hour ago.”

All I remember after that was climbing up the scaffolding where jack was calling the event and telling him what I had just heard. Jack didn’t know what to do… we just kind of had an awkward man-hug and I climbed back down the scaffolding to the pavement.
Jack sucked it up and announced to the racers and to the crowd the news. A total somber pall fell over that sloped parking lot. That was it, we thought. No more Turner.

To be continued ...