Hi, I'm Simon Cartledge.

Every time I see these nostalgia threads, I get the urge to do this. So I'm going to write a piece that details my personal fb journey, including the people I've met and how things have changed for me and those around me since i first began, many years ago. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, I've not read through this yet. Also if this is the wrong section, mods can move it.
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My first experience of fingerboarding came when I was about 9 years old (1998). I was on holiday with my family in Cornwall when I saw a plastic miniature skateboard in a souvenir/ toy shop. For no reason what-so-ever, I was drawn to it. At this point I wasn't into skateboarding, so I just saw this as a toy, something to pass time with. The instructions on the back taught you to pop and ollie by using you pinky and index finger. You popped the tail with your pinky and then caught it with the index finger and 'ollied'.

I'd like to say that this was all a massive revelation to me but alas it passed quickly, a small holiday toy that I quickly got bored of. My next dabbling with fingerboards came in highschool, when I was about 12. I knew a guy who had a couple of tech decks. I was fascinated by them and would try and use his as often as he had them on him. I'm not sure if it was the real skateboard designs, the grip that actually gripped or just being at the age where I wanted to use a 'toy' that had somewhat of a learning curve to it. It was around this age that I began to take an interest in skateboarding.

By the time I was 14 I skated everyday with friends and most of us had tech decks. My first was an Ali Boulala Flip deck. My friend would use his camera to film me doing tricks (a camera which used floppy discs as storage!) and we'd spend ages filming little video parts.

Now, up until this point, the fingerboarding had been very much a side hobby, I was still unaware of the 'scene' that was going on and my friends weren't into it enough to take it seriously at all.
Then one day, it changed... And I remember it so clearly, literally as if it was yesterday. I browsed fingerboarding online. I was shocked. As I looked through the tech deck official forums I noticed many threads that offered sponsorship's or people promoting themselves who were looking for sponsors. It was like having a new world opened up to me. At the top of the sponsors page there was a deck company called 'Athena'. The decks looked amazing, with cool graphics and... They were made of wood!

Shit, this is just like skateboarding! You can get good enough and get sponsors. And 'Athena' is like the 'Flip' or 'Girl' of fingerboarding! I was realistic about my prospects. I still didn't really know what I was doing on a fingerboard so I needed to practice a lot in order to get any sponsor's interested. But I did have a camera by this point and knew that as long as I filmed a load of stuff, then I'd at least be able to make video parts and self promote.

After around 2 months I managed to pick up my first sponsor. I regret to tell you that I can't remember it's name. It's a shame because the guy was extremely legit. He made his decks from a  kind of plexi glass and i unwrapped my first ever sponsor package with trembling fingers. Finally, I felt like I was moving up in the world of fingerboarding.

You may have noticed so far that this writing has been quite self involved and I haven't mentioned any of my fellow fingerboards of the time... To be honest despite this only being 10 years ago, it's a little bit of a blur. I remember Devon Henderson, Dave Smith-Hayes ( Who I was friends with for a very long time. When a fellow British fingerboarder went out to Canada quite recently, he sayed with him. Top guy) and obviously Martin Illsley, whose presence was felt on every fingerboard forum that there was... He was also the owner of 'Athena'.

Later that year I discovered a site that pretty much changed everything. FFI- The site founded and ran by Nate Thompson (An exceptionally talented fingerboarder himself). Now people who are reading this and are quite new to this scene will struggle to believe just how important FFI was in terms of shaping how we perceive fingerboarding today. It goes from me not knowing any of my contemporaries on the techdeck.com forum to me not being able to forget the characters around on FFI at the time! The forum was a breath of fresh air in that it felt 'professional'. There were clear leaders around and they were generally the company owners. Brandon and Josh Jones, Martin Illsley and Tina Wade (husband and wife), Raymond Rivera, Josh Toy, Ammon Wilkes and many many others. These were older people. People who used correct grammar and were extremely difficult to please. These were the people running the biggest companies and producing the best videos. I felt like a small fish in a big pond, but hey, at least I was in the big pond at last!

Despite having moderators, the forum was quite 'self moderated' by the members who wanted to keep the forum as 'legit' as possible. If you were a new member you had 2 options;Conform to the code of conduct or leave. It was as simple as that. I lurked the forums for a while, trying to figure out who the most influential guys were, who to avoid, who to try and get in with. I filmed daily and would post my stuff into the video section. At first my stuff got no reply or a reply about having a bad style etc etc. But over time I became a little more of a fixture around the place. I was determined that if I wasn't seen as the greatest fingerboarder I'd at least be seen as someone who could contribute to stuff.

Some of the companies of the time were: Tragic, Loser, Waste, Spode, Blast, Public, Athena, Vegas, Hazard, Canberra, Madness, TNT, Modern, Priest and many others some which came before my time and many that came after... Flatface didn't emerge for a little while yet!

I had become interested in other people in the UK who might fingerboard. Searching proved rather fruitless, but it turned out that my original inspiration for taking fingerboarding to the next level (Martin Illsley) lived in the UK. I got in touch and we chatted for a while. Martin was truly dedicated towards fingerboarding. He'd been involved in many videos and owned some of the most professional companies. He was a postman and his wife Tina had just had their first child. He mentioned that his mum lived quite close to me and that next time he was down in the area, we'd have to have a meet up. This was pretty massive for me, I'd never met another fingerboarder and Martin was probably the best in the country so to say I was excited was quite an understatement!

By this point I was talking regularly with Ammon Wilkes, an Australian guy with incredible skills. He was an extremely friendly guy and his video were known for his fisheye and usually having his bemused dad sat in the background watching him. Ammon ripped and he was one of the most respected fingerboarders on the scene. He'd helped me get to know Todd Baker, who owned Hazard decks and Canberra bushings and when Ammon left Hazard, He recommended to Todd that I take his place. HURAHHH, it suddenly felt like I was on one of the best deck teams. Todd told me to keep filming because a video was coming soon and I needed to have a full length part in it.
But first... I'd need a deck. I was told to design one and send the pattern to him and he'd print it and send me the deck right away.



Now this was my second pro deck. I can't find a photo of my first deck (A white deck with Kermit lying along the bottom!)

Only a few days after receiving my deck from Todd, Martin was in town and wanted to meet. He came to my house and I was waiting outside, ready to go. It was the weekend so we went to the local primary school and set up some ramps on the tables. It was quiet and sunny and Martin and Tina were just such nice people. I showed him my new Hazard deck and he looked it up and down... "Hmmm, pretty nice. Pink grip too, cool.", he'd said. The grip had come with the deck. We seshed for the rest of the afternoon, as Tina sat with the baby and watched. I knew Tina could fingerboard, she'd had a video part in the video "Enigma" Which I'd always been very fond of, but she sat and watched and let me try out her deck. They both made me feel very comfortable and we all had a really nice time. We also filmed a great mini which like most other things of that era, has faded with time and disappeared.

As I left that day, Martin had told me not to worry about getting grip anymore as he would sponsor me with his 'Madness' team. I was stoked as hell. Funny but back then, even grip tape was a major sponsor.

Fingerboarding used to feel a lot more organic. You could buy a handmade deck for 8 dollars, some custom trucks for 10, a 10 pack of grip for 2 and throw on whatever wheels were available. Everything felt like it was made by enthusiasts... Precision engineering ruined my life! (Thanks Germans!... Just Kidding    )

After the meeting with Martin and Tina I felt like a much larger part of the forum. Almost like a 'respected' member who'd served his apprenticeship. I began to try and really 'add' something to what we already had in the scene. I came up with a game where 2 entrants were supposed to do the same trick and it was judged solely on style. I called it the stylathon and it really took off. Enthusiasm and filming were at an all time high and video parts were getting better all the time. Chucky Key was a great member and moderator of the board and he really did post some amazing tricks and video parts. His style really fit into the Vegas fingerboards way of doing things, which was basically bangers down big stair sets!

And it seemed that there was a sudden influx of UK fingerboarders. Thom Mcinally is someone who really stands out as being someone who's passion for fingerboarding helped take the UK scene in it's own direction. Some people, you just know will stick by this hobby/sport of ours and he's one of them. We also had Ben Winship, Ben Crompton, Jordan Murray, Iain Andrew (Irish) and Euan lynn, Eddie Sharples to name but a few. Each of these people helped to re-establish a UK scene that began to falter a little. And this was still long before FBHQ and Kerry, Danny, Harry and Rafi etc helped to make the UK scene into the self contained scene it is today.

END OF PART 1.


(PART 2 COMING SOON, BUT THIS IS GOING ON QUITE A BIT AND I IMAGINE SOME PEOPLE ARE GETTING RATHER BORED! THIS IS ALL FROM MY EYES SO I'M SORRY IF IT DOESN'T INTEREST MANY PEOPLE! I HOPE SOME WILL FIND SOME OF THIS INTERESTING. I'LL HAPPILY ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE ON ANY OF THE STUFF BROUGHT UP IN PART 1.)

wow cool story i enjoyed reading this! ive only been up2 date with the scene for about 4 years so theres lots of names ive never heard before popping up!

ill look forward to part 2! (more pics please!)

Damn this was a sick read, really nice to get an insight into your personal 'journey' through fingerboarding!
Always known the rough parts of it but not in this much detail

UKR1 seems such a long time ago, mental! That was the event that really changed things for me haha. Not sure where the event footage has gone though

YES SIMON YES

Cheers guys. What would be seriously cool, is if other people added to this and we could just have a huge thread where people write a long piece describing there journey through fbing, their highlights etc.

I know that all this may come across as self indulgent... but I wanted to make a thread that at least partly describes how the scene has changed over the years, mainly for the newer members to be able to read and understand.

Really good read!
I didn't know much about the fingerboarding scene, especially in the uk untill 2008-2009, so I found this really interesting
Cant wait to read the next part

Simon, I will post mine once you post part 2. I think everyone has a story and should post it, it would be interesting to read all of them regardless of length.

PART 2

Something I forgot to mention in part 1 was a great online zine called skatch. Skatch was run by Phils Savage and the dude was pretty crazy! He's the kinda guy that I imagine is now either homeless, dead or the owner of a massively successful multimedia company. Phils was very passionate about fingerboarding and the advancement of it. I was super lucky as he asked me to film a part for his 'new light' feature in Skatch video magazine 1. This was infact before being sponsored by Hazard, it was great exposure and helped me to establish myself a lot. Phils created around 10 Skatch VM's and they were extremely well received. He also released a great (And long) video called 'Skatch' which was really popular. I'll always remember a day in the life he filmed... he was working in some kind of metal factory and you could just see all these confused old guys in the background watching him sesh some kind of lathe machine whilst smoking a joint... he was a real character!

Now back to where part 1 ended!

UK guys were becoming a prominent part of the scene and there was quite a divide in the scene at that time. generally speaking, Americans were on American teams and the rest of the world formed teams of their own. It was never a hugely competitive split, it just seemed that it was easier for the owners to send sponsor decks to people in their own country (or Europe!). The Germans already had there own strong scene by this point and they were yet to have any US distributors at this point.

Some stand out names were Josh Jones, Youssef Tlemsani, Travis Appleman, Alex McMillain and Eric Smith. Eric was a standout for many people. A strangely realistic style and cool set ups meant that he was pretty much the hottest property in fingerboarding. People truly waited in anticipation for his fingerboard parts. He was a Hazard team rider for a while and then left for Tragic. His video parts can be found on youtube.

Youssef was another great rider, some incredible consistency on stuff like nollie heels out of nose manuals. His part in Hazard Warfare must go down as one of the all time greats. If you can find it... enjoy it.

I'd argue that 2006 was a particularly good moment in time for the online fingerboard scene. Lot's of rippers, lots of respect and it was still a scene run heavily by the forum members rather than companies. The quality of products weren't nearly to the standard they are now, but that meant that all the products were noticeable by shape and style. And then a little known company came on the scene and before you know it, revolutionized everything. Flatface was originally known for being run by a little kid whose company was a little bit of a joke at first. within 2 years Mike and Flatface had changed everything. And how did he do it? He basically looked at the way the Germans and BRR ran things and saw that you could make something rather special if you just focus on high quality products and customer feedback. In reality Mike was the first guy outside of Germany to create a truly legitimate company. Before then, pretty much every other company just seemed like a guy pressing decks between a couple of tech decks and selling them on. Mike had real brand awareness and his company was constantly hyped by a huge team of riders. Without a doubt his Rendesvous' changed the online scene forever... His influence both killed the online 'homemade' scene and gave birth to the professional offline scene. Fingerboarding headed much more in the direction of meet ups and the boom of fingerboarding meant that there was no shortage of people in your country to meet up with.

I've put Tina Wade's vimeo link at the bottom of this page. It has some classic videos. Public - Enigma is incredible.

Anyway, back to 2006. FFI used to have many many 'trends'. one week it would be pole jams, the next thered be chain gaps, the next would be manny tricks on banks. The trends were followed by everyone and everyone would post there tricks on similar obstacles. It was kinda like when you find a new skate spot with your mates and you all just throw tricks down it until someone shuts it down.

Martin soon mentioned that after a long break away, he would be coming back and creating a new company 'Cocaine'. This was the new generation of decks from Martin and they sold extremely well. Great designs, great prices and with the reputation he'd built with Athena and Empire people were really buzzing about this new company. Martin mentioned that he'd been impressed by my part in Hazard Warfare and would I like a spot on the team?...



I accepted.

This was a huge step for me and it was what I'd wanted from the very beginning. And from there I also got sponsored by Epidemic Wheels. This was a particularly proud moment as it was rare for anyone outside the USA to get a US sponsorship. Epidemic were great wheels and they competed with eurollt to be the premiere wheel on the market. Epidemic was run by Jesus Sanchez who had previously run the only truck company 'Public'. Jesus was known as Moses (Haha, I know) and he was a real nice guy. Sadly he pulled out of the scene after a he began to have production issues with the wheels.

And seemingly as quickly as it had began, Martin announced that he'd be closing Cocaine. He said he'd been putting too much effort into the decks for relatively small reward. It was a massive shame, but pretty much understandable. It was a shame for the riders and obviously a big shame for him. One of the riders who'd been picked up by Cocaine towards the end of its reign was David Auster. David was a Brazilian who had incredible skill. Just as things were starting to get really tech he came in with this really old-school stype, throwing massive bangers town huge sets with a perfected finger tip style... Footage of him now is extremely difficult to come by. If you're reading this and have found some, I'd love to see it!

Another honorable mention must go to Jader who runs Evolve. Evolve is a deck company that has been going for a very long time. They've always had deep concave and a really unique and recognisable shape. But the overwhelming feeling with evolve is that it was run by a guy who loved the hobby. When it comes to constant support of our scene, Jader is always first in line to offer as much as possible.

2005-2009 brought FBOTY competitions which were incredibly fun. As far as I remember there weren't really prizes but it was great to be recognized by the scene. I remember Eric Smith won it once, Pretty sure Martin Illsley won it too.

There's a lot more left for me to add, but I'm going to wrap this up soon.

I left the scene for a couple of years until around 2010. Martin's Arctic project had innovated and evolved the scene and it was just a fantastic way for him to bow out of the scene. For the guys who were around when he was, they'll all testify that he was a guiding force for the fb scene. It wouldn't be what it is today without his input back then.

When I came back UKR1 was soon to get underway. Sam Jamil had arranged for the UK equivalent of the USA bonanza, complete with BRR as a sponsor (their dedication to supporting the world scene is something quite extraordinary) and it was quite an exciting event. I turned up a little early to a small school hall in Bolton. I walked in and there was one kind seshing a ramp on his own. "Oh fuck" I thought. I was happy to be there and to sesh with him but his extended family including grandma, grandad, brothers and sisters were all there too, just sat watching. Thank god, 20 minutes later we were joined by around 8 others. This was the first time I met, Thom Mcinally, Euan Lynn, Johnny Sivel, Danny Hynam, Sam Jamil and Eddie Sharples. All the lads were northern and everyone just seemed to get on so well. It was a fantastic feeling to have a shared passion that linked us all.

The event was fantastic and run incredibly well by Sam. A projector showed skate videos in the background and we all just enjoyed the day, which was split into sections. Something that has always struck me is that all the British guys seem to have totally unique styles. We all appreciated each others skills and encouraged each other throughout the event.

I was glad to be back. The scene had changed drastically since I first began. Products were now extremely professional. The standard of riding had progressed beyond believe. The price of a top set up had literally increased 10 fold and the scene had migrated from being nearly totally online to suddenly being quite active offline and community based.

Fingerboarding - The glue that bonds everyone one of us on this forum.

http://vimeo.com/user190473/videos <---- Tina's Vimeo channel.

(I MAY DO A PART 3 WHICH DOCUMENTS THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS SINCE CYCLONE 2. OBVIOUSLY THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST 3-4 YEARS THAT I HAVEN'T MENTIONED AT ALL... BUT PLEASE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO POST YOUR OWN HISTORY OF FINGERBOARDING- DO IT! I FOR ONE WOULD LOVE TO READ IT.)

THANK YOU.

such a great read, also if someone has a link of david auster please please post it lol

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51aF45dSTMsam2lMV6FIkA

David's youtube is still up guys lol

I cried

Thanks Jess! That's great that you found that!

Thanks for reading guys.

JessM wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51aF45dSTMsam2lMV6FIkA

David's youtube is still up guys lol

im too lazy to look for myself, but thanks 4 link lol

nice to see people from Brazil in this text
david auster and jader are from brazil
our scene is not so strong like UK or Germany

So Simon convinced me to do this Here's my personal fingerboard journey I guess you could say haha.

I've basically been fucking around with tech decks since they came out in 98/99. As a little kid I always liked to ride around on a skateboard even though I couldn't really do any tricks, so I was naturally drawn toward tech decks. I had the original birdhouse deck and the video with Matt Johnson and all of those guys, but sadly I no longer have neither of these. They must have accidentally found their way to the trash some time in my life. But nonetheless, fingerboarding, or tech decks at the least, have been a part of my life pretty much since I was about 3.

Being a kid who is a bit younger than some of the people who have been around for awhile, I didn't get involved in the online scene until about 06, when I was 10. Before then, you know how some parents are with young kids around computers, I really wasn't I guess "allowed" to use it that much and nor did I ever think that fingerboarding to the degree that I know now was even in existence. As I got older though, my parents gave me more freedom and that eventually came with the trust that I could use a computer on my own, and yes I know that sounds silly, but hey, there's my parents for you.

Youtube had just come out at that time, and it was something I was very drawn to. Being a young kid I could watch videos that made me laugh then at any time, and it was very amusing. One day I must have been fooling around with a tech deck when I decided to search that up on youtube and BAM! That's how I discovered what REAL fingerboarding was. I was completely stunned that people were doing real tricks with their fingers just as they would with their feet on a skateboard. By this time in my life, I had gotten a bit better at skateboarding so I could tell what people were doing, so I think this sparked even more interest in me.



This was the first fingerboard video I ever watched. This guy is still basically a god to me because he is the sole reason I am where I am today with this hobby. The tricks he did immediately caught my attention and I was hooked from that point on. Then, I searched fingerboarding on google and that broadened my horizons even more. I found FFI and the tech deck forum and all these other sites dedicated to fingerboarding. It was cool to find that other people in the US and around the world has this similar interest in fingerboarding that I had. I made an account on the tech deck forum and met some really cool people. Like any other kid I tried to get sponsored and probably picked up a couple no name sponsors, but nothing really stuck. At this time I also discovered wooden decks, and that caught my attention enough that I started to make my own. Of course... they sucked, but to me they were good enough at that time because I had never used anything like it. The first couple ones I made I didn't even use veneer, just took a block of wood and carved/sanded it down into shape. Those things were hilarious.

I tried to apply for an account on FFI multiple times but kept on getting denied. I didn't know why, so as a young kid who knew practically close to nothing about the scene, I thought it was because I wasn't well known enough and because I didn't have good products or whatever. In late 2007, I made a vimeo account and uploaded a couple of videos on there. They were of course horrible, but I was proud of them back then and nowadays they are fun to watch again for the nostalgia factor. Still though, I didn't get accepted to FFI and I just wanted to know what it was like to be part of a truly legit fingerboarding community. In mid 08, I bought a Homewood and made my youtube account. The homewood was my first legit wooden deck ever and I loved it. I also bought some Flatface G5 wheels which had just come out and the difference I felt between that setup and my homemade board with tech deck wheels on it was insane. I began uploading to youtube and started to make some friends in the community. I eventually decided to email Tina Wade, who was one of the heads of FFI back then, about getting an account. Much to my surprise, she made me one! I was so stoked, I had finally broken through into the real fingerboarding community.

I remember the first video I posted on there, I thought I was the shit. It's safe to say I wasn't, that video got grilled by about 15 people. All of them telling me I wasn't as good as I thought and what not, one of them I specifically remember was Phil Zalusky. This was a big shock to me, I thought I was a pretty good fingerboarder at that time, but according to everyone else I was not. So I just continued to get better and better and kept on practicing. I had now discovered Berlinwoods and Riptape, both of which I was amazed by their quality. My videos got noticeably better with each one I put out and some people really began to like watching them. I kept on getting a bunch of shit for how bad my camera was though haha. All I can say is... yeah that camera sucked ass. I put out this one part called "Passion." It was for a small full length I was asked to be in. At the time, that was the most effort I had ever put into a video and people loved it... even Phil Zalusky. The fact that the guy who has so harsh to me when I posted my first vid on FFI was giving me these compliments made me so happy.

At this time, I still had no sponsors, and this was a time in the fingerboarding community when even some of the biggest companies were holding tryouts. I made a tryout almost every opportunity I could, because I still had not come to the realization that fingerboarding was not about sponsors. I made tryouts for companies such as Chemistry, No Comply, Woodnote, etc. None of them put me on their teams. It was kind of saddening to me, but I just kept on making tryouts hoping that one company would pick me up... and one ended up doing just that. Airflo was a company I was really stoked about getting on. I made I think three tryouts for Dave before he finally put me on the team. I remember the feeling of getting the pm from him congratulating me on getting on the team. I was so damn happy, it's really a hard feeling so explain. I loved riding for Airflo, they are still to this day such a legit company with some of the highest quality rails you can find, and I hope to pick up one of their rails soon so I can give Dave my support again.

After a couple months or so of riding on Airflo, Dave decided it was time to come out with a full length: Airflo Round 2. Airflo Round 1 had already come out before I was on the team. This full length was gonna be huge. It featured me, Dave, Peter Rekawek, James Marson, Scott Olds, Nick Pearson, and Brandon Robert. I feel like there was one or two more people that I'm forgetting and if I am, I'm sorry haha. I worked for a solid two months on that part and the final result was one of the best videos I have ever made to this day. That video got so many views and so many positive comments. It came out in mid 09. I was extremely happy with my part, and a lot of people really liked it too, so that made me very stoked for the future. Sadly, I broke my camera after dropping it on the bathroom floor not too long after that video and couldn't make videos. This started my fading out process of the fingerboarding scene. I lived and died to make videos so that my friends could watch them, and now that I couldn't make videos anymore, I slowly faded out of the scene. Looking back on it, that was a poor decision on my part.

I made a mini in late 09, with my webcam, and completely disappeared from the scene for about a year. In late 2010, I made about 4 minis, and another full length part in what was called "The Underground Montage," all of which were also filmed with my webcam. It featured me, Dave, Nick Lucia, and Travis Hurley. That was an awesome montage and I still watch it to this day. After that though, I really didn't pick up a fingerboard until the summer of 13. And I'm really glad I decided to pick this up again. I was obviously older, and had a much more mature perspective on what fingerboarding was truly about. I wasn't concerned at all about sponsors anymore, and was really just here to have a good time and make some friends along the way.

FFI was dead when I came back, but I discovered this place which was a life saver really. I feel if I wouldn't have discovered this place I would have seen what was only on FFI and lost interest in fingerboarding all over again. I met a lot of cool people here on the chatbox like Simon, Eric Best, Trevor, Zac, everyone really. All of you guys are truly special to me because of the bond we share through fingerboarding. In late summer of 13, Chad asked me to be on Frost, my first deck sponsor. I was super stoked for that. I had never had a deck sponsor before and it felt amazing to be repping a company that had been around for so long and carried that respect that it still does today. The way I got on was kind of funny too, Chad just randomly asked me in chat out of nowhere, it was totally unexpected. And that's how getting sponsors should be. It shouldn't be you going out there trying to get sponsors, just fingerboard and have fun and they'll come along. They're definitely not a necessity, and you should have fun sponsored or unsponsored.

Not too much has happened since then besides me getting a new camera and becoming a mod on here, two events which I am extremely grateful for. A new camera was certainly needed, and to be seen as an integral part of this forum was pretty cool.

So that's basically my fingerboard journey, not anywhere near as epic as Simon's though haha. I hope this was a good read for all of you that could sit through it. Thanks

That was awesome Jess! If you can find those old wood block decks, it would be cool to see haha

That was a great great read! Really fascinating to read about your personal fb journey! Loved the overall message too man!

Thanks Jess!

Also, it'd be nice to see other peoples journeys, It's a great way of building a clearer image of what fingerboarding was and what is has become.

that was great, man. looking forward to more of these in the coming years.

Regardless of length I wanna read all your stories so post them up guys!

Loved reading these! I'll attempt to remember my FB history...

I've always been a skateboarder and throughout childhood I loved Tech Decks. Somewhere along the line (probably from the TD Forums), I learned to shape the kicks and concave of a TD with a lighter (they were terrible, but still better than a regular TD!). I finally started to land tricks that I was trying to do, rather than just flipping the board wildly and hoping to land on the griptape. Don't know the time gap, but I eventually found FFI and lurked for a whiiile until I eventually lost interest in the forums. I still continued to fingerboard on my own until found this site in 2011 and joined up. Since then I've been on and off the forums, but always fingerboarding! Can't forget the feeling of getting my first Close Up complete and finally having a wooden deck with decent wheels (metal core wheels lol). Finding the online scene all those years back is most definitely what kept me fingerboarding. It turned playing with plastic skateboard toys into a full-blown hobby. Probably one of the only hobbies I've actually stuck with for more than a couple years.

good read man

That cocaine graphic tho.

• 1996
I discovered fingerboards they were the cheap key-chain ones!
• 1999
I found techdecks! My first techdeck was "The Firm" I still have it! I used to have fun just riding, carving (yeah I was very pissed off the wheels and bushings are plastic at the time the entire reason WC bushings exist) playing with the wheels swapping them out. I loved fingerboarding/skateboarding so it stuck with me.
• 2001
5th grade I met this kid Brandon that could do ollies and grinds! absolutely blew my mind!!! He was super cool and we became good friends for many years until high school and I lost contact with him. He showed me how to ollie and do some basic grinds! I never got to ask him were he learned and it kinda bothers me haha. Rumor is he still lives in my town so I might run into him or something and I hope he still fingerboards haha. One of the greatest times in my life.
• 2004
I started learning how to do single kickflips and lots of new tricks with my techdecks!
I had very few friends in school that were into fingerboarding and most of the time I was “Rodney Mullen” of fingerboarding hahah!  My friends were amazed I could do tricks!
I also tried making a few wooden decks from some pieces of model airplane wood or whatever I had.
• 2005
I discovered TD forum, FFI, YouTube, and started making wooden decks that were pretty good I still have all of them.  I also began making my own bushings and some wheels with metal cores that sucked ass. I was part of a “company” that never sold a single deck haha! It was called “Copyright” I also made “Depopulate”  I’m shure there’s no one that even remembers those names haha! We posted a few pictures and that was it. I also made some videos that got soooo much hate on YouTube.. such a different vibe back then. I did a fat kickflip over a techdeck barrel and everyone made fun of me.. today it would be more accepted in a video. So weird.
• 2006-2009
Sucked ass.. All my friends left my school and there were no fingerboarders! I was alone in my own little word of fingerboaring. That didn’t stop me I just had fun and made most of my own stuff  using TD wheels and trucks.
• 2010-12
I got some winkler wheels and started buying more fingerboard products I was blown away by the quality!! I also got my friends into fingerboarding. I was still basically alone they didn’t have the same passion for fingerboarding, they just dick around with them sometimes. haha
• 2013-2014
I joined FFI again (later that year joined FBHQ) and yeah WC bushings just sort of happened!! I showed some pictures and the interest took off! Back in 2005 I was banned from FFI for some dumb stuff I don’t know I was a kid and never into computers or anything like that. So I decided to join the forums again because my old high school friend said I should.. he was so right haha! It’s made fingerboarding a MILLION times better sharing my passion for an awesome hobby!!
Yeah there’s probly a ton more stuff I could have said but I just summed it up.

Id like to thank everyone for making fingerboarding amazing!!!! I cant believe it!!!  

i just started a bit ago, so no amazing story here...yet  

Thanks Robert, that was a good read! And thanks Trent for the great timeline. Love reading other peoples experiences.