Surfing and Skating since 1969

The original Rattown crew started in the summer of 1971 at the Atlantic Beach pier. At 11 and 12 years old, there were four kids that surfed together every day, surrounded by the hottest surfers of the times, including Larry Miniard, Joe Roland, Dick  Roseborough, and Bruce Clelland. When the waves were unridable, they would skateboard the steep driveways along the ocean front in Atlantic Beach on homemade skateboards and mentored by Chris Gardner, who moved to Hawaii in 1974 and went on the world tour in 1976.
By 1973, all the kids from the 4 beach towns converged at Fletcher junior high school, whereby the tightknit group grew in numbers and the talent pool was pushed to new levels.
Just like every surf town in the world, including California, Hawaii, and Australia, the neighborhood kids formed a bond and pushed each other’s limits in the water and in the streets. It wasn’t until 1975 when skateboard magazine reemerged that the world found out about the Dogtown guys in Santa Monica, California. It was evident from the articles and photos that these guys were far ahead of anyone else on the planet. Led by Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Bob Biniak, and the rest of the dog town crew, these guys were defining what every other kid in the world wanted to do.
The Dogtown connection
It’s been said that God has a funny sense of humor, because years before the magazine came out, one of our own, was spending summers in California, and returning each school year, with more tales of the Dogtown crew. The only hint of believability of his stories was how much better he was skating each time returned at the end of the summer. When the first Dogtown chronicles were published in 1975, it was only then that all of his far-fetched stories were realized to be true.
So now we had a direct connection to Dogtown, and the plan was to graduate two years into the future in 1977 and move to California. Keep in mind, this was before skate parks were even invented. We would travel for hours after school looking for new, terrain, anything that resembles a wave. And this gave birth to wooden skateboard ramps. But thanks to Jimmy Plumer, we started seeking out empty swimming pools, because that was the ultimate terrain for the wave starved skater.
When skate parks became a reality in early 1976 the Rattown crew had grown to around 20 individuals that pretty much dominated wherever they showed up. When there were no waves, the boys would hop in the car as soon as school was out and head to Daytona or wherever the latest skate park has just been built. When Kona opened in 1977 it was the ultimate skate park for the Rattown crew. Big, giant, fast, steep walls. Perfect for the surf style skater. Kona hosted the first big East Coast Pro towards the end of the summer and then a few of the boys joined Jimmy Plumer on the pilgrimage to Dogtown. Plumer and George Wilson within the next year became captains of the Z Flex skate board team and the Dogtown connection was sealed. Over the next 40 years, the bond between the original Dogtown crew and the North Florida Boys has done nothing but grow stronger. Today the North Florida surf skate crew is stronger than ever with the likes of Wayne Satterwhite Dane Jeffries, the Thompson brothers, Asher Nolan, and the list goes on.