WELLFLEET — Colin Nobili’s amplified exclamations rang out across Mayo Beach from the Kevin J. Fitzgerald SK8 skatepark where competitors at all skill levels hit the pavement for the annual Wellfleet Skate Jam on Aug. 9.
“Skate fast, don’t crash,” said Nobili, an Eastham skater who was one of the competition’s judges and its unofficial emcee. Participants mostly followed that advice during the event, which the Wellfleet Recreation Dept. has been putting on for more than 20 years, according to Anthony Rock, a recreation dept. employee and skater.
Some 30 skaters from as young as two to as old as 61 suited up to push around the park, with about half of them entering the competition. At times, it turned into a dizzying display of near misses as experienced skaters hit rails and launched themselves off the quarter pipe while newer ones “flowed” through the park’s obstacles and attempted their first ollies.
“We’ve got a bleeder,” Nobili yelled at one point during warm-ups, keeping the atmosphere light-hearted even as skaters wiped out on the mural-covered concrete.
A tight-knit intergenerational skateboarding community that helped design the park has grown here since it first opened in 2008.
“It’s a giver of a park,” said Nobili. “Everyone’s really for passing along the love of the endeavor of skateboarding and the values that it can instill. You learn a lot about yourself and each other through it.”
Becky Rosenberg, Wellfleet’s recreation director, recalled that at the start of her tenure in 1997, the relationship between the local skate community and the town was a little contentious. High school skaters often rode around downtown Wellfleet, grinding on town benches, jumping stair sets, and bombing the hill on Main Street right through blind corners.
“It was a dangerous situation since they didn’t have another place to skate,” said Rosenberg. Townspeople had approved a bylaw prohibiting skateboarding downtown, but after a Community Preservation Committee recommendation, they also voted in 1998 to pay for the construction of the skatepark.
Before the competition kicked off, participants in the beginners division raced each other to pick up pebbles, rocks, and wood chips, which can get caught under a wheel, throwing the rider off the board. The judges awarded Eddie Kolovski of Toronto, Canada a new pair of skate wheels for collecting the largest number of tiny hazards.
At each level of the competition, skaters faced off against each other in heats, showing off their best tricks and riding for the judges, who considered difficulty level, speed, style, and combinations.
In the beginners category, Dash Ortiz White won first place by skating smooth lines and dropping in from the quarter pipe, while Kolovski and Silas Sheffer placed second and third, respectively.
Jacob Parkington of Wellfleet won the intermediate division, and Flora Sheehan of Boston, the only girl in this year’s competition, placed second. Jack Turnbull of Yarmouth came in third.
The complexity and acrobatics of the tricks stepped up a few notches when the advanced skaters had their turn on the course. After he landed a kickflip back 50 off an elevated platform, the judges awarded Clay Kenny from Wellfleet first overall, while Corey Goodwin from Harwich came in second. Manuel Dasilva, who made — but didn’t quite nail — repeated attempts at a kickflip off the quarter pipe that drew cheers and gasps from the crowd, placed third.
Nobili told the Independent that Dasilva’s efforts weren’t in vain — he would be recognized for the day’s hardest slam.
When it was all over, knowing who actually won the tournament seemed like the least important part of the day — even to the winner.
“Competitions suck, but it’s fun to bring people together,” said advanced division winner Kenny. “You don’t want to compete with other people. You want to feed off them.”
In that way, skateboarding — even in this family-friendly, town-sanctioned event — retained its irreverent ethos.
Skateboarding is about “breaking the rules in a healthy way, because rules are made to be broken,” said Kenny. “It’s cool to come here and have families at the skate park — and be the guys making the noise.”
