Best Image Training for Surfing and Tube Riding.

It’s never simple. I’m already wasting a lot of time compiling a Huffy skateboards resource, and in the process I find an 80-ish skateboard that looks like someone accidentally included the Instructions or marketing materials on the actual graphic. It’s absurd enough to warrant its own post, but then I find another wonderful example. No board manufacturer is visible, but some well crafted googling unearths two more models in a couple different color variations, as well as the manufacturer “American Sports Services. Barry E. Smith.” You’ve heard of them before, right? Giants in the industry! But what, there’s more! Update: Most , if not all of these decks can be seen in a catalog for Athena International.

A SUPER HI-TECK DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF SURF TYPE SKATE-BOARD. THE BEST IMAGE TRAINING FOR SURFING & TUBE-RIDING

What exactly image training? It it Visualization: how to use mental imagery to improve surfing? Maybe….

What and when did this company come from? American Sports Services is a dead end. So is “Main Street Design Center 90291” even though the zip code is Venice Beach. What about Barry E. Smith? There is a Barry Smith that makes luggage but it does not appear to be related, despite the fact that there is an American Sports Services Barry E Smith skatebag.

The most obvious explanation is that “American Sports Service” and Barry E. Smith was a completely made up entity designed to sound American. If you know any different please let us know. Let’s get to the boards.

“Off the Wall” is the first one I saw. Is that a rat or a kangaroo? The graphic wasn’t really the attention grabber, it was the text underneath. I reasoned it was a one time occurrence, a mistake that someone made before it went to production. The top graphic gave no clue about the manufacturer, so I I figured they would be the only time I’d see something like this. Much later in the journey I discovered the last photo at the stock image site Alamy. It would cost an improbable $49 to license for web site use without the watermark. Free advice: Know your audience, and make sure it’s in focus if you expect people to pay for it. It’s fine specimen though.

WINBEE JUMPING BOARD GIVES YOU A SKILLFUL TECHNIC FOR SURFING & SKATE BOARDING. WE ASSURE YOU OF A EXCITING DESIGN & THE FINEST QUALITY, SECOND TO NONE.
SKATE BOARDING IS THE BEST IMAGE TRAINING FOR SURFING

Recency bias be damned! I didn’t expect to see another, but low an behold, a tangent from the search for Huffy skateboard led me to the WInbee, which you can buy right now! The text on Winbee is slightly different from the Off the Wall, so it must have been a conscious decision to include it, we assure you! And sure, why not? There are probably a lot of Imperial Japanese flag themed boards out there with Japanese writing that most Americans have no idea what the translations are.

The top of the Winbee has sort of legible text, so I thought I might help me track down a manufacturer. It’s hard to read but it looks like it might say “Roller Surf Board.” A search of that term is not super helpful if you’re looking for skateboards, but it does churn out quite a bit about soft surfboards. A search for “the “Best Image Training for Surfing and Tube Riding” turned up some adjacent janky off brand skateboards and a lot of clicking through led to the discovery of The Tarentura board by American Sports Services and Barry E Smith. This Tarantula not fish shaped, but does appear to be a little narrow, like the Winbee. Those square beam hangers with no markings are kind of intriguing.

Here’s a black Tarentura, again on a narrow deck.

Trying to dig up more info on a Tarentura model turned up the same main graphic minus the text being used by theoretically different companies, including this regular width pig deck marked “Chatillon.” A skateboard search for Chatillon has not revealed any further models.

A lot of sideways searching would reveal Japanese language posts (??????? means skateboard!) in the results with links that led to seemingly random web sites in India for industrial manufacturers, neurological studies, or blank pages with no HTML output and no error message. Whenever an image link did go through it was usually a couple Japanese auction aggregation sites, which is where I found an additional Hawaii deck. Although the graphics are missing the excellent description of… just how excellent this deck is, the top graphic does say “American Sports Services,” and there is some illegible text underneath. Perhaps some mention of the best method for surf board training?

What else? How about the Mad Skull? Again on a black, narrow deck.

There’s another Mad Skull from American Sports Services in gray, with a slightly different graphic. If you pay attention you’ll notice the skull and knife are different in this version.

Mad Skull sort of rings a bell, right? It turns out it was another one of those recycled graphics that appears on assorted shapes and likely manufacturers as well. The bottom of the Super Kids version is a really poor copy of the well known Atlantic Skates Ripstick.

Meanwhile, flipping through 50 or so tabs on my browser I decided to take a closer look at the Marine on a whim as the image preview only showed the marlin fish. Surprise! More Image training for surfing! What kind? The best!

Here’s a couple odds and ends including a narrow deck in tan or off-white, as well as a super wide pig that at first looks like it has been artificially stretched were it not for the narrow bricks behind it. Despite appearing in a couple different locations, I have not been able to track down the bottoms of these decks. I’m super curious about the wide “Jumping Board” though.

That’s all I could find. If you have any info on these made in Taiwan gems, or the mysterious Barry E. Smith of the prestigious Main Street Design Center, please share it.

But wait, there’s more!

A few months later I saw another odd one under the name Blitz. The radical Koala bear has a slightly modified description printed directly under the graphic. it’s High-Teck! Those trucks and wheels are new additions. Thanks to Rhys Buckley for the pics.

A SUPER HI-TECK [sic] DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF SURF TYPE SKATE-BOARD.
THE BEST IMAGE TRAINING FOR SURFING & TUBE RIDING
MANUFACTURED IN TAIWAN, R.O.C