Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and captions by Rob Meronek

We got off the plane today at about 1pm. Brian Schaefer and Tito Porada grabbed the rental van while Scotty Conley, Rob Meronek, Barry Wiser, and I hung at the airport and waited. It took abnormally long for them to pick up the vehicle, so the rest of the crew skated at the Arrivals area at San Juan Airport. It was packed with people and there was crazy traffic, but we had a full-on session and no one said a word...even the cops and security were watching us. At that point right there I knew we were in the right place.

Tito Porada is a long-time friend and originally from Puerto Rico. We flew him down here with us to be our tour guide. He set things off right because 15 minutes after getting in the van he had us atop a restaurant overlooking a beautiful beach and eating local seafood. From the killer lunch we checked into our hotel in San Juan.

Driving is really sketchy here, so Tito laughed at me when I told him that I wanted to drive because I get motion sickness as a passenger. The streets are really small, sometimes not even wide enough for two cars. One of his friends joined us at the hotel, so it was my job to follow them in the mini-van to Moisty Skatepark, the site of the K.R.3.A.M. Am. All I can say is that talking on a cell phone while driving in Puerto Rico should definitely be illegal...driving just takes too much concentration. I also bet that those Navigation Systems don’t get sold too much down here either. The streets come and pass so quickly that I doubt the System would be able to direct a driver that fast.

We had a fun session at Moisty and felt very welcomed by Moises (I think that’s his real name) himself and the rest of the locals. This park has one of the most unique settings I’ve ever come across – it’s located on top of a parking garage connected to a mall. One downside to the location is that it’s susceptible to the weather, which happened to consist of rain. The whole place was built nearly two years ago by Team Pain, so you know that there’s a bowl there. Fortunately, the bowl is covered, so that’s what we skated.

Later that evening we met up with Angel, owner of KR3W and organizer of the Contest. He bought us too many drinks, along with Regis from Red Bull, and then proclaimed that Thursday was not a work day. Viva Puerto Rico and viva Angel!

I don’t know how many times I heard, “Thank you, Tito,” yesterday. We were basically taken on a tour of the entire island courtesy of Tito. He slaved away at the wheel, pointed out endless landmarks, and told us more Puerto Rican history than one’s mind could take in. He babysat us while we drank Medalla Light, ate amazing food, and skated one-of-a-kind-spots.

This island has beautiful coastline views, sort of mixing the cliffs and rocks of California with the Gulf Beaches of Florida. At one point we were eating lunch at a restaurant on top of a 100 ft. cliff and then one hour later we were jumping off rocks into the bathtub-temperature Atlantic. From there we swam a couple hundred yards to shore and played (yes, played) in the sand.

We left that spot and raced to our final destination to watch the sunset and drink Pirates, which is pronounced “pee-rah-taes.” It’s a milky Bacardi mixture that’s served to you in a coconut and it tastes like a fancy coffee drink from Starbucks. The night came upon us and the resort we were at, Villa Cosito, or something like that, turned into a party atmosphere with Karaoke as the main entertainment. The 90% Puerto Rican crowd loved Scotty Conley singing in Espanol...that’s was definitely a hilarious ending to a great day.

On the three-hour drive back to San Juan we got pulled over doing 80 MPH in a 55. That would almost be jail-time in the States. Tito took the Breathalyzer and passed no problem since he hadn’t been drinking. The officer said to slow down because sometimes there are herds of cows in the road. No ticket. How ‘bout that? Viva Puerto Rico!

As I reread what I just wrote about the Puerto Rican countryside, I don’t think that I did it justice. Hopefully Rob’s pictures tell a better story.

We actually had to work yesterday. The crew at Moisty is very accommodating and did their best to take care of our every need. We have an air-conditioned office with DSL, which is where I’m writing this little update from. That’s pretty much been our experience with everyone in Puerto Rico thus far. The friendliness and service we’ve experienced has been superb.

Yesterday was the official practice day. We rolled up about 11am and basically took care of whatever needed to be done. All of the skaters got registered, the banners got hung, and we were out of here by 5pm.

Out on the course there were heads like Tampa Am 2005 winner Nyjah Huston. I also saw Collin Hale from Vermont along with some random kids from Texas that I had never met before. So all in all it looks like there are a decent amount of skaters that took the flight to Puerto Rico. Mix in the locals and it looks like we have a contest.

Yesterday evening was spent looking for a sushi joint. We found one in El San Juan Westin, which was a super-fancy place. Our crew, by far, was the most under-dressed group in the entire hotel. The sushi was mediocre and very expensive...I’m going to avoid sushi in Puerto Rico from now on. From there we migrated to yet another Karaoke bar, where El Cuerpo (that’s Body’s name in Espanol) made another appearance. El Cuerpo prefers singing the Spanish Love Ballads, which definitely won over the crowd. I think anyone that witnessed El Cuerpo’s performance would agree that it was the highlight of the evening.

We ended up with only about 40 entrants for the entire Contest, which makes your odds of winning some bling pretty damn good considering that it’s paying out to 8th place. The field consisted of about 10 kids from the States, most from Puerto Rico, and few from random places like Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The cut was to 20 for the Semi-Finals, with one Golden Ticket going directly to the finals. Click here for the Qualifier Results.

Here are some highlights that I remember from the day:

• Evan Hernandez and Terry Kennedy were chillin’ and talking smack on the mic
• The locals had mad respect for Orlando Ramos, who’s been killing it for decades
• Manny Santiago from MA did the kf bs 50/50 in his run on the round handrail
• Branen Fitzgerald fully ate it right at the beginning of his run just by riding down the roll-in...don’t know what happened there
• Early grabs are still in style in Puerto Rico
• Mike V. has a fan here because Jose Ortiz from P.R. can throw down a one-footed Japan like it’s nobody’s business

We were able to get out of there early and head to a local joint for some killer grub, authentic Puerto Rican style, courtesy once again of Tito. Then Rob, Scotty, Jason, Barry, and I headed to the Marriott to test our luck on the tables. There was a dress code just to get in the hotel, but the door guy let us in once I explained to him that we were just there to gamble. Remember, gambling is legal here in P.R. They had some crazy salsa dance contest going on in the lobby, with a live band and the whole deal, so maybe that’s why they were making such a big deal about what people were wearing. Anyway, I think that everyone lost on the tables, but I came up about $300 in Blackjack...hell yeah!

The weather here, as far as the rain goes, is pretty tough to deal with. It rained, and then it stopped. Then it rained again, and then it stopped. Finally it drizzled, and then it stopped. The locals suggested that we just get going with the event as soon as possible or else we would just be dealing with the same thing all day long. So instead of having a cut to the Finals, everyone agreed to just make the Semis be the Finals to save time. All of those that made the 20 cut, including Manny Santiago who got the Golden Ticket, skated three, one-minute runs. Here’s how it ended up:

• 8th – $250 – Branen Fitzgerald – big-ass methods from the super-jump to the steep bank ramp
• 7th – $250 – Greg Myers – has the noseblunt every time on the flat bar
• 6th – $250 – Collin Hale – Napoleon Dynamite keeps it entertaining
• 5th – $250 – David Bachinski – new friend with both personality and skills
• 4th – $500 – Robert Mont – well-known local goes back to P.R. to represent properly
• 3rd – $1000 – Alex Vidal – local boy kills it
• 2nd – $2500 – Chris Troy – Tony Hawk (that’s what Terry Kennedy calls him)
• 1st – $5000 – Nyjah Huston – not surprising at all...once again, Nyjah put together an amazing run that completely earned him the top honors

Best Trick was possibly better than the entire Contest. It was on a kind-of low, square rail that went across and down. Hitting it either way was acceptable, and here’s a list of those that nailed some moves:

• 5th – $50 – Ron Deily - nollie heel backlip across
• 4th – $50 – Manny Santiago – laser flip boardslide down, otherwise known as the Fiero Flip, courtesy of Yoshi
• 3rd – $250 – Chris Troy – bigspin fs boardslide 270 out across
• 2nd – $250 – David Bachinski – fs blunt bs flip out down the rail...damn!
• 1st – $500 – Branen Fitzgerald – tre flip fs 5-0 across – definitely a tough one

Oh yeah, in case I didn’t mention it earlier, KR3W kicked down some mad loot for the winners. And I may as well throw my thank-yous in here now, too. Thanks to all of the heads (Angel, Steve, Kyle) at KR3W for making this event possible. The co-sponsors...Circa and The Skateboard Mag (look for some type of coverage). Moises and the entire staff at Moisty Skatepark – we truly appreciated how accommodating you guys were. Much respect to Ricky Ronda, Bowly, Orlando, and all of the other people that love skateboarding in Puerto Rico.