A rare, time-tested relic from my past surprisingly made its way back to me through the wonders of digital communication last week. Following a brief email exchange I was reconnected with this personal skate deck that I’d given away at a skate demo decades ago. That exact location is still unknown as the recipient was not the person that had returned this skateboard to me. The story goes that during a skate event I’d gifted this deck to a skater that had snapped his skateboard. My penmanship on the deck is faded, yet it states, “Don’t break this one.” More telling signs that this was my personalized rider shows from the grip tape and paint pen markings on this first issue Gargoyle Schmitt Stix deck. But what’s really rare are the uncommon radiuses and notches that appear on both the underside and the top of the nose area of the deck. These custom reliefs were created by Vision’s wood shop wizard and skate master Chuck Hults to assist in grabbing the nose (back in a era when it was appropriate) and to possibly generate enhanced shoe adhesion with ollies. Ah, such awesome souvenirs from great times where Chuck regularly sent Schmitt Stix team riders a few customized decks in their packages using his sanding disk creativity to make it happen. Thank you Chuck! And many thanks to Adam for reaching out to reconnect this board with me 34 years later! This one escaped the landfill! • #skateboarding #schmittstix #reconnection