Here is a post by GBJ giving a brief history of slalom post-1980's until the recent resurgence in 2001.

On 2/19/2002 GBJ posted this on ncdsa/slalom...

Curt and others who are curious to know what happened to slalom post-1980. I obviously can't know everything, and I'm sure there are many who could augment my tale; but I ALWAYS had my feet on a slalom board and my eyes open for slalom action. Here's what I saw:

By the mid-to-late 1980s, skateboarding had come out of period of "Dark Years", and developed fair success around the Vert Ramp and eventually the Street discipline. The only organized slalom left in the U.S. was under the auspices of the California Amateur Skateboard League (CASL), where slalom was kept among the competitive disciplines and was a necessary skill for any skater interested in one of the coveted "Overall" titles. Much credit is due to Sonja Catalano and the other leaders of the CASL movement for always working to keep slalom alive. I’d approached skateboard industry heads, and even Henry Hester, several times during that time, but was always disappointed when told, in no uncertain terms, that slalom skateboarding would NOT return, and that I was fighting a lost battle. At the same time, in Europe there was a significant slalom movement under way, producing a newer set of slalom "legends" like Gianmarco Luca, Jani Soderhall, and even our old friend Simon "Smokestack" Levene. This European slalom community eventually grew big enough to warrant a multi-national organization, the International Slalom Skateboarding Association, under the dedicated leadership of the aforementioned Jani Soderhall. Lately, after a period of dormancy, the ISSA shows signs of becoming functional again.

In the U.S., in the late 80s, there was a curious blip on the slalom radar, as G&S re-issued the classic (no cutaways) G&S cambered slalom deck. There was an ad, featuring Billy Ruff cranking a turn on one of these decks, with the headline "Learn To Turn". So far as I know this ad only ran for one issue in each of the major skatemags.

By 1990, CASL had spun off a fledgling professional organization called the Professional Skateboard League (PSL). Again taking a stand for slalom, Sonja Catalano opted to include slalom racing in the PSL agenda along with the more popular Vert, Street and Freestyle disciplines. There are others who could tell you much more about that era, which I believe lasted no longer than through ’91 (at least the slalom part). The one race I attended was a format I do not enjoy (indoor, flat, slick), raced under unfortunate circumstances (sawdust, cramped space) and I managed to severely injure myself in practice (a bad habit of mine), so I can only re-affirm that I really appreciate the efforts made by Sonja, CASL, the PSL and all the other racers I had the pleasure of meeting at the time. The man to beatat the time was a cat named Jim Korten.

From what I understand, the current re-birth centers around the longboard revolution, this website and the West LA College series of longboard races, which included long and then even shortboard slalom. The X-Games downhill thing was going on, and even kids knew names like Biker Sherlock, so the concept of racing skateboards, rather than doing tricks on them, was slowly returning to the American consciousness. One by one, the flock gathered on Ncdsa.com. There were names from the past (Hester, Smith, Dunn, Mollica, etc.), some of us who’d never quit (Gilmour, myself), and names that could very well represent the future (Maysey, DuPaul, Kirby, Riordan, etc.), all engaged in the passion of a moment very few of us had the courage to even imagine ten years before.

At the 2000 DC Downhill Classic, I had the pleasure of re-uniting with my old friend Chris Chaput, who had re-surfaced on Ncdsa.com, was racing downhill, luge and buttboards and beginning to consider slalom (he had the original RoughCut "Plank" with him). I brought my slalom decks to the DCDC race, but even then none of the downhillers could imagine that slalom would ever "come back".

Of course then, by last Spring, Jack Smith’s now legendary Morro Bay World Championships, and The Gathering were on the calendar; and, of course, the rest is the history being made right now, right here, and in which we are all players. Enjoy.

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On 2/19/2002 Claude wrote in from 24.103.xxx.xxx:

In addition to Andy's (GBJ) reply to Curt I offer this input from Canada.

In Canada there were Nationals held in Slaom from the late 70's not sure what year. The first I knew of was 78 until I joined the site and became aquaited with a competitor from the 77 event. Canada held Nationals in 81 Vancouver, 82 Calgary, 86 hosted, the World Expo 86, probably the only complete Slalom Championship prior to what's happening now and prior to 86. There were several competitors who did not attend but nonetheless it was a great event to be a part of. The last Slalom event that I am aware of was a PSL 90 event in Vancouver. Since then it has has been dormant in Canada other then some of us doing for the enjoyment.

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After Morro Bay (Apr 2001), other slalom contest popped up, such as Cambria, Donner, SF, La Costa, etc.

hc