Kona Skatepark Vert Revival

Hi, I’m Diana Lane, a local Jacksonville mom to two young Groms. My family reached out to Kona and created this GoFundMe to bring Vert skateboarding back to Jacksonville. Kona Skatepark is the oldest skatepark in the United States and the first to host a vert skateboard competition!

Our skate scene in Jacksonville has amazing history and the skate community is continuing to thrive. With the push of local skaters, parks have improved and new parks have been built here in Jacksonville. The only thing missing in Jacksonville now is Vert. Let’s bring it back! My family and I aim to raise $60,000 to fund a big brown revamp. We will hire the contractor and oversee the project from start to finish.

The skate community is the most supportive group of people I've ever encountered. Let's come together and bring the vert scene back to Jax!

Also, please let us know of any cost saving potentials, material donations, etc.!

Spending and progress updates will be posted at milestones.

We are looking to get vert accessibility and some RAD vert competitions to Jax. The plan is to do as much volunteer work as possible during the fund raising effort, and get Big Brown competition ready. This will include new skate surface, and replacing the bones as needed. Looking forward to any help!

KONA VERT HISTORY:

Is a 1/2 pipe and a Vert Ramp the same thing?

I really don’t think so. It seems a 1/2 pipe would be exactly that, 1/2 of a pipe, making it a perfect “U” if you removed the top portion. The 1/2 pipe for skateboarding came from realizing that we could create perpetual motion in full pipes that were found in the California desert in the mid 70’s. Wooden versions called “1/2” pipes were constructed in an effort to emulate the 30’ tall concrete full pipes that were featured in Skateboarder Magazine. One such attempt is what bankrupted Kona and led to its closing from late 1978 to the Summer of 1979. Ultimately this massive structure was deemed totally un-ridable.

When the Ramos family re-opened the park in 1979, the first project was to construct a “1/2” pipe that was ridable. Instead of trying to copy the massive concrete desert pipes, this one was much smaller and functioned really well. Legendary Florida Professionals like Mike McGlll, Alan Gelfand and Mark Lake all competed on Kona’s “U” pipe throughout the 80’s in Kona’s “Go For It’ series.

The success of the Blue Ramp led to the discovery of Skateboarding's first ever “Vert Ramp”. By placing flat bottom in between the two walls more speed was available and more time between walls. The right combination of transition, flat bottom, vert and width created a perfect environment for skateboards to discover a whole new realm of what was possible.

Unfortunately these ramps didn’t last very long due to the uncertain nature of engineering something that had never been built before. Over the years Kona has constructed four more versions of a “Vert Ramp” using different size radius’s, flat bottoms, widths and overall heights. The most recent one was completed in 2001 and is 78’ wide, has 14’ of flat bottom, 11’ radius with 2’ of vert making it 13’’ tall. It also features a 6’ channel with both 4’ and 6’ tall roll ins and an 8’ long escalator. Knowing how well these dimensions work we feel a full renovation of our current ramp is the best approach to bringing world class vert skating back to Kona.

Visit: https://www.konaskatepark.com/