The Zephyr Competition Team, also known as the Z-Boys was a group of skateboarders formed in 1974 from Venice, California and Santa Monica. The Z-Boys invented aerial and slide skating moves that were the inspiration for today’s aerial skateboarding. They started out as a surfing team based out of the Zephyr Surfboard Shop in Santa Monica. The founding members of the team were Nathan Pratt, Jeff Ho, Craig Stecyk and Skip Engblom. The surfing team dates back to 1971.
The team spent their time surfing at Pacific Ocean Park, nicknamed “Dogtown” by the locals and skated as a hobby when there were no waves. By 1974 the team had expanded in numbers with Jay Adams, Allen Sarlo, Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta and Chris Cahill joining the surf team. Skip Engblom realised that skating had possibilities for helping with surfing technique as well as being a good fitness exercise and one that encouraged self discipline and artistic expression. He set up a practice schedule for the team and members were keen participants. Their style was to skate the way they surfed and this became a signature of their skating.
Skateboarding became widely popular in the 1970’s and this led to the first big skateboarding competition since the 1960’s. It was held in Del Mar in California in 1975. The Z-Boys made their first appearance here as a team and revolutionised the way skating was approached. The Z-Boys were wildly successful, upsetting the older kicktail longboard for sale establishment. Jay Adams finished in 3rd place in the Junior Men’s Freesyle. Jay Adams was known for his low the ground surfer-like moves and explosive speed. Jay later collaborated with the skate board manufacturer Z-Flex and designed skateboards in the Z-Flex range. The Z-Boys had an aggressive and low surfing style that had not been seen before the National Championships in 1975 and the crowd loved them.
Around this time there was a major drought in California and severe water restrictions led to the draining of many back yard pools. The Z-Boys became stalkers of empty pools, even going so far as to carry their own hoses and water pumps to empty the last of the water from pools. They would then skateboards in the empty pools, pushing each other to try more tricks and vertical sides. Tony Alva was the first skater to hit the pool coping (the upper edge of the pool) and execute a turn to land back on the pool wall. This was the genesis of vertical skating and the source of many of the aerial extreme sports which followed it. Although the members of the Z-Boys became very famous, the team did not survive the pressures of fame and sponsorship and the Zephyr Shop closed in 1976. Jeff Ho later reopened a surf and skating shop in California under the name Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions.