Auckland photographer Todd Henry has been skateboarding for over 20 years, and recently noticed a new skate scene developing on one of his regular trips to Tonga.According to Todd, skateboarding "was kind of unheard of" when he first visited the small South Pacific island in 2007. He took his board along anyway, drawing the attention of local children when he rode ledges at a high school. Their interest in skating was why Todd was stoked to find out that Chris Paquette, an American skater and builder who relocated to Tonga with his family, was building a skate ramp in his backyard for local youth to use.
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Chris finished wooden mini-ramp last year, and on his most recent trip to Tonga, Todd grabbed his camera and board and went to check it out. Riding on shared boards provided by Chris and his family, the local kids were going crazy for it."The kids have kind of built a little skate scene," Todd says. "Last time I was there, about a month ago, I saw some kids skating the street actually in Nuku'alofa, which I've never seen before. So yeah, it's really cool."In our VICELAND show KING OF THE ROAD, three teams of the world's best skaters go on a trip of a lifetime, shedding blood and dignity to win Thrasher Magazine's annual scavenger hunt. Watch out for season two, on air Saturday, July 8 at 8:55pm, on VICELAND, SKY Channel 13
Image by Todd Henry
Image by Todd Henry
Image by Todd Henry
Image by Chris Paquette
Image by Chris Paquette
Image by Todd Henry
Image by Todd Henry
Image by Chris Paquette
Image by Todd Henry