JAMIE LYNN
LEGENDARY INFO: When Jamie Lynn stuck a Cab five off a fifty-foot cliff in Norway in 1995 without even the slightest imperfection, the gloves—quite literally—came off. James Michael Lynn came up in Washington State’s snowboarding scene at the tail end of the Mount Baker Hardcores’ heyday. While the rest of us were busy preparing for the imminent arrival of the Olympics, figuring out how to spin to win or jib-bonking every obstacle in sight, Jamie was cutting his teeth on the contours of the Cascades. No parks, no pipes, no gloves…no matter—Jamie learned to read terrain and let his style put on the show. When the FLF shooters came up to get footage for their mid-season release Roadkill, Jamie got his break. Appearances in Alive We Ride, The Hard, the Hungry, and the Homeless, Upping the Ante, Project 6, RPM, and Volcom’s esteemed The Garden soon followed. SoCal grom done good Tara Dakides fondly recalls Lynn’s onscreen image, saying, “Looking back at his parts, he still leaves the lip of sh*t like no other. He continues to be copied in the way he would do the simplest of tricks.” Eddie Wall shares Tara’s sentiments: “I can just picture his methods and Cab sevens and nines from some of the first vids I had. They are still branded into my memory from so many years ago, infinitely re-playing themselves.”
When Jamie got his own Lib Tech pro model, he brought his unique self-expression to the topsheet by creating his own graphics. Inspired by hippy ideals, alien lore, and surf culture, Lynn’s paintings evoked many of the same emotions as his riding. Above all else, Jamie’s method was his true masterpiece. With his board leading his body at a precise angle and effortlessly grabbed in the right spot, his silhouette constantly left bystanders in awe. It was style incarnate. There was also his signature low-crouch stomp that left no doubt as to his intention to land clean and keep the flow going down the fall line. Priscilla Levac looked to Lynn for her “higher learning,” commenting that “Jamie’s the one who made me want to skip school and go snowboarding every day.” Equally at home charging double-kinks as he is throwing double corks, Eero Ettala also holds Lynn’s legend in high regard: “Jamie started the cowboy style. He just always looked steezy—no gloves and sh*t!” As for the gloveless lore, the reason why countless kids followed Jamie’s lead and risked frozen digits was, according Circe Wallace, a total fluke. “No gloves? [That wasn’t] because he was making a statement, but because he forgot them.” Ironically, the coverage of Jamie Lynn with his uncovered hands is a big part of what makes him unforgettable.
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