Haven't read the thread in a bit. One of the things to point out about the finger tape. Many of the freestylers taped their fingers because it gave them more grip on various hand related tricks. The other reason is that back in the Early-Mid 80's some would also put small pieces of griptape on the bottom of the board in strategic locations where they grabbed a lot. The tape + grip gave them hella control at initiating fingerflips and board varials. Those who didn't use tailbones on nose/tail also gripped the ends to help with casper control (non-slipping shoes is nice) and such. I remember when Madrid Fly Paper hit the scene those of us who had freestyle boards stole everyones fly punch outs (like Grizzly Grip now has with teddy bears) to use on our decks. Per Welinder was one of the first I ever saw use lots of griptape on the bottom.