Category: Features

Image (right) by Seb Michelini, other images courtesy of Wig Worland and RLD.
Written by Ralph Lloyd-Davis

Lille is a buzzing town on the north-eastern border of France neighbouring with Belgium, and also the first stop once you have spent 20 minutes under the Channel via Eurostar.

Despite the industrial roots, Lille has shed the smoggy image of yesteryear for a bright and colourful make over of music, art and attitude, thus gaining the title of Culture Capital of France in 2004. This is the link that makes Lille and skateboarding synonymous, and what better way to celebrate our culture than with Exposkate – Skate* Architecture, Music, Design, Art: Probably the most complete and exciting event about everything a wooden plank with four wheels entails.

Now, you might remember Crossfire visiting Lille once before in the past. Our man in the mist, Maxwell Woodger Esq. cleared customs and paid a visit to Europe’s first Street Plaza and the brand new skatepark that Lille had to offer. Well, the street plaza is still there and well worth your visit, whilst the indoor skatepark has grown immensely and anyone vaguely interested in street culture can be found rolling, spinning and swinging around the concourse. The “Halle de Glisse” (skatepark), as it’s known, was only an appetizer because my calling was SKATE*- an exposition that boasted artwork from the Beautiful Losers, photos by the famed Fred Mortagne, modern architecture by the skilled hands of the Side Effects of Urethane/Moving Units team, live music and much much more.

I am a frequent user and abuser of the Eurostar because of it’s facility to get me from A to B without the hassle of out-of-town-terminal treks, suspicious check in staff, disgruntled stewards and ludicrously expensive refreshments. I can literally go from the fabled gloom of Southbank, to the fresh open air of Paris, Lille or Brussels, and be back in time for Eastenders all in one day, and at very low cost if I book in advance. There is no need to sweat about getting lost trying to find the Exposkate; the location is a brief 5 minute walk straight out of the Eurostar station, Lille Europe.

Gathered in an abandoned Postal service building, the Tri-Postal, SKATE* spreads across three floors and 1600sq/m of space put to good use. I’ve visited a few skate themed shows in the past, but these are usually resumed by a mini ramp, or a few bits of artwork spread across the four walls of a basement or loft. A mere drop in the ocean when you see what Lille has to offer!

I was greeted at the Tri Postal by Laurent and Laurence – the couple behind this grand scheme and major success I might add. Laurent has been working as an event organiser for the last 10 years, so he knows how to put on a good show. Laurence is a lovely young lady who was always ready to answer a question or offer information, and kept me up to date with the venues goings-on via email before and after my visit. Obviously the town donated some cash to help fund Exposkate, but it was really down to Laurent and Laurence’s hard work and networking that made this show so big and worthwhile. With deep ties to the skate scene, Laurent knew what he wanted in his show, so the Beautiful Losers, Moving Units and various others were called up to make dreams become reality. Since opening it’s doors SKATE* has seen professional skaters, amateurs, musicians, foreigners and families absorb the mass of culture that the venue boasts, and the visits look unlikely to relent with an average of 300 people a day walking through the gallery.

So, I take my first few steps through the building and all I can do is gasp. There’s a bar, a stage for live music, a shop stocked with all those modern art books you hear about but never seem to find, a small enclosure dedicated to the lesser known artists and collectives entitled ‘Do it yourself’, and essentially the Side Effects of Urethane/Moving Units newest playground- Interstices. A beautifully crafted skate utopia of curved ledges, banks, driveways and walls that line and wind their way through the dimly lit space. It’s like an urban yet artistic décor that brings the action to the viewer. Huge screens lower during the day to project films that demonstrate the various uses for the unique bench/ledges, then from 5pm till 8pm, skaters pay the modest sum of 2 euros (approx. £1.35) to ride the obstacles. Needless to say, heavy sessions break out from 5 on the dot! Accompanying the modern take on architecture are Fred Mortagne’s exquisite photos, and texts submitted by various personages of the skate world (Jeremie Daclin, Soy Panday, Benjamin Deberdt…). I must say Fred takes some of the best skate shots I have seen in a long time, and he’s only been clicking away for a couple of years!

Oh! Did I forget to mention the video lounge? Hidden away in a darkened corner of the ground floor sit three televisions, flashing a constant flow of images that any video geek would willingly sell his soul for- Mouse, Easter Exposure Three, Skateboard Madness, Virtual Reality, Rollin’ through the decades, Public Domain… It’s all there and more. Each television is supposed to represent an era of skateboarding: The Concrete Wave, Big Time and Street Invasion, and even the tables and chairs you can lounge on are aesthetically close to their epoch. I think this section alone is worth the entry fee, but get ready for some serious viewing because more than half of these videos are categorically out of print today.

Already the first floor had me in shock and awe, but it’s only the first of three floors of sensorial euphoria. Upstairs lies the main art show split in two sections: Two thirds are made up of the Beautiful Losers, whilst the remainder hosts an eclectic show called Exposichienne. I’ll start by describing the latter of the two, Exposichienne. Already, the name is a word play in French that connects the two words, exposition and chienne, which literraly means ‘Bitch’. All the walls are highly decorated with graphic images and illustrations of a 50’s Golden era ideology and the gore and angst of modern day life. Despite an undercurrent of negativity and grittiness, the pictures and paintings are full of colour and detail which captivates your eyes to search out hidden meanings and detail.

Stepping across the hall and you enter the Beautiful Losers gallery. This collective was founded when Aaron Rose and Christian opened the Alleged Art gallery in New York to expose work by a post adolescent generation who mingled with urban culture, notably skateboarding. There is a heavy list of artists on show, but to name a few you can see work by Craig Stecyk III, Ed Templeton, James Jarvis, Mark Gonzales and many more. Each artist has a section which is unique in its genre. You can spot the misled youth of Ed Templeton’s provocative work, or the bolder bill board style paintings and prints of Mission District artists Margaret Kilgallen and Chris Johanson, and then witness the bizarre video reels of Spike Jonze. There is so much art and culture in the Beautiful Loser gallery that one visit would never do it justice. Obviously I felt a stronger tie to what I saw because of the connection through skateboarding, but judging by how varied and skilled the displays are, anyone can find one item to inspire them.

As I physically had to drag myself away from such an adrenalin rush of artwork, I made my way to the final floor where various artists will be allowed to expose their work over the following months. During my visit I was calmed by the portraits of James Cochran a.k.a. Jimmy C. James uses oil and aerosol paint to create very bright, yet soft portrayals of city dwellers. Future art shows on the third floor will include photographs by Martha Cooper, re-known for her pictures of life in the Bronx during Hip-Hop’s early years, a graffiti retrospective that follows the urban art around the globe and profiles some of the major players in the game, and finally an audio-visual exposé of B-Boy culture through the eyes and ears of Eddie Otchere.

After a good few hours (Which clearly wasn’t long enough!) of visiting the Tri Postal and it’s Exposkate extravaganza, I made my way back downstairs for an open display of skateboarding on the Interstices modules. I joined the locals and visiting skaters as we thrashed around the course, narrowly avoiding one another as we carved the wave and slid across the ledges. I must mention that Laurent and Co. invite various skate rippers to come and visit the gallery and Lille’s skatepark. I just happened to be there when the ‘Thrasher’ invitational was on, so I got to witness Antiz’s Hugo Liard, David ‘Roest’ Martelleur, Hans Claessens and Ian Dykmans grapple with the huge skatepark for a relaxed couple of hours, and then get gnarly at Interstices.

Needless to say the over vert sections and huge wallrides felt the real force of urethane and plywood for the first time! Future invitationals include a Rookie and Styler line-up. I think the live skateboarding was essential to provide that cerebral connection between art, form and function that visitors were looking for. And judging by the number of smiles I saw and cheers I heard, I’d say it was mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t hang around for the live concert planned for later that evening, but I did sip a couple of beers with everyone after a sweaty skate session. I also congratulated Laurent and Laurence on their initiative to present our culture to the masses in such a way that no physical sense is left spared. I can’t explain how essential it is that you get your tickets booked, or fuel in your engine to make the trek and visit SKATE* I know for a fact that I’m going back soon, and probably again after that, because this gallery is as complete and thorough as a portrayal of the culture we love can get. Plus, the exposition isn’t going anywhere fast because it’s set to stay in Lille until the 2nd July, before moving on to further shores (Japan, Berlin..?).

For more info visit www.exposkate.com and www.interstices.co.uk

Ralph Lloyd Davis

words by Nic Powley

This event was modelled on the highly successful War of the Roses held last year at the Works in Leeds and Bones in Bolton. Two parks over two days, best trick jams on several obstacles and the usual chaos!

Day 1 was Unit 23 in Dumbarton just outside Glasgow.

The main focus of action was the newly completed 4ft deep bowl which had just been finished the night before. The Death? team including Blackwell, Cates, Steak, Zorlac and new recruit Carl Wilson aka Potter had all made the mission up and Turvey dragged along team riders Si Skipp, Dave Davies, Ben Leyden and more.? Add in local rippers like Div, his brother Colin, Big Mark and Benson and you can picture the session!?MC duties were as usual in the trustworthy hands of Bob Sanderson.?

I didn’t see all of the action this day as I spent most of my time sat on the bowl chatting with Cates but what I did see was ridiculous.? Notably the big handrail session with kids chucking themselves down it like lemmings on apocolypse day!? Cates was first to get wheels down on a caveman boardslide but it spat him out on his lanky arse leaving Div to ride away from a caveman 50:50 clean (the trick that is, Div is far from clean!).

The bowl jam I guess was the main focus of the day and it would be hard to say who was ripping hardest, pretty much everyone who was in there. Si Skipp had some nice switch lines and his traditionally spontaneous approach to riding. Josh ‘ASBO‘ Parr impressed a fair few with his smooth style and big bag of tricks for a little man. Div really has to be seen to be believed, never has anyone been so deserving the title ‘beast’. Potter and Blackwell were also both on ridiculous form all weekend.? Judge for yourself from the following footage:

http://www.powow.com/kruger/War%20At%20Dumbarton.mov

Day 2 The Factory Skatepark – Dundee

Fatigue levels were high on Sunday, increased by the fact most people had got up and gone in search of concrete in the morning before the comp.? What followed was similar to the day before and is best explained by just watching the footage:

http://www.powow.com/kruger/War%20At%20Dundee.mov

Respect to the organisers and sponsors for another grass roots skate comp.

The turnout was a bit lower than I’d expected for both days but I guess it’s a fair trek for most people.? When the weather gets a bit better you should definitely think about getting your ass up there and checking out the new flurry of concrete parks (the Dundee one is worth the trip alone).? There’s also plans to run a War of the Thistles concrete park series over the summer hopefully.

Footage courtesy of perrykruger.co.uk
Pics by Ross Thomson

Spring is in the air, new skate parks are being built and we have many vehicles to choose from. Hmmn, smells like a road trip.

Now these road trips are always fun due to the people on them and of course the places to shred and knowing the South Coast has had not one but 2 pours of fresh crete laid on it’s mud over the last month or 2, we decided to hit the M3 from London and make a day of it.

Bournemouth has had Slade’s Farm to skate in the past. It has a concrete snake run and can be fun, but it is now 2006 and this area needed some fresh curves to keep up with the times.

Our first stop was Verwood Bowl that you can find in Potterne Park (from London take the the M3, then the M27, then the A31.

This park was built by Gravity Parks and has a total length of 16 metres with a width of 11 metres and although it’s tight, it was the most fun to skate as soon as we got there. Marc Churchill, Vans shoe rider and one of Gravity Parks main crete grafters met us up there with all the locals who ripped that place apart on it’s opening ceremony.

Those worthy of a mention are Greg Nowik, a Crossfire Xmas Jam regular and arguably Southampton’s highest frequent flyer. Greg looked in good shape and although this was the first bowl he had skated properly, he annihilated it with massive lien airs, crail slides, backside airs and his bolt standard double kick flip fakies.

Globe Shoes rider Ged Curran ripped this little bowl all afternoon with long ass 50-50’s down the escalator and trademark blunt fakies, blunt flips to fakie, frontside blunts in the deeper end (5ft) by the dozen. Then Marc himself knew every line in that place due to his hands getting dirty in the build so all eyes were on him as he swung in corner smiths, fat fs ollies over the 25 degree hip and fakie crooks in the same area. His local buddy Ross has a mean hardflip nosestall on him to, check the pic of the Dekline rider in the white top and pink laces below.

But you don’t take to the road with the Death Squad and not see some action, and it was not long before Horsey managed to beanplant fakie this bowl with ease whilst Mark Nicolson (with freshly cut hair making him more of an Axl Rose lookalike) tried his best to fingerflip the hip, but mainly gave this bowl a damn good fucking rinsing it deserved.

With Martin Herrick in cruise control a la Jeff Grosso, Steak with his wonderful stalefishes and Boots with his tech skills, it was a day to remember for all the right reasons. This Verwood Bowl set up will expand with another bowl and a street course next to it over the summer, so expect more about this little retreat soon as the concrete was smooth, fast and the surroundings were fresh.

So fresh in fact that even the future Extreme Channel presenter (can’t wait to send fan mail into that!) Dan Cates was in a good mood after all of that stuff going down, so with hip hop on the stereo to replace Pig Destroyer, we headed back onto the A31 towards Bournemouth, then took a left off to Christchurch and it’s the 3rd exit off called Kings Park and head for the football ground signs.

Kings Park in Bournemouth is only 20 mins drive away from Verwood meaning you would be stupid not to run a day trip to both this summer if you are from outta town. This only opened on March 18th and with it’s much bigger size and weight, it made for a killer session before the sun went down.

This park was built by Bendcrete and has a small street area with ledges, rails and tight banks, a reservoir with a funbox in the middle which leads into a fun-as-fuck 4ft mini ramp channel that leads right into an 8ft bowl with a vert extension.

The Bendcrete crew are the same people that built our local bowl at Meanwhile Gardens but this new one in Dorset is much bigger than the latter and although it is fun to skate, it still comes with a slightly sketchy finish on the platforms and the coping is not set into the concrete as perfectly as it could have been. ie they have stuff to learn from people like Dreamland and considering we have skated lots of their parks, they are by far still the best concrete skateparks we have come up against.

But saying that, the overall park is fun with great lines once you remove the chav kids with snotty green noses and heroin addictions at 12, but what do you expect being built near what looked like a Leisure Centre or Football Ground? This has its advantages though as you are less likely to be mugged here than in the middle of an estate where most skate parks are being dumped thesedays! The overall feel of the park is fantastic and the session ripped open leaving local kids stoked! This is the sort of park that needs a credible annual event.

Herrick was first to handplant the vert extension, Horsey bonelessed into the main bowl form the extension! Fuck yeah! Camo Pete, Steak and I found that the faster you go around this place, the more fun it is once you remove the kids in the way on roller skates! Zorlac decided that his trademark feeble grind had to be left on the big bowl before we split and as that was going down, Steak was warming up the vert extension with a nose pick for Styley’s photographic desires. The departure of Rayman, Punk Darryl and the Gormster left a hole for people to view the skills of new Death recruit – Boots, to destroy the overly steep handrail with a kickflip front boardslide and Horsey got the last bit of action before the sun went down with a kickflip over the fucking lot, stairs and all.

So all in all, Bournemouth rocks, so stop reading this, turn off your computer and go skating you fat bastard!

Chuck Bangers

Leave comments about this feature here.

The hand that rocks the cradle
Courtrai skate park debacle.

In the last year, there has been an incredible increase in the amount of concrete poured for skaters to shred. Quality parks are beginning to pop up all over the globe, so summer holidays can be booked in Stoke on Trent instead of San Francisco, and the next Geoff Rowley might learn the ropes in Malmo not Barcelona…

However, to get the mixers turning you need to work with people that don’t skate. It’s an age old fact that skaters are broke, so if we want something we do it ourselves, or swallow our pride and ask for help.

Help comes from non-skaters and notably politicians. The suits are the ones with the cash that could create the sickest cradle, or the sketchiest hip. We work together to iron out the wrinkles and build something really worthwhile. Recently, the little town of Courtrai (Kortrijk in Flemish), Belgium, got served with a concrete skatepark designed by Team Pain (Tim Payne and Co.) that could easily rival Marseille. Plus, it’s got a mean cradle!

Now, before you get your Velcro straps in a twist and hunt down a map to find Courtrai, let me explain the current situation: You can’t skate there.

Now you’re pissed, well imagine how the locals feel. Basically, the bowl has been ready to skate for at least 4 months, but because the landscapers think their pretty flower arrangements and green grass won’t grow in winter, everything must wait. Obviously the politicians agree because nothing looks worse on a political campaign poster than a mass on concrete in a mud field. So, like a 12 foot deep tub of ice cream in front of hungry kids, the dream of riding this beast is melting away because the table hasn’t been set.

An email circulated around skaters informing them of a get together rally to try and manifest their rights to rock ‘n’ roll. Unfortunately, news of the informal gathering was spread on the net, and subsequently reached the powers to be. Upon arrival in Courtrai, skaters were greeted by no less than 5 police vans, several riot squad dogs and various plain clothes coppers waiting for the spark to throw a few hoodlums in the back of the meat wagon. Keep in mind that this is in a small town in Belgium, so the total number of skate activists present was no more than a hundred at most.

Add to the equation, a well prepared Mayor who has a horde of aides and media types flurrying around him to make his look good. Basically, the Mayor played the skaters like a bunch of inexperienced fools, and turned the media bias around. In theory the media were their to show the politicians in a bad light, but due to a general lack of organisation, this power move was usurped by the enemy.

You might think those present were a load of pansies, but when you saw the eager cops present that day, and the fact that uproar might result in negative repercussions for the locals, everyone decided to play it calm; A little too calm for my liking… But, the Mayor did want to look good for the cameras so he let us ride for an amazing hour in total! Thanks man, but that’s not really long enough to take advantage of such a site. Oh! Did I forget to mention that those who did get to skate were hand picked? Of course, this isn’t a free for all, you know. This is a photo op, isn’t it..???

A few skaters who weren’t allowed to skate whilst the BMXers got served free Redbull- They don’t miss an opportunity do they!- decided to attack some jersey barriers further up the road. The Mayor thought that was funny at first, but then realised it would upset his constituency to see such inappropriate behaviour in the town’s streets, so he called the cops on them. Yeah mate! Luckily, the damp squid of a day had squashed any rebellious uproar within the skaters, so no arrests were made. An impromptu plan was made to congregate in Brussels, some 50 miles away, to skate the Belgian Capital’s park with a far smaller bowl, but at least there would be no hassle! Please note that Brussels has recently acquired a new concrete bowl with banks and ledges (unfinished), yet the site is still behind barriers and under construction. Despite these limitations, cops don’t care if you skate there on the weekend. You skate at your own risk (obviously!), and not for the risk of the unfinished flower beds!

In any case, Courtrai’s new park will be open end of April supposedly, and is well worth a visit. To end this, Belgian ambassador, David ‘Roest’ Martelleur was asked by the local newspaper whether he sided with the local politicians he said, “I’m not a politician, I’m a skater!” Nuff said.

A big shout out to all the skaters who came from far and wide to rep for the cause, Element Europe for turning up, Team Payne for building the beast, and the Courtrai locals for putting their town on the map.

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
06/03/2006

Sat 28th January 2005

After arriving at around 9:00pm, to a minus 2 degree warehouse so I could pay to stay up all night and fall over, I saw a surprising turnout: It wasn’t that packed! Not a bad thing I hear you cry, more room to skate and makes it easier to see Rogie tearing the place apart. Speaking of which, he won the (extremely badly organised!) Game of Skate, no idea what he’s going to do with a Creme deck mind.

The night was filled with games and such, the favourite of mine being the long jump competition featuring the Leopard-skin queen herself, Rob Smith, (check pic) dressed, as the latter insult suggests, – a Leopard. After the fairly long starting distance was jumped by most, including Bones co-mogul Timmynastics, the stakes were raised so high is was just Rogie and Cat-boy left in the running, and ended with Rogie jumping a distance almost as long as the large pyramid, board to board, which I can tell you, is a feat and a half. 2-0 to Rogie. As time slipped into the wee hours of the morning, the morale was high even though the temperature was at an all time low (-6), and everyone was still skating.

Also around this time was the (late!) premiere of the rather splendid Satori vid, the review of which can be found here on this very site here. Because of the amount of knackered people sleeping/getting stoned, the product toss was pretty funny. 10 or so kids in the bowl scrambling over a board, two of which got chinned but in the end, a big bastard was victorious from holding strong and true onto his wood. Ahem. Told you it was late.

At around 3:00am, we received a short visit from the police, nothing too serious, we just thought there were noise complaints and skated on.

Then, quite a few of the more awake folk realised about the aforementioned potheads in the back, fully kitted out with a hash pipe, and that the Pulleece were heading there. *cue gulping*.

The 15 minute or so suspense ended when the Piglets..I mean, Coppers headed out the door without saying a word. Good stuff. Overall, a great allnighter, great skating and pretty much a great night. Next time I’m wrapping up warmer, mind.

Props to Crutch for being the generous hosts they are and giving out nuff proddy, and props to Ian and Tim for getting the thing organised, and props to everyone who went, all left with a tired smile on their face, even if it was a weed-induced smile.

PS: A handrail comp at 4:30 am where backlips and crooks go down is one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. Mad props, kid!

Thanks,

Ginonix.

Links: www.bonesskatepark.com

Globe World Championships
10-11-12 Feb 06

Globe kicked off the 2006 skate contest circuit with their Global Assault which for the first time ever was broadcast live over the web to the entire planet. Skateboarding has officially hit the big time when you see the size of the course your favourite pros got to skate down under, and the number of screaming fans and groupies that lines the packed stadium bleachers. Next stop the Olympics..?

Kicking things off were the Girls Heats and finals. There is a clear divide in female skating today: On one side you have the ‘kickflip to fakie on the flatbank’ gang, and on the other side the girls have metaphorical big balls and skate like the boys. I won’t comment on the first group, but the elite few that qualify for the ballsy group are definitely worth watching. Right, Elissa Steamer won which is no great surprise, but she was under some serious competition by the likes of little Evelien Bouillart from Belgium. Evelien is coming up really fast and will sack herself on the rails if that’s what’s necessary to push the limits. No pussy footing here! Lauren Perkins stepped it up for third place, whilst last years hopefuls Amy Caron and Vanessa Torres placed further down. All that’s needs to be sorted now for the girls is bigger prize money, don’t you think?

There wasn’t so much of a vert comp as such at the Global Assault, but there was a fuck-off massive roll-in and quarter pipe! I don’t know how high things are going to get on vert in the future, but air miles must come into the equation somewhere. The vert best trick was a close call between Sandro Dias, Pierre Luc Gagnon and outsider Rob Lorifice. Sandro smacked out a huge judo 540, but Pierre Luc wouldn’t give up the first place, and in case anyone wanted to try him for it, he landed a caballerial varial heelflip! Rob made a name for himself by landing third with a lovely Misty Flip 540 a.k.a. the Rodeo. Now the men could be separated from the boys as the Highest Air comp got underway. I’m not knocking anyone here, but the veterans who learned from the school of Hosoi know what hangtime really means. In third place we had PLG (again!) with a 13ft air. Nice, but not as nice as seeing Jocke Olson nudge above him for 13ft 6 inches. Finally it was the new vertical sensation, Jake Brown, who sealed the deal with an astonishing 14 foot air straight up and out of the atmosphere- Call us when you get down, mate!

Right, now we can get down to business with the toughest discipline to judge- the street comp. The judges don’t get it easy by having to watch so much talent rip up such a massive course, so if you placed in the top5 you can call yourself a winner. Groups of skaters took their turns during the endless heats to battle it off with the rails and hips. This format was used last year and proved to work better as the skaters felt like they were taking part in a jam among other pros, instead of the focused stress and attention of a one man demo run. Being a truly Global event, there were riders from all over the world racing across the course, notably Ross McGouran from Great Britain and Danny Hamard from France- both qualified after winning different Wild Card Globe events. In the end, it was local talent Tommy Fynn and Chris Wood who wowed the judges and made the cut to the semi-finals. Despite being definite contenders for the future, the two Aussies couldn’t beat the best.

The final was really just a personal opinion as to who wins. The last 6 were as follows: Ronnie Creager, Greg Lutzka, Chris Cole, Rick McCrank, Nyjah Huston and Ryan Sheckler. Any one of those pros could have won, but in the end it was little Sheckler, who isn’t all that little anymore, and what he does lack in height, he gains in his ability to kill a flurry of obstacles. Even tiny Nyjah Huston, who trailed second, only fell on about two of the many tricks he pulled all weekend. If this is the future, then the veterans had better be ready for a beating!

Go to www.globe.tv for all the trimings and peep at Chris Cole at the comp here.

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
13/02/2006

It’s that time of the year when we go from freezing cold weather to miserable wet days. Money is starting to appear again after the Xmas meltdown of your bank account and things are starting to look up.

The local indoor skatepark has not got the creativity to even organise a half decent event to bring everyone together, club nights have been done to death, the TV wreaks of rubbish programming and you have the horn!

Everything is a little dour, the winter has completely dominated your existance and you are fighting for a change of scenery and some fresh air to match. But will you go for sun, sea, surf and tight units sunning themselves on the beach?

Will you go for the option of amazing food freshly trickling down your gullet like never before and not out of the freezer for once? Or will you go and spend your hard earned cash on a weeks worth of carnage on the slopes where you bruise like an apple and sting like a bee on the dancefloor whilst guzzling down peach shnapps like never before until you puke?

The latter is a snowboard holiday, you know it will be the nuts, but where do you go?

Destination Unknown

Firstly choose your destination carefully, and always consider the quality of local produce. The USA boasts that they go bigger, which may be true of their waistlines, but for brains and personality the yanks don’t always come up to size. “Do they really speak English in England?” asked one chairlift flirt, in Mammoth, instantly destroying any urge for some post piste action. Mainland Europe is far more promising, especially if you go for passion, politics and poor personal hygiene. Also, look out for those suave Scandinavians- underneath that angelic exterior is a Viking bursting to pillage you (and the rest of resort.)

Bright Lights, Big City or Country House?

So you’ve chosen your country of residence; but will you base yourself in the temptations of a large ski town or choose a backcountry bachelor/ette pad? Latter resorts such as Livigno, Zermatt or Saas Fee could be perfect for some cosy small town romance. But, inbred alpine villages also limits where you sow your wild oats, leaving you to decide between cousin a or cousin b – and even then you may have to compete with their sheep.

If you want quantity not quality, the large European resorts such as Val D’Isere, Tahoe and Meribel guarantee fresh faces every week due to the high number of randy tourists but Tignes is still a Crossfire favourite as the Dragon Lodge caters for lots of skaters every year and is run by cool people. With extensive terrain to roam nightly, you’ve limitless bars to make a run at possible conquests. Then spend the rest of the week teaching them how to ride properly until changeover day, when the next set of freshies arrives for you to play with.

Pimp Rock Palace

But before you can go looking for potential sliding partners, you need to find yourself a suitable first base. Thankfully typical accommodation has moved on from the small hole in the attic, with just a mattress, cockroaches and mould for company. And despite most beds in resort now owned by the big holiday companies, you can still weasel out a plush pad to impress possible mates. You won’t be able to get anything as bling as ‘The Block’ in Tahoe or the Rider’s Palace in Laax for a season, but companies such as Seasonaires, Planet SubZero and Alpine Elements can organise a roof over your head, liftpass, food and more reasonably – leaving you more time to work on your lines.

But be prepared, as most accommodation means bunk beds so watch out for low ceilings. No one likes to get knocked out halfway through riding the pipe. Also, although you may be sharing a small space with another six sweaty shredders, try to keep things clean. Befriending a chalet assistant helps, as you can then persuade them to clean your bed linen – dirty sheets won’t make anyone act the same between them.

Rhythm and Stealth

So you know where you’re going to park your love nest but when’s the best time to go? If you can’t do a full season some forward planning is essential; so look out for any upcoming snowboard comps or events in your chosen resort. DJs, bands, media and groupies could also be in town looking for action, ready to provide some welcome variety and a window back into the real world.

It’s not credible, classy, or actually about snowboarding, but the annual end of season Snowbombing in Mayrhofen, Austria, guarantees some up for it action – even for one night. This years entertainment includes 2manydjs, Audio Bullys, Roni Size, The Cuban Brothers, DJ Yoda , Bez and parties hosted by Bugged Out!, Warp Records, Finger lickin’ Records and many more.

Home Sweet Home

But remember – home will be a long way off. Dropping out of mainstream society for a couple of weeks maybe one long idyllic haze, free from responsibility and reality, but always remember that you can’t get away with everything and just because you are on holiday, the same rules still apply. You may want to share the love, but be safe and when it’s time to come home, just don’t get caught carrying any unwanted souvenirs!

Gemma Freeman

Written by: Ralph Lloyd-Davis – 21/12/2006
Photo Credits: Big thanks to Gorm – Ace Joe – Elvin – Steven King.
Sequence Credits: Big thanks to Dom Marley and Leo Sharp (Sidewalk Magazine)
Video Credits: Big thanks to Adrian Downie, Niall Kenny, Alan Christensen and Andy Evans

Road to Ruin – Anarchy in the West-End

“My doctor told me not to let anything get me stressed. You fucked up…”

Those were the words Zac uttered to me as I grovelled apologies for missing my train out to the Crossfire Xmas Jam from Belguim! I felt stupid, and shit. Another ticket would set me back an arm and a leg, and even then I wouldn’t make it to the jam until it was ending…

Then, I got a call from my wife…..There was a flight out the following morning for £50, and I’d get there in time to party. What would I do without such a wonderful woman? I’d probably be wearing odd socks and pour salt instead of sugar in my tea.

Woo hoo! Crossfire, here I come! However, there was a catch to this golden ticket: The plane took off at 7am, which meant 6am check-in, which meant 5.15am taxi, which meant 4.45am wake up, which meant no sleep till Crooklyn!

But it was no good feeling sorry for myself. I was the one who fucked up in the first place. 20 minutes kip, one bottle of rescue remedy and one confiscated deodorant later, and I was gazing dreamily at the sun coming up over London.

Crossfire is the only outfit down South to pull everyone together at this time of the year when the days become nights and water turns into ice, so if you were anywhere within a few hundred miles radius, you know you should have made it down for the annual Xmas get together.

But I’m guessing you were there because the Bay66 skatepark in London’s hip west-end was ram packed full of skaters. I won’t list off each and every British skateboard notable present, just take a look at the news sticky for that, but I think it’s safe to say that if the Westbourne park flyover decided to collapse on that sunny Saturday afternoon, then British skateboarding would be reduced somewhat, Freestyle included- seeing as This’n’That celeb whizzplanker Darran Nolan was present and giving a helping hand. Cheers mate!

Right, enough setting of the stage, what everyone wanted was guaranteed carnage and prizes, so without further a due, Zac grabbed the cowhorn and the unsponsored jam began.

Always a favourite with the crowd, and the worst fear of the on site medical staff, the ski jump opened the show. A few clean melons here, and plenty of ragdoll flailing there, it was tiny little Alex Decuhna (inspired by Lee Blackwell!) who scored a pair of Globe Shoes with a kickflip, and a huge backside 360 that even Danny Way could tip his helmet to.

Honourable mentions must go out to the kid who managed to tailblock drop in on the massive wallride beside the jump, and nutty Darryl who went all Sluggo Boyce on us backflipping to revert over the hill dressed like a Backstreetboy! (Jokes!)

Next damage control zone was the Koston blocks across the driveway. You should have seen the way these unsponsored kids were fiending to have a go at balancing across the blocks. I think they broke a collective record for most under 15’s huddled onto a drop-in bank. After many valiant efforts, and a few bumps and lumps, the chaos claimed its winner, Ollie Smith (with a name like that, he’s hardly going to be a fisherman!) who slid his way through some smooth 5-0s, nosegrinds and bluntslides. Sweet as a nut.

Ollie wasn’t holding back either when the third stage of the unsponsored jam took off. The cheeky fella was thrusting long frontside 5-0s and an oh-so-close frontside nosegrind the full 14 feet of the kicker to curved blocks. This obstacle is a new feature of the Bay66 skatepark, and looks like it was inspired by the London Mayor’s building; a top city street spot.

One pair of Globes was enough for Ollie though, so it was up to technical Jak Tonge to earn his winnings with a perfect manual kickflip out, and a sketchy frontside 5-0 frontside 180 out to fakie nose manual drop down. The exact opposite trick- kickflip manual- was also made by James Baker who bagged a years subscription to Sidewalk Magazine.

To wrap things up with the kids, the mini ramp sesh took centre stage. Eager amateurs lined each side of the deck waiting for the master of Ceremonies to call their name and drop-in. This was a mini version of a skate off where consistency and variety in tricks was the key to success. It wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of this jam that things went ballistic with a full on Texas Death match going down, except the madmen taking part were all under 5ft tall! Wicked!

With so much talent on show, three winners had to be announced. I was designated Judge for the entire Christmas Jam, and to tell you the truth, this was the only moment I felt really intimidated. Little kids eyed me up, ready to throw me into the flatbottom if a disrespected their efforts. Oh no… The midget mafia wouldn’t sway my mind though because it was obvious that little Kyron had killed it lining up frontside flips, sugarcanes and backside 360s into his runs. Mini-me’s Dean and Michael also walked away triumphant with Sidewalk subscriptions and a free Globe deck signed by the European Team for their troubles.

PRO COMP

As a brief interval between the unsponsored and sponsored comps, I’d like to say that the skatepark was buzzing. There were skaters everywhere, so if you noticed something sick go down which I fail to mention, please let it be known on the forums and share the stoke.

Right, anybody who has been to a Crossfire Jam should know that the midi ramp jam is always explosive. There must be something in the masonite or cement ceiling because everyone gets worked up into a frenzy.

Zac heckled the riders and the place kicked off Creature Skateboards rider Marc Churchill was slicing through some of the smoothest smith grinds, taking each one to revert, whilst Brighton beardo Stevie Thompson hopped ridiculous beanplant and backside boneless variations way out of the ramp onto an extension box before leaping back in backwards. Those two guys are seriously under-rated!

Slapping their balls to the wall were Death rider Steak and Ross from Bournemouth. Steak was powering around the ramp like a rabid animal, even going so far as to attempt several Mctwists. The power was obviously in the headband. Ross tried his hardest, and did land on a couple but without rolling away, to stick a head high 360 flip mute grab..

With a park like this on their doorstep, it’s pretty obvious that the local talent could ride too, with Awahd rotating perfect miller flips every go. He never lost his New Era once. Ben Raemer’s mum was there to show support for her son who went one higher than Danny Wainwright this year with a frontside air into the ceiling! His other deep bag of tricks had finger flip liens to tail revert, and a super close kickflip backside crailslide(!). Ben is the future of British skateboarding.

Finally, the tech-wizardry of Chris Oliver and Greg Nowik set the standard for Crossfire cash. On the one hand, Chris was stomping out ridiculous head high frontside kickflip melons, kickflips to fakie, a ludicrously close rock 360 flip to fakie and I even spotted a close attempt at a frontside salad kickflip to fakie. Whoa!

But, no-one could get close to the consistency on White Trash Skateboard pro, and amateur boy racer, Greg Nowik.

As Zac bellowed out of the bullhorn- “Greg eats mini ramps for breakfast, lunch AND dinner!”. Greg was relentless with the massive tweaked airs, double flips, blunt shuffles, a stupid blunt late back foot flip to fakie landing in a switch manual roll away, and the winning trick: a blunt 360 flip to fakie.

The crowd went bonkers, hardcore punk rock from Black Flag, Bad Brains, Flipper and Negative Approach rained from the speakers courtesy of DJ James Sherry and Zac couldn’t feel his hands anymore. Those last Crossfire minutes lasted almost as long as those of British Rail on Sundays, so without hesitation we went straight to the rails.

The rail jams are always a good place to witness prime pitfalls and proper skills. With a triple choice of two hubbas and the round rail, the best British ballbaggers went to work.

Boots opened the show with a third try kickflip frontside boardslide, whilst Blueprint Skateboards Neil Smith answered back with a nollie backside lipslide and kickflip backlip.

East and 50-50 dread head Korahn Gayle pushed out a buttery smooth frontside salad grind to fakie, and flatcap wearing Sherpy mixed things up with a feeble to backside 50-50.

The ratio for bails per make was running at about 7:3, which is fair enough, but poor Adam Howe riding for Plan B took the heftiest slam when he miscalculated a frontside something or other, and flew straight to the floor and sent one of his shoes flying a good 20 feet away! Ouch!

In the end, judgement had a split win between Globe rider James Gardner with his shocking frontside bluntslide (held upright I might add!) bigspin out, and Death Skateboards am Boots hammering in the nails with a perfect bigspin frontside boardslide.

The vert wall jam was next up with a love seat quarter pipe that dominated the far side of the park. Whilst Zac heckled Santa Cruz’s Joe Habgood to get his boots on, Duffs man Rob Smith was already two tricks in with a sick kickflip indy footplant and good bonk of his nose on the ceiling!

Someone else heading for the stratosphere was Death rider Horsey who literally hit the roof on several of his mental beanplant to fakie attempts. The speed freak actually landed on a couple, but couldn’t roll away far enough.

Chris Ault repped in front of his boss, Fos, with stylish wall jams to rock fakie and massive frontside airs out and around. Tranny tamer, Stevie Thompson took off like Horsey on some great beanplant madness. One wipe out almost took a camera man out to Zac’s call of “watch out media scum!“.

Local ripper Awahd rode high up into the wall to frontside air back into the quarter pipe, whilst the Southampton crew came correct with Marc Churchill knocking out a massive frontside air across the whole expanse. Father Christmas a.k.a. Dan Cates heckled Death team rider Lee Blackwell for wearing shorts when he whipped out his trademark (and last year’s winner) kickflip nosegrab fastplant. It was obvious who had won though- Rob Smith with gruesome face paint to boot, had a big bag of tricks and almost shut it down with a kickflip indy footplant finger flip back in! As time was called, Globe and Kill City rider Daryl Cashman repped the tech side of things with a beautiful kickflip nosestall revert – silky smooth.

Helas, it was time to haul out the beast for this year’s special obstacle. Initially the people screamed how they wanted a Ring of Fire, but the local fire department had us wrapped in thick red-tape at that suggestion.

So, plan B was brought forward by Mark ‘Fos’ Foster who suggested a Whale and this beached sea creature was built, thanks to SA. Ettienne and his brother.

Shaped like a wave, with sharp gnashers and a dangerous harpoon wallie bar poking out its backside, The Heroin Whale was definitely a proving ground to separate the men from the boys.

It took a while for everyone to get used to this quirky beast, but once the initial slappies were settled, things really started to heat up. Horsey got a one-footed 50-50, whilst Chris Ault balanced a long manual to 5-0 slappy off the end. Playing it slow, but not easy, Neil Smith gathered the balance to land a rock fakie on the bar Daewon style! and Ben Reamers came closer than ever to a backside 360 out of his pole jam.

As men reduced themselves to pulp trying to tame the beast, little Alex Decuhna from the unsponsored comps stepped up out of nowhere and wallied the rail first go! The crowd couldn’t believe it, and a few of the sponsored guys felt a bruise of their ego.

Naturally, the Whale’s creator, Fos, gave Alex a free Heroin deck for his effort – N.B. The rail was almost a foot taller than Alex at its peak! The man of the hour though was Chris Oliver. After losing out to Greg Nowik during the ramp jam, this time Chris was taking no prisoners. The ginger ninja dropped bomb after bomb with backside smiths, nose grinds, nosegrinds to revert, switch nosegrinds to revert, and to top it all off- a head high kickflip caught perfectly out of a mach ten wallie! Boom!

This shit was done and everyone celebrated with one of the biggest product tosses to date. Unfortunately we could not do the usual product toss to the death this year.

Last year, many kids took it too far and people got injured, this year had to be slightly different. Crossfire would like to stress that it is with great pleasure that we can give out so many free goodies thanks to our sponsors, but skate parks are becoming targets for parents who allow their kids to come to these events and then threaten to sue us afterwards and that just can’t happen anymore.

That said, the rabid look in a child’s eyes when four massive boxes full of clothes, Globe Shoes, DVDs, boards and stickers are carried out and showered from above, is a sight that makes Damian from the Omen look angelic.

It had been a long hard day, but so amazing. The British skate community had come together to celebrate Xmas in the Big Smog, and fun was had by all. With the kids stoked, the obstacles sore and the skaters hyped, the only thing left to do was hit up the party organised down the road at Mau Mau.

Hi-Jinks assured by Ed Pitt’s DJ set and a live performance that took the roof off from Joe Driscoll, a steady flow of booze and good vibes. Merry Christmas everyone!

If you would like to comment on the Xmas Jam you can do it here.

Big thanks to our associate sponsor Globe Shoes for their unconditional support for the second year now. Also big shout out to Independent Trucks, Heroin, Death, Landscape, Blueprint, Casual, Kill City, Karma, Plan B, the Harmony and Blind Skateboards for supporting British Skateboarding, supplying product and organising their pro riders for this event.

If you were there, thank you for your support, if not we will have more planned for 2007 so enjoy downloading the video on this page by right clicking and saving as.

Click the image below to view the Xmas Party Pics..

Merry Xmas 2006!

Official Results:

Unsponsored Jam:

Ski-Jump: Alex Decuhna – BS 360 and a Kickflip

Koston Block – Ollie Smith – FS 5-0 – BS Bluntslide and FS Nosegrind on the top.

Curved Ledge – Jak Tonge – manual Kickflip out and FS 5-0 FS 180 fakie nosemanual drop down.

Mini Ramp: Kyron, Dean and Micheal

Sponsored Jam:

Midi Ramp Jam – Greg Nowik (White Trash/Globe) – Blunt 360 flip in, ollie back foot flip, double flip fakie and huge tweakery.

Rail Jam: – Boots (Death) w/ Kickflip FS Boardslide & big spin FS Boardslide. James Gardener (Globe) – Front blunt slide big spin out.

Taj Mahal Wallride Sesh – Rob Smith (Death/Independent/Duffs) Kickflip indy footplant and roof ripper..

Whale Tail Pole Jam on the Heroin Whale: Chris Oliver (Alai/Vans) – BS Smith, BS Nosegrind revert, switch BS nosegrind revert and wallie kickflip out head height!

Photo Credits: Big thanks to Gorm – Ace Joe – Elvin – Steven King.
Sequence Credits: Big thanks to Dom Marley and Leo Sharp (Sidewalk Magazine)

Written By Nick Zorlac

So what started of as a mellow one, myself and a couple of Death skateboards teamriders ended up being the trip of a lifetime, with a crew of 8 skateheads making the pilgrimage.

Before I forget I’d like to thank the following sponsors for helping get riders out there: DUFFS, EASTPAK, FREERANGEUK.COM, HOWIES and SPORTS VISION.

The crew comprised of Ronny Calow, Ben Cundall, Lee Blackwell, Munson, Potter, Damian Walsh, Dave Chesson and Percy from Document mag.

The first I heard of sk8goa was when Toby Shuall and Badger from Cide came back from helping to build the place. They told stories of a brand new concrete bowl and bowled out mini under construction in India!. I was intrigued to say the least. But it drifted to the back of my mind with all the things going on in the run up to Xmas. Until I had a call from a guy called Martin ‘cos his mate Nick wanted to buy some decks from me to take back to, guess where.. his brand new skatepark in India. So they come over to my office (The Crown Cafe) and eat fry ups, buy some decks and Nick invites me and my crew to skate his brand new bowl. What better place to go to escape a dismal Febuary in the U.K I think, and a plan is formed.

After I work what seems like 20 hrs a day for a couple of weeks to get everything done the day finally arrives and we’re off. Check out some of our pale faces at Gatwick Airport. The flight was via Bahrain (where you can buy 200 cigs for a fiver) and went pretty good ‘cos everyone was hyped about the trip. I had visions of Ronny attacking a hostess or punching a pilot and us getting arrested on touchdown but he was quite mild mannered and we made it through ok!

We got picked up by mini van taxis which were cheap, and enjoyed the hour drive in the hot sunshine to the skatepark. Driving in Goa is fun! When you see a lorry coming the other way down the road toward you, instead of staying behind the car in front of you, you pull over on to the wrong side of the road right in to its path to overtake. Also there are no stop signs or anything like that. You just have to honk your horn and barge through. Anyway we took in the sights on the journey, grimaced and laughed at the driving and my arm got sunburned in the hour it took us getting from the airport to the park.

This is India Nick welcoming us to Sk8goa. As soon as we got there everyone got straight into skating the pool, leaving all their belongings like wallets, money and passports scattered around on the floor next to the taxis! Its ok though. Not only is everyone who hangs about at the park super cool, we had the Tibetan monks looking out for us. These guys help out at the park and are actually getting in to skating the pool. Gumbo in particular was well up for schralping, and also did a good job of construction, (new spine micro ramp next to the pool and now it has an over vert concrete pocket!) security and anything else you needed a hand with. Nice one fellas.

We didn’t know what to expect, but the park is sick. The mini ramp is super wide and fast with a bowled out corner and a hip. A bit like a version of the old Harlow ramp on steroids. (I miss that Harlow ramp!). And there are a some street bits and bobs like painted blocks and steps. (Here’s Cundall kickflipping down them onto the flat of the new micro spine ramp).

But the pool is what we were really there for. And we were definitely happy with what we found. It has a mellow shallow end, a hip, and a deep end of around 7 foot,with slidey pool coping, and a smooth, freshly painted surface. It was a quite difficult to skate because its not a mini ramp, you need to find lines in order to hit the lip with the right speed/angle for whatever trick you wanted to do. And there’s not really any flat bottom to get yourself together, its pretty much all transition. So quite a challenge to skate, which was great – all part of the fun, you had to get to know her curves.

Not that you could tell from the way Munson, Potter and Blackwell were ripping right off the bat, or indeed straight off the plane. Munson was doing all kinds of inverts and liptricks, like this smith grind on the flatwall. And Potter and Blackwell were flying round doing all kinds of ollies and airs.

The taxi’s were waiting round so India Nick and his mate Biff (don’t mess) helped me get everyone’s stuff together and take it to our hotel, the ‘Eldourado‘ (which is a great place). It was great to get rid of all the bags. It was here also that we picked up all the scooters(!) for the group too. ‘Oh s*it‘ I thought.. later on tonight, there is going to be 8 drunk, jetlagged, disorientated skateboarders riding scooters around dark, potholed and lawless Indian roads! Well any misgivings were unfounded because after a couple of minor mishaps (Cundall) everyone was fine and got the hang of dealing with the randomness of driving in Goa. It is actually really fun.

That night when we finally managed to tear ourselves away from the skatepark we all went out to eat with some of the sk8goa crew at an amazing restaurant in Mapsa (a 10 min ride away).

We ate and drank like kings but paid under £2 a head. Everyone was all ‘I can’t believe we made it here, this place rules.’ When we got back to the Hotel, Gwen who runs the place made the mistake of saying ‘Feel free to wake me up any time when you get in if you want beer or food‘. Although even after being woken up at 4am numerous times throughout the week for 20 beers and 40 slices of cheese on toast she never seemed put out or annoyed, and was always friendly and helpful.

I woke up at dawn the next day. I was so tired but my body thought it was time to get up so I did. Percy was milling about downstairs as he couldn’t sleep either, so we went out on the bikes exploring. We found loads of cool stuff. Beautiful beaches, temples, crazy looking houses, fishing ports etc. It felt great being in this the hot sun riding round this mad place on motorbikes. Especially in Febuary.

We soon realized that it is too hot to skate for too long in the day time. So everyone settled in to a comfortable routine over the next few days of mellowing out/recovering during the daytime. Doing stuff like going to the beach, or riding to different areas and checking stuff out. (There is shaded cafes on the beaches where you can drink beer or eat pancakes or whatever). Basically saving our energy for the evening and night time.

Every evening as the sun started to go down a sick skate session would start. There was a sound system to connect ipods or cd players to. So we would get the tunes cranking, drink a few brews and start schralping.

As people got more used to the pool the skating got better and better. Everone was pushing each other and some pretty insane skating got done. You could see the progress each night.Like a few days in, Blackwell got the hip dialed and then proceeded to do stuff like this flowing frontside ollie over it. Or something would click in Potter and he would suddenly figure out how to lock his styled backside smith grinds or crailslides in to the concrete coping. Every now and then someone would do a beer run. i.e. Go and wake up the guy at the local corner shop to buy all the beers he has got in his fridge. Or India Nick would bring us a big box of goodies to eat. Or something random would happen like the local chicks would start juggling fire or some bangers would be let off.

When you thought you were completely knackered and done skating for the night, the levels of energy and fun in the atmosphere would get you repeatedly back in the pool for ‘one more carve’, which ends up being ‘i’m gonna skate until I collapse‘.

Speaking of carving, skateboarding’s answer to Hurricane Higgins, Ronny Calow was happy because growing up on the streets of Darlington you don’t get many pools, but he finally got a chance to get his carve on. Massive flips and gaps are great, but 10 beers down and with a sunburnt and shredded body big Ron found solace in nice double axle grinds in the deep. Cundall was also finding his feet in an enviroment that was new to him. He was knocking out f/s smith reverts in the deep end whilst wearing a sarong, getting well in to it!

Percy was also happy I think as he got some good photos and was loving grinding the hell out of the place. Dave Chesson was injured pretty bad. His knee was fucked. So he couldn’t skate as much as he wanted. At least it was hot there though. Better than sitting round injured in the cold! I think he had a laugh anyway though, here he is coaxing his knees in to letting him do a sweet frontside ollie. Towards the end of the week Blackwell, straight after getting a new tattoo (FREE HEDDINGS) did the sickest transfer from mini to bowl and an egg plant on the makeshift vert extension on the mini; Potter did a frontside crail on the extension and Munson did a Backside D and a pivot fakie on it. All of this stuff was gnarly as fuck and footage is now on the most recent Death DVD, ‘Escape from Boredom‘.

Also Matty (aka Steak) from Crawley who was already staying at Sk8Goa when we got there was thriving on the energized sessions learned miller flips on the last night. He is now on Death flow…

Some nights we would literally skate the whole way through until 3am or whatever. Other nights, especially if we’d had a mega skate session the night before we would skate for a bit, and then go out looking for a little action/trouble/wind Cundall up and watch him go.

Getting to a club on the motorbikes is a laugh in itself in a convoy of 8 plus. Its lucky our mobiles worked because that allowed us to regroup would after getting split due to being stuck behind a bus or a slow moving (sacred) cow or something half way to where we were going.

Whether we were out eating strange food, getting cutthroat shaves or down the boozer watching the Essex version of Trisha..’Munson+Potter vs. Blackwell‘ the nightlife was always funny, cheap and good. I laughed so hard that week.

The highlight was the Cubana club. £7 to get in which is very expensive for Goa, BUT you can drink all you want all night. And then chuck people in to the swimming pool which is next to the bar! Here is Damian holding court with some Argentinian chicks. (There are tourists from all of the world in Goa). Damn I just remembered that I missed the weekly bikini competition night that they have there. Next time..Cundall enjoyed himself so much in Goa that he stayed there. (Click here to read his interview whilst on this trip).

As for the rest of us, everyone was gutted to be going home, and pretty much everyone is planning a return trip. In fact it was a bit of a lifechanging experience for some of the group. I can highly recommend Sk8goa to anybody. You would be hard pushed not to have a good time.

Thanks to Nick and everyone else there for the hospitality. And thanks to Gwen at the Eldourado.

Go to www.sk8goa.com if you fancy a trip there. They can hook you up with good cheap accommodation and the best deals on flights. (pretty reasonable if you time it right)

Some Misconceptions I held before the trip:

No street to skate at all?

Not true. There is some street terrain to skate. No where near much as in Europe and not the smoothest! but it does exist. Its kind of fun riding round on the motor bikes finding it too. (It’s way too rough to skate from spot to spot).

Riding motorbikes there is dangerous?

Well to an extent it is how dangerous you want to make it. We had no major problems, in fact it made the trip really fun having the bikes. Where the skatepark is located there is a very low volume of traffic anyway. But ask Zac how he got on in Thailand in a hospital for 3 solid weeks with his girl losing her kneecap. These bikes can be hell. Be careful.

You’ll catch Malaria?

I saw no evidence of it where we were staying and most people there don’t take malaria tablets. As long as you put on spray in the evenings you should be fine. I only got bitten by mosquitoes when I was too lazy to put the spray on. If you go to your doctors they can arrange jabs for typhoid etc. Although a lot of tourists that I spoke to don’t bother. Probably best to get jabs though to be on the safe side I think.

Bad Food?

Nope. We only had good and cheap food. From Samosas as a snack, to French restaurants, to fry ups! to local dishes. Damian felt a bit rough after getting a fruit salad from a street vendor, and a few people had mild stomach upsets, but nothing to worry about. ‘I can fart with confidence’ Chesson proclaimed towards the end of the trip.

That’s it, now book your trip with friends, get out there and shred and enjoy this footage of Zoresh and a few others who passed by there at the top of this page on the right hand side.

Do yourself and Crossfire a favour and right click and download it to save their bandwidth for radio shows.

Nick Zorlac.

Munson and Wilson Mess with the US!

Firstly if you ever go on a trip like this remember not to get so fucked up the night before you fly you leave someone like Carl in charge!

Carl has trouble working out how to wipe his arse and unbelievably even though we got to the airport 2 hours before the flight, we still managed to miss it!! At least I had the excuse of being super hung over and I didn’t really know where I was? Anyway we were fucked, the plane was sitting in front of us when we got to the desk but we were duly informed our luggage was not and we had no chance of getting another flight or any money back!! A good start to any trip? We looked at each other and I said “I don’t give a fuck how much it costs I am going to Oregon!“. Carl agreed and I got straight on the blower and got us on a flight to Vancouver! We didn’t miss that one and finally we were on our way even though we were 600 quid lighter each! But fuck it! It all adds to the story!

We flew into Seattle and chilled for a couple of days to get over the journey, until we were ready to skate! We checked out the sights of Seattle and managed to find a gay bar and got called beautiful! But our new friends were a bit keen so we got out of there pretty sharp!! The next day we took the short ferry ride to Orcas Island. The scenery was amazing and by the time we got to the park we knew that the 1200 quid on the extra flights was worth it! The park is amazing it has a fun snake run type thing running all around the place which goes from small flat banks to over vert berms! In the middle of the snake is a beast of a bowl complex. Hips galore a vert wall with a love seat, tombstones and the biggest death box in the world to grind over! It goes from 5ft to about 12 ft and is perfectly smooth with concrete coping all-round!

The place is endless fun, the island itself is a great setting its absolutely beautiful, super chilled. We hit the jackpot and managed to rent a condo at smugglers resort an amazing place right on the beach. The place is surrounded by wildlife we saw, sea otter’s, dolphins, seal’s and even vultures during our stay! Mike the guy who runs the Smugglers resort was super cool and couldn’t help out enough, we borrowed his boat to check out the other islands in the area and had a great time there! What a perfect start to the trip!

After 4 days on Orcas We came back to the mainland and hit a small park at Bonney lake (WA), this one was on a much smaller scale and had a street feel, plenty of fun things to do there but nothing in comparison to the masterpiece we had just skated! Still if that park was in the UK you would drive hours to skate it! We moved on later that night to another of Grindlines parks Milton. Another small park, but this one was super fast and really well laid out, from 5 ft to vert it has linked bowls, an over vert clamshell, a doorway to get over and a small street area with blocks, rails and banks. For a small park this one is a lot of fun. Milton has some sick lines and most of the bigger bowls go to vert so airs and inverts are possible everywhere and the concrete coping grinds super good!

Next our plan was to head out to the Oregon coast and travel south hitting as many parks in the process as possible. We headed over the bridge in to Oregon and went over to
Astoria in the North of Oregon, the place is a small seaside town, which is home to a huge seal population, which live at the main dock’s area, although you will probably hear them from wherever you are in the town! The park itself is pretty good, quite basic compared to many of the newer parks, its basically one bowl going from 5 ft to about 13ft with hips an over vert corner and some weird pump bump tombstones. It also has a square corner in the vert end of the bowl, which is fun. It’s pretty easy to get on with and fun for a few hours.

It’s really easy to overlook just how good these parks are as you are so spoilt being in Oregon as you know there is probably another amazing park within half an hours drive!

There are loads of parks all down the coast and some days we would hit 3 others we would get to and know we wanted to stay for a couple of days! Its perfect. After Astoria we headed further south to Lincoln City, there are two parks here, both are really good. The top park is the older of the 2 and is one of dreamlands 1st parks, there are loads of lines and has been described as “Marseille on steroids“. Most of the park is less than 5ft although the transitions are pretty tight. It also has a cinderblock wall in the deep end, which has a good few feet of vert. Once you get used to the lines it just gets better and better. Realistically you could spend days there and never get bored!

The new park there is below and undercover; it has a cradle and is mostly around 6ft, with a vert extension and a small street area to one side. It’s perfectly smooth and fast as hell, I preferred the top park for the lines but to have both there is a real bonus!

Newport was next and this one was super fun, really well laid out and small but a great one for cruising. Carl took a best of a slam on the vert wall and was all over the place for a while and that sort of stopped him doing anything but cruising for a few days! All of Newport Park is around 5 ft and pretty mellow, apart from the cinderblock wall which is a bit lumpy and about 8 or 9ft but pretty fun and the locals were really cool!

While we were there we heard about a brand new park at Toledo only 7 miles away and decided to check it out. The place was only a month old and super smooth with some fun lines and quirky obstacles, its well worth a visit! Then on to another tiny town called “Waldport” this is home to I think the worlds only Parrabalar over vert bowl, it’s a crazy contraption, a bit like a cradle, but where it should keep going over vert it turns into an upside down curved flat bank!If it sounds strange, it’s even weirder to ride it! It felt like a wall of death while you were carving the thing, you felt pinned to the wall! Mental! I got spat off the back the first time over; it felt like you were fully pinned to the wall!

Another Park that is new is Florence again less than 30 miles down the coast; this one is off the hook! Built by Airspeed the finish is not quite as good as the Dreamland and Grindline parks, but this one is worth a visit just to try and imagine what was going through their minds when the built this beast! It has everything from curved 8 stair rails down stairs, hubba’s over vert bowls, a 13 ft deep bowl with a full pipe type thing you can carve over! Hips and transfers all over the place, this place has to be seen to be believed!! We were still both a bit hurt when we got there and decided to cruise but I cant wait to go back there as its eating away at me still now. The place had some crazy lines!

Next stop was another of the Airspeed parks “Reedsport“. This place is home to a decreasing full pipe, that Mark “Red” Scott did the 1st skatepark loop in. Since Red dropped the bomb, plenty of other heads have looped the beast but it is still unbelievable it ever got done at all! The thing is gnarly. Along with the vert bowl including the full pipe there is a smaller bowl with a 4 way pyramid in the centre and a few hips, the transitions are a bit all over the place but it gets better the more you skate the thing, there are also a couple of wallie poles and weird and wonderful streety obstacles around the outside. One of the best things is a wallie pole right next to a 10ft deep pool section! When you wallie you can see into the bottom of the bowl!! It’s a pretty fun park overall!

We took a fleeting visit to one of the older parks in the area at “Port Orford” this is a really basic but functional design with a cradle in the deep end, which hips on to a square 6 ft or so shallow end! If you a fan of vert and want a good cruiser this one should be on you list!

Finally we reached the south of Oregon and paid a visit to “Brookings” where you can transfer over the whole bowl in the middle of the park! This thing is loads scarier than it looks, but think Danny way and anything is possible! Once you jump the gap once you know you can clear it, but the speed when you land is also pretty hairy! It got done though and we moved inland! We then headed down through the Redwood forest, which was awesome in a truly un American sense!

After making our way north through the redwoods we hit Grants Pass, another small town with an amazing park, this one has something for everyone, from banks to vert and back again its super fun and you could stay there days and not get bored, the town itself was cool and really chilled we managed to get pissed with the whole town it seemed as the next day nursing hangovers we bumped into everyone we met in the club the night before! Even a 71 yr old guy called Jim who was fresh back on the dating scene after his wife died!! Go on Son!!

Just down the road is another huge Park at Medford, this one is really good it has a vert combi bowl, a huge street course type set up with loads of lines even a Burnside pillar, loads of transfer lines and no pushing at all! Although we hit the place on a weekend so it was full of Kids, one thing to note is that if you visit the NW is to avoid the parks in the bigger towns at the weekends, as it gets hectic sometimes!Next stop was Ashland another really small but fun park although the main bowl here has been killed by the local Bmxer’s the park is still worth a visit if you are passing through., their was crazy jailbait there and I got chatted up by a nice Milf and had to do some hand plants for her kids!

Next to Klamath Falls home to one of the largest parks in Oregon, this place is major, it has everything and is perfectly smooth, a mixture of concrete and metal coping and from flat banks to 13ft deep vert bowls, you can cruise here or get as gnarly as you want and it all fun, while we were there it was super hot, so the sessions were later in the evening. Plus while you are in Klamath you can stay at the rivers inn motel, one of the only motels in the states that actually let you skate their pool!! Its pretty gnarly though, at about 9ft deep in the deep end and with about 4ft of vert the thing is no joke! But how many times do you get to skate a pool coming from the UK?!

After that we headed north again up to Portland, home of so many good skateparks and skaters it’s not funny. We hit Donald, which is rad as hell. Donald itself is a tiny town with only 750 inhabitants! How the hell they got a skatepark with a pool I don’t know? But they did and its really good although the coping needs a bit of work, it also has a mini ramp with a pump bump in the flat which is pretty good fun! I would love to have Donald in my garden! Just to carve over the stairs every morning!

The next day we visited Newberg, what a park! This place is huge it is so much fun its hard to describe. You can cruise here all day, it goes from 2ft to 13ft and has everything you could ever want in a park, the lines are endless and you can cruise or get as gnarly as you want! We met up with Local ripper Ben Krahn and Ultimate Phil at the park and they hooked us up! We stayed with Phil and skated Burnside the next day with them, I loved Burnside, and the place is loads smaller that it looks in the videos but super fun.

The whole attitude there is rad, it’s a real proving ground there are so many lines in the place and its cool that everything in there is all over the place. I think if I lived in Portalnd even with all the other parks I would still skate Burnside more than any other purely because a session goes off there all the time!! Burnside is everything its cracked up to be.

After Burnside we went down to West Linn only 20 min’s away this place is really good too! It has a street course round the outside of the main bowls and you can cruise all day. Then the main bowls go from 5ft to about 11ft and all of it has concrete coping, there is also an over vert clam shell a few good hips and some serious speed lines too. After West Linn we hit the city, Portland is home to more strip clubs than any other in the US so obviously we had to check some of them out for research purposes alone!

We got Carl a private dance, which was funny!He said he didn’t look but he was so close to the money he could have smelt it! The strip clubs in Portland are perfect Free to get in, they serve good cheap food and you drop $1 and girls take their clothes off and shake their arses in your face! Result!

In 2 days and we only saw a fraction of what Portland has to offer, Its probably a good idea to hit Portland on the way back as other wise you will never leave!! I can see why there are so many good skaters living there, its incredible!

Overall the trip was amazing, not only for the skating but the whole deal in the NW is really relaxed, everyone we met was super friendly and helpful, the scenery is out of this world and with the £ being so strong everything seems pretty cheap Really we didn’t have to much of an idea what to expect, but it worked out really well! For sure the best parks I have ever skated and our skating has got better because of going there! I just can’t wait to get back over there!!

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