2 of the UK’s biggest skateparks launched brand new websites today. Rumour has it that the Bay Sixty 6 site are looking for people to write content and chip in footage for the site. If you are a local rider you should get in touch via the contact options on their new rig.
Check them out from the links below.
I really want to do this DVD justice when I review it because Heroin are a good team, led by a good man (Fos) and they generate great skateboarding.
Re-reading that, I feel I just did them a huge injustice with a crap introduction… I could always pick my brain for a smart metaphor or analogy between Heroin Skatebaords and heroin the drug..? No- that would really suck!
Aah! And you think reviewing videos is a life of leisure…
Alright, listen: Live from Antarctica deserves a spot in your DVD collection because it represents the real fun we all have on our decks. Fos and the boys don’t take themselves too seriously, they push themselves to try new things and achieve improbabilities / impossibilities, they skate everything and anything, and they rock!
To get specific about the high qualities in this video, I would have to mention the great soundtrack, Alan Glass being behind the lens (and his hidden treasure!), the Osaka Daggers – Chopper and Hamaji- as well as other oriental cast members (Dal and Tamago) opening our eyes to new horizons, Howard Cooke– period, Fos‘ last trick (?), Chris Pulman’s youth and spirit, Rogie actually ripping the street and not some poor sod on a skate forum, and all the other multiple magical things peppered throughout this DVD. As you can see there are plenty or reasons to get a hold of Live from Antarctica.
The only thing I found a little hard to swallow was the attire Louie Jones and Nick Worthington manage to squeeze their bodies into. I swear if there weren’t boards under their feet, I’d have thought it was some obscure spandex street ballet..!? Punk it up!
Visit www.livefromantarctica.com for all Heroin related skateboard addictions and also to watch the trailer to this fine DVD.
Ralph Lloyd-Davis
17/01/2006
Spitfire has undoubtedly dominated the wheel market for as long as I can remember; the simple reason is that they have the best fucking wheels ever! This isn’t my first set of Spitties and definitely wont be my last! They rock and I’m probably a bit biased as they are my favourite wheel co.
The Portahellas, like all their other wheels, are simply amazing and super long lasting. I’m currently riding 52mm black/orange swirls and if you like speed, you’ll love these!!! They are hard enough for endless slides and soft enough to ride on tarmac without vibration. These bad boys haven’t flat spotted at all and I’ve been putting them to the test on my slido-meter. They are immaculate on smooth concrete and mini ramp is no exception, MAC10 all the way.
They are hella good on all terrain and will serve you well, guaranteed!!!
Live FAST, Ride FAST!!!
2P
They say ‘old habits die hard‘, but they know shit if you ask me.
A flat piece wood was my choice of ride for as long as I can remember, the flatter the better was a rule I lived by, until my resurrection that is. Seeing that it’s a new year, I thought I’d kick an old habit and try something new, so I went for Resurrected Wood.
I went all out with my new choice and opted for 8 inches of Canadian Hardrock Maple. My first session was rocky, but I gave it enough chance to find myself really enjoying the new experience. The board has a good contrast in concave, not too flat, not too concaved, just an even middle.
The thing I had to adjust to the most, was the high lift on its nose and tail. It’s something I’m not very used to, but it wasn’t hard to adapt and I totally confident with the shape of my wood after my first sesh . The tail seems to be a little bit longer than a usual board, but again, this is something I found useful for stability and super long tail slides.
I’ve been riding this Resurrection Mini for 3 weeks now and it’s still as strong as the day I got it. The wood is really stiff and has a cracking pop to it. Its not lost any of its power and I’m pretty sure a bus couldn’t snap this beast. It’s served me well so far and I can honestly see myself carving away on it for a long time.
If you fancy a board with extra lift, mad pop and extremely solid, then I recommend one of these boards.
They come in 7.5/7.75 and 8 inches and will have you reeled in before you know it…
For more info visit www.resurrectionskateboards.com
Njoi
2P
Don’t feed the animals.
There is an age old saying that says, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you“. But, then there is also the one about how “You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink“… So in a slight follow-on from our recent revelations of murky waters and dodgy dealings within the skate industry, news has been leaked that Zoo York is set for a bumpy ride.
The unique New York roster of skate talent was bought up in a bid to save the dwindling company a few years ago (When skating was riding the crest of its wave!) by urban fashion guru, Mack Echo– founder of Ecko Clothing. Since then, the ethic of Zoo York being a raw skate company has simply flown out of the window…
The latest act of injury for the East Coast beast is the loss of Clyde Singleton, professional veteran and full-time comedian. Clyde left the company after contractual disagreements, but isn’t the first to have retired from such a dubious deal; Team manager Sal Barbier has gone, OG heads Jeff Pang and Rodney Smith are long gone, as are other members of the Original Zoo team, and more recently John Igei bowed out too.
The whole situation is turning sour fast, and could stand as a warning for anyone involved in skateboarding for the wrong reasons i.e. fast bucks.
The following information is a press release and not written by anyone here at Crossfire.
Skatepark project manager required
If you are passionate about skate or BMX, and can demonstrate that you know what makes a skatepark work, you could be just what we are looking for!
GBH Engineering Ltd is seeking talented staff to expand a dynamic team providing custom design skateparks to Councils across the UK. Within this demanding role you will get to travel all over the UK, based from our Poole HQ.
To succeed you will need to be an excellent communicator both face to face and on the phone – comfortable relating to people of all ages.
Some days (and on occasion evenings/weekends) you will find yourself dealing with Board Room presentations, and site assessments with highly qualified suits. Other days you could be back at school, surrounded by a bunch of rowdy kids, all with their own ideas. Do you have the ability to both understand and instill understanding during such consultations?
In the office you’ll be part of a lively, highly supportive sales team, (lead by an experienced skater) working hard together to make skateparks a reality for kids across the country. There is a huge amount of feel good factor, and a chance to make your mark within a thriving company in which individual’s opinions really do count.
The person we are looking for is likely to have already had a few years work experience under their belt, confident and with sound organisational skills. It’s no ordinary job and if you are looking to plod along in a 9-5 way of life, this isn’t the career path for you.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, send us your CV and we’ll be in touch – immediate start available for the right candidate.
Email: sue@gbhramps.com
www.gbhramps.com
Satori Movement will premiere the new DVD “Mapping in Time and Space” this January at the following dates:
Please note that the Bristol date is cancelled, please contact 50:50 Store for more details about the date for this premiere.
More info about Satori team can be found at www.satorimovement.com and if you wanna buy Satori wheels and product check out www.crutchshop.com
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!
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)
Have you been over to www.icelounge.com yet?
The site is basically an advanced MySpace but without the emo dickheads and jocks, so it’s just for skaters to meet other skaters and share footage, spots, travel and more and has attracted quite a large skate community worldwide since its launch in March 2005.
The site is run by by pro skater and Black Label Team Manager Salman Agah who has enlisted 25,000 members so far all sharing over 12,000 videos and 60,000 photos so far.
Icelounge.com version 2.0 now offers members the ability to send video and photos from mobile phones directly to their member profile. For the first time, members can post content to the web without having to download to their computer. The new functionality puts the power of instantly generated media into the hands of icelounge.com members. Members can also communicate through the network via comments, blogs, private messaging, and picture/video ratings.
Go check it out.
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.