Tag: 5050

The weather reports in the lead up to this 10 Year celebration went from a possible fat dump of snow, to freezing frog, but the end result was perfect blues on the day. We were so lucky, because it was freezing from Monday to Wednesday but the weather went from 2′ to 10′ in two days.

Those thinking this is great news may not know that after a big freeze like that, the motorway over-hanging BaySixty6 skate park suddenly starts to sweat, meaning condensation fills the walls when a sudden change in the weather happens. The day before the jam, the park was soaked, so we all lucked out big time.

Before the event kicked off, I had the pleasure of dressing the park with banners and stickers as usual, and was stoked to have two kids ask if they could help. It was more of a surprise though when none other than Paul Weller asked if he could hang Ricta banners around the bowl. Crossfire would never have started if I had not have heard ‘Setting Sons’ by The Jam back in the early 80’s. This album has some seriously powerful lyrics. This happening was personally a lovely 10th Anniversary gift, so big ups to Mr Weller for making my day.

The un-sponsored jams commenced on the Grizzly Grip Tape ledges. Everything landed in this rapid fire 15 minute session came courtesy from our guest ams and pro’s warming up and so many tricks that were never actually made, so the vouchers were taken over to the small stair set.

Santa checks the park for booby traps ahead of doors. Explosive jam incoming. Ph: Richard West

Like lemmings, people dropped all sorts of goodness on us. This included Tomas Monkevičius‘ kickflip fs board slide on the rail that took Stand Up‘s dough. Nai Sukanant’s switch hardflip on the small stair set was a banger, Craig Loveless pulled out a nollie hardflip, but it was Gytis Bluivas‘ switch bigspin heelflip that rocked the joint. He was so close to taking a fs smith flip out on the ledge before this too, like, really close, but this was just the beginning for Gytis as you will find out further down this page. Alex Tibble closed the un-sponsored procedures with a quick-as-you like, straight-out-of-the box switch fs flip over the small gap. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

Watch the official video edit filmed/edited by Andy Evans, additional filming from Danny Bulmer and Tom Gillespie.

The park was a mess by 2pm. Boards were being sprayed everywhere. There’s so much more room in the new Bay park, but during an open jam style event, it’s quite hard to find that space needed when it’s busy. People tend to sit on obstacles and get in the way, making it difficult for people to land tricks. That aside, we had no major collisions other than two blokes locking horns in the bowl, and the usual scrap in the product toss, so considering the chaos, nobody was seen limping into an ambulance.

Six people skating the bowl at once = carnage. Ph: Richard West

Gytis Bluivas takes the DGK jam with style. Ph: Tom Halliday

The DGK Hubba Jam was instantly set upon by Thomas Harrison whose tail slides didn’t connect for him, but out of nowhere came Aaron Neville‘s impossible 5-0 before Alex DeCuhna laid down a stealth fs smith and kick-flipped out. Dan Wileman pushed a fs blunt, Sox ollied onto it and pushed a nose manual down it, Shaun Currie took a sweet noseslide 270-out before that Lithuanian ripper Gytis Bluivas returned with a crook only to nollie flipped out. He took the honours, and the dough. We hear that on this display, Gytis may end up with a sponsor. Let’s hope so, he fully deserves it.

Alex DeCunha delivers a mansize FS smith flip out. Ph: Tom Halliday

Sox had manny mania. Ph: Tom Halliday

It was Tom Steel who came up with the idea of wrapping board boxes for the HUF high ollie jam. The choice of Xmas wrapping paper and overall job would have received thumbs up from Blue Peter I reckon.

Mark Radden killed it all day for Death. Ph: Tom Halliday

With the driveway prepped, and the boxes continuously stacked, it came down to three potential candidates for the win. Chris Oliver sneaked one over the top ninja style and rode out on two wheels. Mark Radden pushed the boundaries and popped what we thought would be the winner until Thomas Harrison took out six boxes and closed the account. Absolutely epic stuff.

Thomas Harrison ollies The National Skateboard Co into their first win. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Balls of steel. Joe Habgood back-D’s the wall hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

If the wall jam at this year’s Halloween Massacre was anything to go by, we were about to see even more NBD’s destroy its steep transitions. This wall is no joke and way steeper than the previous build. It didn’t bother Joe Habgood though, whose first trick was to fakie rock the high section. I can confirm that he is the first to lay that down for sure. His backside disaster in the wall hole and fs nosepick raised beers across the park too. The unicorn juice was certainly flowing today.

Jed Cullen takes a pivot fakie. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ryan Price threw another fs nosepick into the mix, Sox pulled in off the coping to fakie and also left a one foot rock fakie behind. Again, another NBD went down. Jed Cullen took the honours though with a blunt fakie on the coping, and then on the high wall like Joe (just to rub it in!) and also took a pivot fakie home too. What a session.

Lloyd McLeggon had catch, bolts and steez. Watch him in 2013. Ph: Tom Halliday

The big rail sesh and stair set was quite a spectacle too. The rail was kept warm by John Howlett who made sure he feebled it and also left a backside smith for us to ponder on. Jess Young took a sick tailslide revert, Daryl Dominguez also saw his tail do the work right in front of Brum’s Luke Kindon, whose crook backside lipslide was deemed the winner.

John Howlett back smith’s the rail. Ph: Richard West

The stairs got a serious workout. Oldham’s LLoyd Mcleggon was catching his board with steez as he kickflipped and hardflipped the 5. Bloke went down though and was helped out at the final whistle with a tweaked knee and a groin whack. This year’s I.D star Awahd Mohammed looked like he was walking away with the pounds with a sick bs 360 ollie, but in the very last second Liverpool’s Charlie Birch laid down a fs bigspin that had everyone on their feet. The place erupted and he took the lot. Ridiculousness.

A Third Foot’s Dave Pegg ripped all day long with hardlflips and more. Ph: Tom Halliday

Lloyd McLeggon recovered from this with a groin strain. Ph: Rich West

Ledge fiends then filled the quad with tailslides, nosegrinds and more on the Grizzly Grip ledge sesh. So many people skated, yet so little was taken away clean. Honorary mentions include Alex DeCunha‘s front smith kick flip out (that we didn’t manage to get on film or tape), Caradog Emmanuel‘s fs tail slide flip out and Thomas Harrison’s second winning trick on the day for the National Skateboard Co, a tailslide 270 out which again, didn’t make it to film due to people being in the way. This was a frustrating session for coverage but what went down in the chaos was ace.

Daryl Dominguez takes a fs kickflip over his local hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

Double D then pushes the boat out with a fs heelflip. Job done. Ph: Richard West

Big tings were going down in the warm up for the Superdead Gap Jam. Clean ollies were beong thrown down as set ups for various other tricks, but with this gap being fucking huge, it eventually came down to three contenders. Vans rider Daryl Dominguez opened the proceedings with a kickflip which spurned on Lovenskate’s Ewen Bower to float an ollie over the beast and revert it right at the last millisecond. Whilst people were picking their jaws up from the floor from that, Death’s Mikey Patrick (who has returned from an injury) launched a few attempts to bs ollie fakie the channel, until he hit the sweet spot. A total meltdown was in place but this was just the beginning. Daryl then threw another kickflip across the beast and then started some heelflip assaults. Ewen upped the ante with a stalefish revert (yes, wtf!) and took the piss with a fully-cocked-leg benihana. Shut down. Every skater in that park went nuts and then started to chant Daryl’s name. You know he was going to have it, and then there it was. Bang! Electric session!

Benihana’s suck, but not when Ewen Bower floats them this high. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ewen’s stalefish revert over the beast gap was pure class. Ph: Richard West

How do you follow that mentalness? Only one way, and that’s to get stuck into a bowl sesh fueled by Ricta. It was a mess in there! 6 people at a time, full throttle. Sox had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, Habgood was roaring through the place catching diving board gashes in his shins from the weak. He took a sick nosepick out of the bowl, so did Jed. Sick tricks. The hip jam was won by Greg Nowik, whose selection of fine xmas pickings warmed the cockles enough to hand him the dough. It was his fs shuv that really got tails tapping though. Carl Wilson’s hip work was sterling as ever, Ryan Price was bang up for it, Ewen Bower dropped some bangers. Too much, too many, too much again.

Joe Habgood nosepicks to glory. Ph: Tom Halliday

Nowik tried the double flip. Ph Tom Halliday

Stalefish action from Witchcraft’s secret weapon, Morph. Ph: Richard West

Jed Cullen takes his Blakey moustache to new levels in the bowl jam. Ph: Richard West

‘Chav’ Dan Hill was the only person able to actually grind more than 10 feet. He managed only two thirds of the double pocket he laid down at the Halloween Massacre to win the longest grind comp. The carnage was so rife in that bowl that tricks were hard to come by, knowing that someone is about to smash you in the back of the head as you land a trick.

Max Roton needs no colour for his fs boneless steez. Ph: Richard west

Chroliver‘s head high kickflips would have been trick of the day if he had landed one, instead, he got his arse out for the transfer jam and mooned the platform like a slut. I’m amazed that nobody’s head got stuck up his harris from the amount of people flying over the barrier. Witchcraft’s New Zealand bomber Morph was in every run laying it down in camouflage attire. He was also busting out 360’s out of there, until he took the tail of his 8.5 on landing. Terrorist moves. Charlie Birch then drew blood from his head in the melee. There was also a serious head clash in the bowl before Habgood rolled out of there with some moolah for his nosepick and transfer prowess. The bear’s insides maybe fucked, but he’s tough on the outside and will battle anyone.

Jono Coote slams down a handplant. Ph: Richard West

If you were not there on the platform to witness this and sat at home awaiting footage like a mong, then you will never understand what this frenzied session was like, ever. Thanks Ricta, you fucking rule. The skateboarding certainly didn’t let us down.

The after party saw Chroliver taking over the decks and a full house filled the Portobello Pop Up Cinema for the UK premiere screening of the banging new DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘. A huge amount of work has been put into this production, the skating is ridiculous. Pure tech dream stuff. Go grab a copy of it this Xmas.

RESULTS:

UNSPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

Tomas Monkevičius – Kickflip FS board slide on the small rail.

Nai Sukanant – Switch Hardflip on the small stair set.

Gytis Bluivas: Switch bigspin heelflip down the small stair set.

Craig Loveless: Nollie hardflip down the small stair set.

Alex Tibble: Switch fs flip over the small gap.

Jess Young takes a tailsilde revert for Kill City’s hit list. Ph: Richard West

Greg Nowik’s front shuv was one of many. Standard solo show for Xmas. Ph: Tom Halliday

SPONSORED BEST TRICK JAMS:

RICTA BOWL JAM:

Best Hip Trick: Greg Nowik: FS late shuv and many more.

Longest Grind: ‘Chav’ Dan Hill.

Best tricks out of the bowl/transfer: Joe Habgood – FS nosepick on the outer wall/ FS 180 to nosestall and backside 180 to rock fakie into the barrier out of the bowl.

Chav Dan whoops a big backside-D slide once the carnage clears. Ph: Tom Halliday

DGK HUBBA JAM: Gytis Bluivas – Crook nollie flip out.

HUF HIGH OLLIE JAM (driveway): Thomas Harrison (6 boxes).

SUPERDEAD GAP JAM: Split winners – Daryl Dominguez – 2 x kickflips, heelflip. Ewen Bower – FS Ollie revert, FS Stalefish revert, Benihana.

GRIZZLY GRIP TAPE LEDGE JAM: Thomas Harrison – FS tailslide fs 270 shuv out, in and out of ledge.

WALLRIDE JAM: Jed Cullen – Blunt fakie, Pivot fakie, fakie rock (on high section).

RAIL JAM: Luke Kindon – Crook to back lip slide.

STAIR SESH: Charlie Birch – FS Bigspin.

‘The Spaniard’ Ivan Rodriguez sings Feliz Navidad to his well wishers over the hip. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Huge thanks to Paul McDermott and everyone at BaySixty6 skate park, Ian Deacon at Ricta, Vicki and Alan at Shiner, Wes at Rocksolid, Maf and Ross at Out of Step, Tez and Harry at Superdead, Jane and Adam at I-Five, all at Slam City and at Stand Up Skate Shop.

Massive thanks to all of the UK guest team riders that made it into the big smoke from Death, Heroin, Kill City, Skateboard Cafe, Science, 50-50 crew, Fabric, HUF, DGK, Superdead, Lovenskate, Ricta, A Third Foot, Steak, Crayon The National Skateboard Co, The Harmony and Witchcraft.

Big ups to Mark Brewster, Rich West, Tom Halliday, Andy Evans, Danny Bulmer, Tom Gillespie, Marcroy Smith, Jim O’Raw, Paul Weller, the two kids who helped me dress the park, Ben Larthe, Ross McGouran and Kyron Davis.

Tight grip yo. Ph: Tom Halliday

Product toss mayhem. Ph: Richard West

Bundles. Ph: Richard West

Super Brewster. Ph: Richard West

Double D and Ewen Bower stole the show. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Unidentified flying object. Ph: Tom Halliday

Liverpool’s Charlie Birch will be the UK’s most talked about skateboarder in years to come. Remember this. Ph: Tom Halliday

Porno Paul and Nowik know. Ph: Tom Halliday

Chav Dan tries out some Guerrero steez. Ph: Tom Halliday

You can hear the snap of Habgood’s nose on the coping. Merry Xmas all. Ph: Tom Halliday.