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Camp Whatevs: A trip to Yosemite Park with Crailtap

After hearing so much about the annual jaunts to LA that the Crailtap crew attend from UK distributor Matt Anderson, we decided to cover their latest get together and bring you some of the goodness from behind the scenes.

Twice a year, everyone involved in the brands around the world meet together in one place, but being skater run it’s not your usual 9-5 power point presentations. Matt flew into LA to hook up with the team riders and hear plans for the much anticipated Girl/Chocolate video ‘Pretty Sweet’ that will be released in November.

Following sessions at Venice Beach and the Girl warehouse, a journey to Yosemite National Park followed for some hang time and to check out the upcoming products from Lakai, Girl, Chocolate, Royal and Fourstar. Follow the photos from their latest mission to Camp Whatevs.

You can't go to LA and not visit Venice Beach. Matt Anderson takes it frontside.
The Lakai Boardroom.

This is what goes down in here:

Swanski Art in the Girl Park
Royal Trucks work bench display.
Mike Carroll was repping a Prime Plymouth tee.
Green screen set up's from Yeah Right and first Girl OG Series.
This is the Girl warehouse packing area under the giant OG Chocolate banner.
Girl boards ready to ship to a shop near you.
11am meet at Girl HQ for a 5 hour bus ride to Yosemite National Park for the Camp Whatevs Sales Meeting.
Biebel and Howard made sure we had enough beers for the journey.
Tough meeting schedule.
The first day of the sales meeting was tough. We were split into groups and all set Geocaching Challenges.
Geocaching Challenge. Not sure what it's called but Matt sucked at it!
More Geocaching Challenges. This time, rockclimbing with Mr Beibel!
The first night is always Poker night.
Rick thought he would clear up at our table....maybe next time Rick!
Rick had his bb gun with him though. Biebel was hyped!
This is the Lakai Archery area!
Carroll even has style with a bow!
Coffee break with Pretty Sweet cookies!
Who were the only skate team that had Hillbillies and Beers at dinner this month?
Kelly Bird and Biebel keeping warm.
Matt Anderson and Rick Howard chilling at the fire pit.
Work time. Check out the new Lakai shoes for next year.
Check it out on Instagram #campwhatevs.

Next week we will be sending Lakai some questions about how their shoes are made and covering the journey of how they end up on your feet. If you have any questions that you would like to ask, like the leave them here and join us on Facebook.

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Skateboarding News

The Fourstar team skate Hawaii

The Fourstar team visited Hawaii for demo’s, bowl and street shredding and came back with a video edit from the trip. Watch Featuring Brian Anderson, Tyler Bledsoe, Andrew Brophy, Mike Carroll, Rick Howard, Eric Koston, Guy Mariano, Max Schaaf and Tony Trujillo get amongst the surf and blue skies here.

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Home Skateboarding Skateboarding Product Reviews

Line Check July 2011

UK skate shops are stacked with new decks, wheels, clothing, shoes, hats and more right now so here’s our monthly gathering of what we think are the best options throughout July. Explore below for a selection of products available from Skate Mental, Girl, Superdead, Heroin, Drawing Boards, Volcom, Foundation, Unabomber, Chocolate, Crayon, Toy Machine, Fourstar, Altamont, DVS, Lakai, Kr3w, éS and Emerica.

If you would like your product considered for inclusion in this zine, get in touch here.

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Skateboarding Product Reviews

Line Check June 2011

We have been sent a mammoth amount of product for inclusion in this month’s Line Check so enjoy June’s selection that you can find in your local skate shop this month from Death, Blueprint, Superdead, Witchcraft, Girl, Pig, Addict, éS, Emerica, Dekline, Etnies, Lovenskate, Unabomber, Heathen, Volcom and Fourstar.

If you would like to send us product for inclusion in next month’s round up, contact us from the link at the bottom of the page.

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Skateboarding News

Watch: Crailtap’s Year In Review!

Yes! If there was one edit (other than Andy Evans’) that was guaranteed to be super fun and filled with good vibes then it was the inevitable round up from the Crailtap camp.

“Carroll said if we got it out before February we’re good.”

Just about. No one would care if it was late anyway. This is must see shit so watch it and feel good about the weekend. Skateboarding is fun yo.

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Skateboarding News

Cory Kennedy tests the Crailboard

Cruisers are the shit. If you don’t have one then you’re missing out on something fundamental to skateboarding and the general notion of getting rad. Thankfully the good folk at Crailtap have released a new version of the Crailboard for both connoisseurs and noobs alike to get their shred on. You can see the deck in all its glory in the new Wallride Catalogue. Inside is an exciting page that simply reads ‘New Girl and Chocolate Video Coming Soon”. Now, we all know how ambiguous Crailtap are with dates but we’re stoked to be reminded of it none the less.

Cory Kennedy gave the stick a test-spin and you can see below in a rad little edit what’s capable on that badboy. Whether or not you’re as abnormally talented as Mr. Kennedy, this new deck looks like heaps of fun. On top of that, is that some sunshine we can see in this edit? One can only dream the UK will start bucking its current cloudy and miserable trend and get all happy and sunny again.

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Skateboarding Skateboarding Product Reviews

Line Check: Holiday 2010 2 of 2

The Holiday Season is always packed full of great products to chose from so here’s our second round up of what we’re stoked on arriving in skater-owned-shops right now, including a few last minute gift ideas at the bottom (because we can’t be the only ones shopping for them on Christmas Eve). Click here to see part one of the Holiday 2010 Line Check.

Vincent Alvarez name came up quite frequently when asking others who their favourite skater of 2010 was. His pro model for Chocolate was approved by the masses, and the watercolour line is classic Chocolate aesthetics.

Unbelievable right? It’s true, Alien Workshop turned twenty years old this year and to celebrate, all their riders got some classic AWS iconography attached to their name on these rad decks.

It was a good year for rippers getting the deserved bump to pro status as Boots’ first pro model for Death came out this month. Cliché close up for the holidays leaving us with this little team model to get bamboozled over.

Theeve have reportedly the lightest, strongest, straight up best truck on the market. If you have a little extra Christmas pocket money this year maybe you should try a pair out. Thunder continue to bring the goods with Marc Johnson’s ‘special blend’.

Momentum keep rolling out amazing looking wheels for the stocking filler hill bomber market this Holiday season, this time employing the capable hands of Andrew Pommier to decorate their urethane.

OJ Wheels made a welcome return to the urethane spotlight this year. Click here for a review of the the Street Razors.

It’s definitely the time of year to stock up on these badboys. So be sure to keep your head warm this winter, but also rep skateboarding while you do it, and who better to rep than the good folk at Girl, Chocolate and Fourstar?

Lots of good stuff from the Soletech camps are entering UK skateshops right now. éS may be renowned for keeping your feet secure above the good wood you ride but they’re pretty rad at keeping you warm and not a flu-stricken wreck too while you’re off it.

Etnies take the tried, tested and massively approved classic approach with these awesomely plain and simple hoods.

Emerica unsurprisingly go a little leftfield with their winter warmers, fully repping the kind of grandpa festive sweater steeze that some of us here at Crossfire love a little more than the others. Make your own mind up on that one but we’re all down for Heath Kirchart being rad.

More goodies from éS who have already won us over with their amazing Bobby Worrest collection earlier this year.

Only one pair of trousers are on our Christmas wish list: these perfectly crafted cords from Altamont.

Nick Dompierre’s pro model for DC is hitting UK stores this month, alongside more boot throwback goodness from Supra’s Tom Penny.

Simple, effective and guaranteed to have perfect board feel; standard practice for Emerica.

Hsu’s are such a great shoe to skate and this camel colourway is an excellent move. It would be rude not to give the pro shoe to come from this year’s SOTY a mention too, Leo Romero’s purple model is dope.

Perhaps it was the little interview éS ran this week with team rider Kellen James, but we’re definitely super stoked on this SK8MAFIA collab on the Square Two.

John Rattray is simply the best around. Rep Scotland with these in 2011. It doesn’t matter if you’re not Scottish, John Rattray is and therefore you should start wishing you were.

Need some last minute gift ideas? You can trust the Crailtap camp to deliver the raddest stocking fillers this year.

And there’s no way we couldn’t include these… amazing holiday merch from the ever rad DEVO. Watch our interview with frontman Mark Mothersbaugh here

Categories
Skateboarding Skateboarding Product Reviews

Line Check – Holiday 2010 1 of 2

Across the UK, skater owned shops are currently getting fresh packages from distributors dishing out the new products for the Holiday Season. Understandably, there’s lots of quality goods included in these packages and condensing our favourites into one Line Check didn’t seem as appealing to us as running two of them. So before you head out with the intention of blowing your Xmas savings, have a look at our selection of some top shelf products that are arriving in your local skate shop now.

Antiz have never been afraid to tell it like it is, so with the help of Ben The and Ludovic Gabriel they have produced the ‘Ass‘ Series. Just like everyone has an opinion, everyone has an ass; and the Antiz pro team are no exception to that rule.

Skate Mental have a huge range of decks available right now but those are our chosen six above, including O’Neill’s of-the-moment ‘Call Of Duty‘ deck and Matt Beach’s super rad Tre Flip model that provides Ewoks with the publicity they have always deserved.

Kill City are keeping things street in South Wales with their ‘Spray Paint‘ and ‘Marker‘ models. Note how good those sizes are; for those of you out there with pixie feet who haven’t made the jump up from 7.5″ here’s a good excuse to man up.

Tyler Bledsoe’s debut pro model for Alien Workshop is in shops now with a suitably trippy graphic to cause your own Mindfield to relapse. Crayon hooked up with the CSC mascot, ‘Boxman‘ and his model designed by the wonderful Philip Morgan is now available fresh from the press. Hype! are making a name for themselves with some superb web edits and quality decks to match and Karma hooks up with the insomniac Alex Maw who knocked up a couple of rad designs for their latest decks. We’re stoked on these.

Ace Trucks are starting to become a common name in UK stores so if you’re looking for something new to get your grind on with then try these out. They are selling fast having already made an impact on a competitive truck market in the US and are set to do the same here.

OJ Wheels have made a welcome comeback into the urethane spotlight this year and are our selected wheels alongside Andrew Pommier’s Tin Toy series for Momentum.

The winter warmers are in stock! Now, unless your skin is made of thinsulate material then you’ve probably noticed it’s absolutely bloody freezing outside; have a look at cozy jackets and shirts from Matix, Fourstar, Addict, Independent and Etnies right there above.

Ok, so we were so stoked on Beach’s 360 flipping Ewok that we had no choice but to include the matching tee in our t-shirt round up alongside other graphic gems from Girl and Hype! Uzi does it now…

Soletech may be reknowed for their innovative progress in shoe technology, but you shouldn’t think that less effort is put into their threads. éS and Emerica make some of the best clothes going and the cords and chinos you see above are nice, simple and ridiculously comfortable.

But if it is shoes you’re after because the ones your wearing are soaked through with melted snow then be sure to check out Habitat’s Footwear range. Like Soletech, they’ve got the talent and experience to dabble in more than just one area. We have a Habitat package to give away this month that includes a pair of their awesome shoes; click here to enter. And as per, DVS bring the goods with simple and effective designs in dope colourways. Port should be really considered more often.

Check back for more recommended products in the following weeks.