Sydney harbour never fails to wow me. Thanks to Billy Connolly I regard the place as quintessential terra australis - the very centre of the country’s heart. Somehow the enormous twin structures of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House enhance the natural beauty of the many beaches and bays around the coastline.
Don’t know quite how a giant coathanger and a scrum o’ nuns manage it, but they do.
Chris and I met up early Saturday morning to skate the not-so-secret spot before the crowds arrived.
The ramp was originally in someone’s back garden. It had to be moved, and thankfully for the rest of us they rebuilt it on a disused patch of concrete hidden from the road. Since then others have contributed more obstacles and it’s turned into an amazing, grassroots, community-built skate haven. The love is strong, the times are good.
The 411 quotes are flowing this weekend.
Well, this was the best comp I can remember. Seemed to me that everyone - crowd and riders alike - had a good time.
Saturday was pretty much a washout, which sucked at the time but in hindsight was good because most people went home so it was easy to have a chat to the pros. One of the nice things about being an old boy now (sob) is that pros aren’t wary that you’re about to half-inch their setup or insult their frontside flips. My friend Chris and I chatted to Rune about touring New Zealand and - bizarrely - to Chris Senn about house prices around here.
Sunday the sun came out and it was all on. I arrived just as the Pro heats were starting (Lance had just won the masters). Lots and lots of sickness was happening. Sydney slasher Adam Luxford was carving up the bowl, Josh Borden was making backside tailslides look easy, Chris Senn was snaking every line he could get, Sergie Ventura was smiling and doing massive backside airs, and the crowd was singing ‘happy birthday’ to photographer Chris Ortiz.
Benji Galloway had a sick run including a fakie ollie nose blunt straight into a frontside blunt on the opposite wall, totally out of the blue. Italian Daniel Cardone was coming close to a tweaked out stalefish. Omar Hassan was very solid and nailed one of his heelflip frontside airs in a couple of goes. Omar got 3rd, Benji Galloway placed 2nd.
But in the end it was all about Rune. As I told him the day before, he was the man I’d come to see! Everything looked easy. Frontside nollie a foot out of the bowl as a coming-out-of-a-trick trick. Huge Madonna, having not done one in any previous run. And the trick that won the comp: a second try massive 540. (Debate was raging around me in the crowd as to whether it was a McTwist or not - I vote yes). Lucky me, I got the delay right on my compact camera’s shutter release and came away with a decent photo.
After prizegiving (Lance made a good speech about keeping skating fun) the kids clamoured for autographs. I was on a mission there too, to get an old Volcom ad signed. Whilst waiting I had a chat to Mrs Rune, who was lovely. (Quote: their daughter: “I want to talk to Dad”; Mum: “I think he’s busy right now, dear”, as Rune was being mobbed by kids).
And if that wasn’t enough on the way home I bumped into a friend who invited me to a secret, hidden miniramp for the evening session. Sorry, got no photos of that but it was plenty good and we all nailed good stuff thanks to being hyped up by the day’s earlier events.
Here’re a couple of old clips in case you’d forgotten how good Rune is: one, two.
The Pros are in town for Bowl-A-Rama this weekend. A $10K US prize purse has attracted plenty of foreign rippers including Omar Hassan and Chris Senn. Rune should be arriving soon…
Lance Mountain is here too. I shook his hand and gave him the compliments that he must hear thousands of times over at these events. He was gracious and politely smiled as I asked little skate nerd questions, trying as hard as I could not to get carried away with recounting stories I’d read in Transworld. I was better than I might’ve been in the past… Talking over, Lance dropped in the bowl and nailed the sweetest rock n’ roll slide of the session. Legend.
My knees look knobbly. Ignore that. Instead concentrate on how good that bowl looks. It’s in Raglan, and I spent many a happy hour there over our New Year holiday. It’s a rough shamrock shape (i.e. triple bowl) and is fun fun fun to bomb around. Shallow, medium or deep depending on how you feel.
Thanks to Marianne for the photo.
Took out a camera last night to document the evening’s play. Brady for inspiration, then a quick zoom down the mini hillbomb right by my house to blow away the cobwebs. Then a sharp walk up the hill (warms up the hamstrings) and off rolling all the way down into Newtown. Hills a-plenty, garage bumps SF style, then tiles to slalom once you get down into town. I headed for the school and its flatground and lost myself in an hour of flip trickery and no-ollie manual variations over the hopscotch markings.
Spotted these two creations of Mother Nature the other day: pine cone monster and pine cone star. Finding patterns and shapes in nature tingles the creative juices. Many a fine thing has come about by man emulating the natural world. Where would we be without the mighty egg cup, grown up older ceramic brother of the humble acorn cup?
And what about the Millenium Falcon? The fastest ship in the galaxy, allegedly inspired when Lucas looked down at the olive and beefburger pattie on his dinner plate. Yes nature, we salute your creative chaos.
This would’ve worked so much better if Lucas had been eating an olive and a sunflower head. Bah.
November 5th is all topsy turvy here. No wooly hats, wellies and hot bevvies. This (to the left) was the state of play at 7pm. Our neighbours were starting a barbeque, not a bonfire! When the sun finally came down, we were lucky enough to be on the balcony of the new Meridian Energy building on the waterfront - the best place in town to watch the fireworks display.
Pun company names aren’t just for hairdressers you know.
Eww.
Ooo I’m getting excited now. So much so that I’ve renewed my PayPal account in anticipation. I’m all ready to order when Unicron accounce they’ve got a batch. (Sidenote: Unicron are fabulous. Free stuff with every order and great customer service). It’s been a long while since I’ve been *really* excited by a skate vid. Flip Sorry burnt my fingers a bit. Great things were expected but despite some good parts (Geoff) it doesn’t work as a half-hour-of-inspiration-before-I-go-out video. (Best choice there: *still* Blueprint’s Lost & Found).
I’m being careful not to get too absorbed by the hype. The big guns are all the wrong side of 30, Carroll busted his ankle a while back, and its doubtful that Brady and Jensen will get separate, two song parts here. But the team is just too full of talent to go far wrong. Guy’s back, MJ never disappoints, Cairo’s Thrasher interview was hot - it’s gonna be amazing!
I would be lamenting the loss of D Gar, except that there’s a new Habitat vid almost out too. Can it get better? Oh yes it can: Static III. Happy Days!