This is a spot i wish i could go back to. A pretty gnarly bowl in a gnarly spot. Rio de Janeiro, November 2005..a quick walk through a sketchy tunnel from our hostel in Praia de Botafogo and this bowl is in the middle of a traffic island. Good fun but edgy. Here's how it's really done.....
A very fitting 30th skatepark in my year long mission to skate 42 different skatespots. Market Harborough in it's old incarnation was pretty much the first skatepark i ever saw. It was where i learnt to balance, to ride banks and the very limited and rough transitions that made up the old place. The park has been transformed into an almost perfect bowl which is built on the same site as the old one. Lines, hips and corners for miles and perfectly smooth concrete. Perhaps 20 years too late for me as i now live 240 miles away....luckily mum lives round the corner so i can grab a few trips down there when we are in town. The reason for this weekends visit was the christening of Victor Stewart Charles up in Leicester so an added importance to the visit to the park before the service. This entry and the trip to the park are dedicated to Stoo Charles who I spent a lot of time with at the old park, he would be stoked to see what has happened to the place and i know he would have been down there at 7am too!
The seemingly lifelong project to tell the story of Swansea skateboarding is getting a few steps closer to fruition. Delirious from the weekend away i met up with Ric and Simon at the skatepark. The plan was to go down to Castle Square and talk about their experiences of the legendary spot. I had Ione as my assistant and credit to her she got a few documentary pictures of the interview. It was a very anarchic interview but one of the funnest so far and some real good results. Feeling pretty good about the progress of the whole project....onward and there seems to be plenty to talk about and many more to talk to.
Saturday 14th....5.28 train from Swansea to Paddington and then headed up to meet Styley in Rickmansworth via Brick Lane for some breakfast bagels at the 24 hour Beigel Bake. Straight over to Andy's and down to Harrow.
21. Harrow skatepark
Despite being one of the oldest parks in the country Harrow has changed a bit since i was last there...a big bowl at the top has been dug out, a couple of wooden miniramps have been built and the tops of the banks round the slalom run and bollocks have been concreted. Great place to carve around and stretch my legs after getting up at 4.30 and being on the train for 5 hours.
22. Enfield skatepark
Super simple and super fun. A converted paddling pool with a slightly bowled quarter pipe at each end, a mellow bump in the middle and a block/manny pad at each side.
23. Waltham Abbey Skatepark
Great little park, Freestyle build i think so it's the fast shiney surface. A good windswept spot and as it was Saturday afternoon it was pretty busy. Andy couldn't face the crowds so we didn't hang around for long...it was cool just trying to get lines in the place and avoiding the oblivious masses...got out of there with no collisions which was amazing...highlight is carving over the hole!
24. Saffron Walden skatepark
Straight up the M11 for an evening at the ocean of concrete that is Saffron Walden skatepark. So good, 3 massive bowls that get progressively deeper, the "smallest" has pool coping all round which is where i based myself. It's pretty rad going to so many places and skating a huge variety of sizes and transitions. Almost nobody around which was a welcome change from the mayhem at Waltham Abbey. The bowls are surrounded by a circuit of obstacles so you can just roll around hitting whatever you like in a kind of infinite run....we were all weakening at this point though and a curry back in Ricky was calling! The end of a great day...curry, vodka, coke and Thrasher videos on a rather large internet ready tv.
Sunday 15th April........
25. Barn ramp
Feeling pretty wrecked from the previous day, more skating in one day than in the previous month i think, we headed west(ish) to find the secret barn ramp. Nice little mini with pool coping on one side, sofa on the platform and a tardis in the yard. Rad place to get the legs working again.
26. Dick's Bowl
Dick's house was a couple of miles down the road from the barn. He has a bowl in his garden built by Zarosh so as you can imagine it's pretty gnarly. Turns out it was the last real session there as Dick has to fill it in this week. There was a bit of a session already going on but i managed a few runs and even got up to the lip a couple of times!! Steak was obviously ruling as the pictures show, the shallow end is like riding into a wall. Dropping in was a fearful event but the place works pretty well straight off...wish i had one!
27. Ealing skatepark
Ealing has a great bowl that is smooth and a fun if a bit hectic street course....flows pretty well but like Waltham Abbey it was full on...had a good blast around the bowl until the wind blew the rain in.
28. Bishops Park, Fulham
Bishops park not only is now famous for it's mini bowl but was the scene of the infamous end of Patrick Troughton in the Omen...all good reasons to visit...Andy Vost met a grisly end there too.....
It took a couple of burritos to bring us all back to life after a hell of a weekend....
Thanks for a great trip dudes!!
Knocked up a quick video from the stuff i managed to film on the Free skate day last week.....
Get the votes in before midday on Friday 13th to get Exist the £1000 they need, more money, more wood, more good times.
Route One have run the Free Skate day for the second year....last year the winner of the £1000 was The Boardroom in Leicester. The Boardroom is a skatepark close to my heart as it was originally The Edge which me and 3 friends set up back in 2003. We built the park in a warehouse we found traipsing around Leicester....i kind of entered into the whole business thing without much idea of the possible consequences of failure and the massive commitment in both time and finance.
Owning and running my own skatepark was a dream come true, skate whenever i liked, parties...fun,fun,fun....the reality can be quite different....The responsibility of it all slowly dawned on me and the others.....we ran the place as The Edge for almost 4 years before we reached the decision to sell up. It was an amazing time but for 4 of us, all with different ideas and no real way of supporting us from the skatepark alone, we were doing other jobs and working at the park for nothing in order to pay the bills.
A couple of guys bought the park from us, the money was just enough to pay off all the outstanding bills and loans so we got out of there with no debt. The people who bought the park from us didn't last long before they then sold it to Dave who already had The Boardroom in another warehouse in Leicester.....can you believe it there were actually 3 indoor parks in Leicester at one point!
So The Boardroom moved in and turned the place around....the place has been a total success ever since...a great park and a great scene...the point being that Dave has put his heart and soul into running a skatepark and likewise here in Swansea Exist has the same spirit.....skater owned and run, small independent and self financed set up.
Unlike me and my friends in Leicester Ric already knew the reality of business and the high stakes of putting everything into the skatepark....he went for it anyway! Exist is in the same position this year that The Boardroom was in last......
Passionate owners, passionate skaters with the prospect of winning the Route One £1000......
So The Boardroom won through the dedication of Dave and the scene the skatepark supported and nurtured....the skaters recognised the effort and commitment Dave has and voted and voted and did everything they could to spread the word. They won by a country mile. The same is the case in Swansea right now and Exist has the chance to get the money and the coverage to make what is already an amazing and thriving skatepark even better.
That is why everyone who cares about small, independent skater run parks should vote for Exist this year...Ric and Exist are true grass roots, they are what makes skateboarding so good and skateboarding needs people like Ric with their energy and passion to push it and provide us the spots we need. Lets give it back and get Ric and Exist something in return for their generosity to skateboarding....vote Exist!!!
It's not the first time i've found a skatespot while geocaching...keep it secret but it's a great way to find things by accident. Geekery aside it is a nice little hidden gem a few miles outside Brighton in the shadow of Devils Dyke. All wood, nice and small and loads of fun....heading back for sure....
