Quick Trip to North Carolina Article at Skatepark of Tampa

Quick Trip to North Carolina

Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 by Rob

Photos by Aaron Squire and Ryan Clements
Text and Captions by Ryan Clements

Caesar was about as stoked as me getting up prior to 5am
Here I am trying to be like Rob by taking a photo from the plane window. We don't have seasons in Florida, so I got stoked on the leaves changing color
The Whitewater park is in the sticks and there are farms and such on the drive in. This sheep dog was HUGE
I don't think that the neighbors are happy
Overview of the main pool in the whitewater course
This is towards the end of the course. The pic doesn't really do it justice on how gnar it is, but it's about 7' deep
I think if we attached a piece of angle iron on that curb that someone would have a bsts all day long over the manual pad and other obstacle sticking out
One of the main problems that I noticed while there was the amount of speed necessary to get to the top of these things. Roll-in ramps are going to have to be constructed in a few spots
I'm like so NOT ripping
I can't remember how many millions of gallons of water flows through this thing, but as soon as we were leaving they started filling the thing back up with water. It was full in a matter of minutes
Ah yes...our glorious jobs at Skatepark of Tampa and SPoTlight Productions take us all over the place on a regular basis, but this mission was the redefinition of "short trip." I got a call from my Red Bull contact Aaron Squire in North Carolina to discuss the mission, the flight was booked, and it was on...

Mission: Fly up there from Tampa for the day to view the Olympic Whitewater Training Park (empty).

Purpose: Evaluate terrain to see if it's suitable for some type of skateboarding event.

Conclusion: Terrain is skateable with modifications, but gnar factor is extra high. Only the gnarliest ATV's will be able to destroy this thing...think Dennis Busenitz, Mike Peterson, etc.

I'm not sure if we're going to go through with the project or not, but if we do it's going to be one helluva event. There will be many meetings taking place to figure this one out. We'll keep you posted, but for now, check out the pics and the recount of my day.

I was out of the house before 5am, on the plane at 7am, driving around Charlotte by 9am, evaluating the site at 10am, eating lunch at high noon, back at the airport at 1pm, and sitting back at my desk at home by 5pm.

Comments

Subscribe to the SPoT What's Up Blog

Enter your email: