Canadian Damn Am 2008 Article at Skatepark of Tampa

Canadian Damn Am 2008

Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008 by Rob

By Rob Meronek

For the five days we were in Vancouver, the weather was absolutely amazing, except for Saturday, the day of the Contest. Oh well, it was still a super fun day with ripping skating and plenty of laughs with all our best friends from around the world. Thanks to Billabong for helping us put this together. Congrats to Scott Decenzo for winning both Street and Best Trick in his own hometown.

William Cristofaro is one of those guys that rips but ends up not doing so hot in contests. He's winning practice with this nollie big spin
Matt Berger is growing up and getting pretty damn good. That's a big spin front board on the baby rail
Joel Morgenweck - kickflip crooked grind straight out of Jersey
William Cristofaro - big spin boardslide during the rained out Best Trick Contest
Matt Berger - kickflip back lip
Chris Mendes - wet nollie back heel
I think that's Stacy Gabriel - nollie flip the baby three block
Josh Clark - cab front board
I always have to meet someone like 10 times before I remember their name. Who dat? Big flip front board hanging on with the toes
Jimmy from Ultimate Distribution had plenty of hot foot moves in the Bowl Jam
Bowl Awards went to Nate Lacoste, Marius Syvanen, Curran Caples, and Jimmy Miller
Donovan Piscopo - pole jam up, 50-50 down, surf style out
Some of the rails at the park are skate-stopped. I wonder what Vern would say about himself on the mic regarding this frontside 180 over the skate stoppers
It was nice to see Ryan Decenzo's tranny skills during the Bowl Jam
My favorite little kid ever, Curren Caples. Kickflip blunt fakie in the Bowl Jam
Alex Chalmers of course leveled things in the bowl. That's a frontside disaster on the tranny to wall
Micky Papa is usually in my hometown at Tampa Am, but now I'm in his. I like your city, Micky, but your border patrol guys need to settle down. This is a kickflip back smith
Who dat? I can't remember, but he was back foot flipping all over the place. I wouldn't recommend doing that trick in public. Stick to the back lips
Will Marshall's dad always brings us cases of Canadian sauce. This time we were able to enjoy it locally. This is a frontside feeble grind
It's been five years since I saw Alien. Maybe the border patrol is keeping him on lockdown
Chris Mendes threw all kinds of water logged tricks down in Best Trick. This is a 360 flip
Scott Decenzo won Best Trick with this frontside bluntslide shuv it out first try
After the Contest, the sun came out and a beautiful rainbow showed up symbolizing how okay it is be be gay in skateboarding. Gay tricks, gay clothes, gay companies, gay pros, gay bros. I love it all
Just what every kid dreams of. A full pipe. Lucky they threw this in for all two people that care
Behind the park, there's a fun slash zone looking like the Bro Bowl of Vancouver
Life of Brian
Extra macho mullet, not so macho bike basket
How do you skate stop a nice downhill manny spot? With weird Candian Jersey barriers
I got lost in the city for a while and ran into these statues carved out of tree stumps. They keep things really clean here except for this one street called Hastings. It's crackhead central for about 20 blocks there. I didn't even want to pull my camera out
Seems like the whole city is under construction. There will probably be a new building in this giant hole in the ground by next year
I bought a six pack and two tall boys for a mere $25. Thanks for the bargain
Our first two nights out here were not my scene at all. Silk shirt techno clubs with cool guy VIP lines that Vern's friend was taking us to. Vern was in his own dance party world and didn't seem to mind. Where's The Hub of Vancouver please?
Former Zorlac pro (yeah, Zorlac), Mike Sinclair, just got a job as Team Manager for Tum Yeto. He got a hand-me-down phone from the secretary there - a gold Razr. Keep it gangsta, dawg
We had plenty of good meals with good company. Perogies are on every menu and they like putting bacon in their pasta sauce. Everything else was fairly normal. Can't hate on that
There were two good places to take shelter in the rain - the vendor tents and the Coors Light bus that was parked all day giving out free beer
Inside the Coors Light bus, it was a full blown dude fest. I think a rainbow showed up in here, too
Well, it was 99% dude fest in there. There was a Coors Light model giving out the beer and making sure no one took it outside. John Lupfer spent a lot of time on the bus
The judges from left to right are Brian Howard, Paul Machnau, Alex Chalmers, Mike Sinclair, and Jason Rothmeyer. Calling you out on the mic for anything suspect is Vern Lair and Brian Schaefer. Piercing your ears with the jams is DJ Wade
We were told about this party on Friday night. All we had was an address. We jumped in a cab that took us to a random door on the street with no lights on and no name/sign. Two dudes were standing out front that unlocked the door for us, rushed us in, then locked it behind us. Apparently, the cops have been busting up the parties here. Anyway, we arrived to this scene - a few people skating, a makeshift bar, and us just kind of standing there looking at each other
Within minutes, DJ Wade fell asleep. That was our cue to leave
We ended up at that plaza they build in Vancouver. What an amazing spot
Where's the full pipe and 90 foot deep bowls? Oh, someone under 65 must have designed this amazing place
The rules of the plaza are simple
Rodney Johnson and Risto Scott from Billabong, thanks for helping us kick off another annual Damn Am event in Vancouver. See you all next year
When you're throwing stuff out in the product toss, it's okay to pocket a few things like Curren here
Finally, a normal bar with good music, no silk shirts, and actual skateboarders hanging out. The After-Party on Saturday was super fun. That's John from Push Skate Shop across the street from the Park with DJ Wade. Thanks for the drinks!
John Lupfer is everywhere, especially after midnight. That's our new Aussie mom friend who has a kid skating in the Contest. Them Australians can party no matter how old they are
Kong is the Osiris Team Manager. He's hyped on party photos
Alex Chalmers, thanks for assisting with our skateboard shindig
We're in the Decenzo hometown. Congrats to your brother, Ryan. See you at the next one
Rodney Johnson and Ben Gore - this is the last party photo I snapped before calling it a night
DJ Wade, however, did not call it a night and is up way later than me as usual. I had the pleasure of having DJ Wade as my roommate all weeekend. I woke up to this photo in my camera
It's finally time to go home and "visit" my hometown of Tampa for a few days. Next trip is NYC this upcoming weekend. Sinclair uses a full size pillow on the plane. Maybe I should get on of those and a gold Razr. Goodbye, Vancouver. See you next year if I get in

Comments

Subscribe to the SPoT What's Up Blog

Enter your email: