Spring Break Yo’Self!
Posted on Sunday, April 9, 2006 by Ryan
Spring Break Yo’Self!
Words by Ryan ClementsPhotos and Captions by Rob Meronek
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
Have you ever seen that old John Candy movie,
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles? Instead of me telling you all about our lay-overs, cancelled flights, cab rides, lack of food, waiting, sitting, running,
cancelled car rental, security checks, lost boarding passes, and so on, just buy the movie. It’s a classic and it’s probably $6.95 at Wal-Mart.
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The Daily Habit
After finally arriving in Mission Beach at 2am we only had a few hours to sleep before having to wake up and drive to LA. That’s generally about a two hour
trek, but considering we had no luggage or rental car it took a bit longer.
We showed up at the FUEL TV studio to film our episode of The Daily Habit just after noon. What an amazing experience. Brian and I have both done a bunch of interviews when just someone is holding a video camera and asking you questions, but neither of us has ever filmed a TV show. It was full-on Hollywood, with about 10 people on the set and “takes,” “retakes,” and “cuts.” We’ll let you know when it airs. Thanks to Ian Hill, Zeke, Theresa, and the rest of the staff for making us feel so comfortable.
The Zero TF
I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but LA traffic is pretty insane. It took us four hours to make it back to just outside of San Diego, where we met up with
Mike Sinclair, Fallen TM, at the Black Box Distribution facility. It’s an understatement to call it a ‘facility,’ because this thing is like a city block long.
It houses Zero, Mystery, Fallen, the entire staff for all three companies, all product, and a gigantic training facility for the crew.
There was a small gathering of a few staff members and Thrasher photographer Mike Burnett. That’s when we found out that there was a photo mission about to happen and it was confirmed when The Chief rolled in. Jamie has built himself quite an empire. I know that I get up and work every single day, but how someone the same age as me has accomplished so much and is still able to hold down a professional skateboarding career is beyond me. Jamie rolled around with us for a bit and then we all packed it up and went our separate ways.
Photos: The Zero Training Facility and The Zero Hotel.
Spring Break Yo’Self
The scene was beautiful. It was a perfectly sunny California day, just the right temperature, and we were a block from the ocean. Paul from Sun Diego, a chain
of boardshops in SoCal here, put together quite an event. There were about 20 supporting companies with tents aligning the entire parking lot, kids literally
skating everywhere, and a
huge crowd forming to witness the carnage that was about to go down.
It started with autographs in the store and was followed by a two-hour demo with top ams and a few pros here and there killing it. But everyone knew what was up and what everyone was there for...the Rincon Replica Contest. There was $15,000 to be given away and at 4pm on the dot it went down.
Total Carnage
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There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of people hucking themselves down this thing for just over an hour. The Contest was open to both ams and pros, which definitely made it better. If you had something for the rail or big four, then you were in.
Here are some notables that were there, but didn’t make the money. We should have had cash all the way down to 10th place:
Danny Dacola (I’m sure this is spelled incorrectly) – this guy was a crowd favorite with boneless 360’s and boneless finger-flips over the bar. He then combined the two by trying frontside boneless 360 finger-flips, but couldn’t roll away from it
Jereme Rogers – the second biggest smile in professional skateboarding (with first being Malcolm Watson who was also there) showed up halfway through the Jam and graced us with a perfectly executed cab down the four
Josh Kasper – where has Josh Casper been? The last time I saw him was at the Wallenberg Contest and he did the same exact thing...360 flips for over an hour without making one
Terell Robinson – since I was actually announcing, I didn’t get to take any notes, so I can’t remember everything Brother Darkness did. I do recall him doing the kickflip boardslide on the big rail, but I think that the judges weren’t feeling the toe drag. Terrell is still one of my favorites
When the Jam was finally over, here’s how it broke down:
6th – no money – Darrell Stanton (nollie gap to fs board) – his move was tough, but not quite tough enough for the money. Darrell did it on someone else’s board because he broke his right away on a nollie to flat, so that should count for some extra points, right?
5th (tie) – $500 each – Tyler Surrey (nollie flip)/Kevin Romar (nollie heel) – I was standing next to Salman Agah when this went down and he said, “I remember when it was a big deal when I did a nollie flip on flat.” That’s a powerful statement
4th – $1000 – Tony Tave (nollie bs heel) – Tony skated the least out of anyone in the Contest. He tried his trick a few times in the beginning, a couple during the bulk of the event, and then busted it out right before time. He’s the least sore out of anyone the day after
3rd – $2500 – Cody McEntire (bs nollie biggie) – Tampa Am’s champ nailed his move...and for those that remember, that’s how he closed his winning run in Tampa, too
2nd – $3500 – Brandon Turner (nollie boardslide and many more) – where’s Lil’ B been? Who cares, because he’s killing it! He kickflipped the bar on his first try!
1st – $7000 – Tommy Sandoval (a bunch of $h!t) – I still can’t believe that Chris Casey called Tommy “Lord of the Thundercats” at Tampa Am, but I know that Tommy could literally care less. Just like I wrote about last weekend at Phoenix Am, Tommy is a contest machine. I don’t think he’ll be an am much longer (hint).
After seeing how gnar that obstacle was, I can’t believe how many tricks went down. Just ollieing the damn thing was impressive. A kickflip? Give it up. Thanks to Paul at Sun Diego for making it all possible and the rest of his crew for working together so well and making the even such a success. Let’s build a Clipper replica and do it again next year!
Ryan
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