Damn Am Volcom 2005: Friday – Prelims

Words by Ryan Clements
Not Many Photos and Captions
by Rob Meronek

Jordan Hoffart - king size ollie

This is what's happening behind the live web cast. Boosh is the camera guy and those are the judges right behind him

Evan Smith says he's doing this in his run tomorrow - kickflip off the deck

It's worth staring into the sun to check out Evan Smith's kickflip back smith

Derek Fukuara - nollie noseslide. Check him out in the Filmbot Files DVD

I got in the van last minute and caught a ride to the Volcom facility with Brian and the rest of the crew first thing in the morn. I asked, “Do you mind if we stop by Starbucks real quick?” Brian replied, “It’s your world, Ryan. I’m just living in it.” Damn…I sure wish that was true.

I don’t think that we could have hoped for a sunnier, more beautiful, southern California day. When I got out of the van, the kids were already ripping the course. All I can say that I’ve legitimately done all day is some serious socializing. I mean, I really took socializing to a new level today. I didn’t once think about stepping on my skateboard, but I’m feeling a little sick, so that’s my excuse with that. Here are some of the issues that were covered:

• The defining line between being an am and pro with Neal Hendrix
• How to properly raise a tent courtesy of Brian Schaefer
• Shedding habits of bulldogs with Braydon Syzafranski
• Industry people that are all about reading our website and asking us to take down stuff that we posted about their company with Rob Meronek
• The seriousness and responsibility of owning a firearm with Ewan Bowman (Flip team manager)

I talked about way more stuff than that, but those are the more exciting subjects.

Volcom does it up right with everything they put their hands in and today was no exception. There were free burgers and dogs as well as plenty of drinks and Red Bull sitting around for anyone to grab. You really didn’t need to pay for anything as far as food and drink goes.

The Contest itself was great. During all of my chit-chat I was able to catch quite a bit of the skating. The Golden Ticket (that means that you don’t have to skate in the Semis and you go straight to the Finals) was awarded to Oakley’s finest, Tyler Hendley, who’s really been ripping recently. Lizard King showed up last-minute and half-cab 5-0 180ed out, right into the Semis. Also making the cut was one of my new favorites, Collin Hale.

Too bad for our Skatepark of Tampa boys, Ryan Dodge, Yonnie Cruz, and Scotty Conley, who won’t be skating in the Semis on Sunday. Dodge started off his first run with slamming on a nollie into the step-up. That’s just what the contest-jitters will do to a man. Scotty did the hippie-jump up and over the handrail, off the side of the bank-to-bank. It was entertaining, but not quite good enough for a spot in the cut. Yonnie couldn’t hold on enough to make it past 73rd place.

Other Floridians that blew it were Brian Downey, Brad Cromer, and Sean Conover, who ended up in 18th, 32nd, and 51st respectively. Click here for the rest of the results.

Fortunately for all of us, Rob was able to shoot some photos today. You don’t have to simply read another write-up with no pictures of skating like yesterday’s story. I just wanted to say one more thing: Lizard King has the best “Satan” tattoo of all time. You really just have to see it.

Ryan