On Thursday before the Contest gets going, the annual fishing trip goes down. Biebel and crew joined Schaefer. I'm always too busy to go on this one but it always looks like a damn good time. Several days later, they're still eating fish.
Skater Profile: Brandon Biebel

Colin Clark, dropping hammers in the sea.
Skater Profile: Colin Clark

Twitter was on fire this weekend with Tampa Pro activity. Felix, Chany, and Kenny Hoyle are all over it.
Skater Profile: Felix Arguelles

Schaefer's on some Santa Cruz show or something.
Skater Profile: Brian Schaefer

It's been a decade or so since Chris Pastras skated in a pro contest. Thanks for joining in, Chris.
Skater Profile: Chris Pastras

Carl is taking advantage of the free tats from Atomic.

It's time for a judges' meeting in Clem's office.

Are you lurkin' up there?

The judges are Mike Sinclair, Paul Zitzer, Fantasy Judge Kevin Wilkins from The Skateboard Mag, Fat Bob, John Muldoon, and Jason Rothmeyer.

The Bones Ripper was a popular tat.

I made an extra judges' worksheet for Kevin from The Skateboard Mag so he could play along and be fantasy judge. He had his own separate results calculated on the side that weren't far off from the regular judges. Maybe he might have a new job at SPoTlight in the future.
Skater Profile: Kevin Wilkins

I wandered around upstairs and found quite a party going on.

The view isn't so great up here.

It was nice to see Yelawolf hanging out all day Friday checking out some skating and just holding it down with the homies. I was fanning out all weekend.
Skater Profile: Michael Wayne Atha aka Yelawolf

I'm sure there was heavy heckling coming from this peanut gallery: Sierra Fellers, Abdias Rivera, Yonnie, Chris Jata, and Jereme Knibbs.

Pete Eldridge and Big Al step up to the bar of Berentzen.
Skater Profile: Pete Eldridge

A very nice guy without alcohol, Chad Fernandez signs a board for a little rasta fan.
Skater Profile: Chad Fernandez

Oreo afros - Bill Weiss and Kevin Romar. That's what it looks like right after you undo your corn rows.
Skater Profile: Bill Weiss

Anthony Shetler and Nick Dompierre.
Skater Profile: Anthony Shetler

I hate to use the word "chillax," but damn, Tito has the chillaxin' down to a science. That's how you kick it and watch a Contest.
Skater Profile: Tito Porrata

Body is the gatekeeper at Czar for the Yelawolf show.
Skater Profile: Scotty Conley aka The Body

It's a little dark in Czar.

Jenna's phone is lighting up Jay and all his St. Patty's Day Parade winnings.

Trixie on drums for Bad Sh!t.
Skater Profile: Waylon Trujillo

Jake Phelps on guitar for Bad Sh!t.
Skater Profile: Jake Phelps

Tony Trujillo on bass for Bad Sh!t.
Skater Profile: Tony Trujillo

Thanks for the entertainment, Jake.
Skater Profile: Jake Phelps

Rick Howard and Schaefer - don't make them pop the trunk on you.
Skater Profile: Rick Howard

Yelawolf killed it. I'm even more of a fan after this show.
Skater Profile: Michael Wayne Atha aka Yelawolf

This is probably where the ideas for crowd surfing at the Awards the next day came from.
Skater Profile: Michael Wayne Atha aka Yelawolf

Now it's Sunday and we're all gearing up for the live webcast. You wanna get shot with the machine gun cam?

Schaefer, the gear, and the vocal chords are all ready for our little web production.
Skater Profile: Brian Schaefer

The names of each skater are set up before the heats start. So, when people miss their run or have to move around in order, that's how things get messed up a little with titles on the webcast.

This is what the director/camera changer guy sees. I heard a few people say the dude doing the camera switching did an amazing job. I still haven't had a chance to watch the webcast myself. I hope you enjoyed it if you watched it.

Meanwhile, outside tons of new SPoT ink was being set at the Atomic Tattoos tent.

You can't say no to an autograph request from that face.

Gino in the crowd! Wow, thanks for coming and hanging out all weekend.
Skater Profile: Gino Iannucci

It's always amazing to see how stacked the decks are with skateboard superstars.

The intermission is the Moat Race, where eggs have become mandatory now.

Big Al lookin' like he's the Captain of the Moat Ship.
Skater Profile: Allen Russell

The winner of the Moat Race actually got some pretty decent prizes. Woodward threw in a free week's stay.

Danny Renaud is ready with the chicken bombs.
Skater Profile: Danny Renaud

I saw a few people with bags of flour. Dave's in on it. Wow, what else is going to be in the mix next year?

How would you like to get arrested with that ink on?

The moat actually looks nice and clean here. If you could smell on the internet, you might puke, though.

Covered in flour and egg like a cake at the end of the Moat Race.

Jake Phelps, thanks again for more entertainment on Sunday.
Skater Profile: Jake Phelps

I spy a ladies' party section upstairs.

Yelawolf and Biebel. Can the quality of dudes in the chill out tent get any better than that?
Skater Profile: Brandon Biebel

The girls' product toss section gets pretty rowdy.

They're pretty fierce in the kiddie section, too.

Biebel got a Just for Showing Up Award. We give these to people that we're hyped on just for coming to the Contest.
Skater Profile: Brandon Biebel

Sloppy Yelawolf fans with Dustin Charlton.
Skater Profile: Dustin Charlton

Yelawolf, extra thanks and a Just for Showing Up Award.
Skater Profile: Michael Wayne Atha aka Yelawolf

Yep, I had to fan out myself and get a photo.
Skater Profile: Rob Meronek

Jason Jesse also got a Just For Showing Up Award. We're all star struck here.
Skater Profile: Jason Jessee

Torey Pudwill got the Gatorade Go All Day Award.
Skater Profile: Torey Pudwill

Torey also won Best Trick with this madness.
Skater Profile: Torey Pudwill

Shane O'Neill got the Red Bull That Sh!t's Tight Award.
Skater Profile: Shane O'Neill

And of course, The Skateboard Mag's Fan Favorite Award goes to Koston.
Skater Profile: Eric Koston

This dude is going to end up with some pretty cool photos. He had everyone sign the plastic over his lens.

Crowd surfer Koston - best thing ever at the Awards.
Skater Profile: Eric Koston

How about a sequence of crowd surfer Koston.
Skater Profile: Eric Koston

Crowd surfer Chaz Ortiz was probably a lot easier for the crowd to float.
Skater Profile: Chaz Ortiz

Even P-Rod jumped in the people ocean.
Skater Profile: Paul Rodriguez

Congrats Dennis Busenitz for winning Tampa Pro 2011.
Skater Profile: Dennis Busenitz

Top three were Torey (3rd), Dennis (1st), and Nyjah (2nd).
Skater Profile: Nyjah Huston

And now it's time to throw a small skate shop's worth of products out. If your company sent stuff, thanks so much.

Felix and crew are always backing what we do. Thanks! See you all at the next one.
Skater Profile: Felix Arguelles