**feature  from issue #2 of Confusion Magazine (now with bonus photos)**

in basque country there have been skaters since the 60s because surfing was here. there is good and heavy surfing all around the coastline and of course good surfers. surfers always try to skate when there are no waves, surfing on hills, for that reason skateboarding grew very fast around surf areas like getxo (supermegahillvillage), sopelana, zarautz and san sebastian. in the 70s there were a lot of skaters who built their own wooden waters and grew up with a lot of influences.

Txus. Pool Party in La Kantera. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Mundaka. The most famous wave in Basque country, formerly a stop on the world tour of surfing.

skateboarding magazines would sometimes come through and somebody would get one and flip out on all the amazing american skateparks. in ’78, near barcelona the first skatepark in spain was created in arenys de munt but was closed very soon after. many skaters moved there and skated hard.

Jeff Grosso. Invert at La Kantera. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Txus carving La Kantera. Photo: Kuko

Diego Doural. Air time at San Sebastian bowl.

Leioa skatepark overview. Photo: Alex Mosterin

it was in madrid in the 80s where a skatepark was built with heavy bowls and nice banks with a lot of trannies. one year ago it was over when somebody tried to repair it with fiberglass so the government decided to close and kill it (a stupid decision made by somebody who didn’t know anything about skatepark construction). it’s a pity because puerta de hierro skatepark was a classic place – obligatory to go if you were in madrid. the big bowls were around 4 meters high with concrete coping which was the reason the ‘86 thrasher tour went there with gator, caballero, hosoi, duncan, nogoho, guerrero, and gonzalez. they destroyed the skatepark and showed what real skateboarding is.

in basque country skaters still skated in handmade quarter ramps until ‘87 when la kantera started going on. that is when basque concrete began to move – now la kantera is the oldest skatepark in spain and each year it is reformed and repaired – there was just la kantera in basque country, then millions of cities copied and made their own kantera.

Diego backside boneless.

ten years ago la kantera pool was created and after that concrete was shooting up all around spain and a lot of them were in basque country. la kantera is really famous all around the world and all tours skate it and it’s in all the new skate videos. skaters like trujillo, hewitt, bailey, childress, omar hassan, hosoi, and many, many more skated la kantera and the atmosphere was hot and la kantera concrete was erupting. all of these conditions make basque country the place in the peninsula where there are more pools and bowls than you can make it to. this is the land of concrete warriors who have more power and style, heavily influenced by surf style, (fast and carvy) and later really wild street skaters. here the skating is fast, aggressive, innovative, creative, and fun. two of the best bowl riders in spain are locals from la kantera: alain goikoetxea and javier mendizabal, famous all around the world.

Ferit Batir in Urduliz.

Txus just finished painting skull design in the bowl with help of locals.

now you can go to many pools and bowls in basque country thanks to zutskateparks crew who fight to put good concrete on earth. la kantera, las arenas, leioa, sondika, bermeo, guernika, barakaldo, urduliz, san sebastian, ermua, berriz, muskiz, pamplona, miranda de ebro, premia del mar, and many more in spain, more than 40… you can go and charge it.

Txus working the dune. Photo: Juan Lopez Gomez "Limax"

Bowl building at Sondika.

Txus exploring other concrete around Europe. One foot over the stairs. Hagen, Germany. Photo: Dietsches

now in spain, it’s not easy to make a skatepark. the crisis stopped the skatepark construction and each project is difficult going on. bureaucracy in spain is now fucked. the crisis in construction is super heavy in spain, then mother fucking companies put their mafia hands of every kind on government public skatepark bid and make skateparks for survival with no idea and without communication from skaters. they make a lot of stupid designs with no budget and offer non skater companies who really don’t care about skateboarding to do the work. people are pissed off about it and now there is a real problem – skaters must fight for it or a lot of new concrete is going to be no good to skate. but always new concrete is new concrete, good or bad, and when it’s skateable you can skate it.

Txus wallride. Bermeio. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Surfing the basque waves.

Whaletale. Photo: Alex Mosterin

the best thing about basque country is not only the skateparks, but also the really good waves with secrets spot and no people. the basque are friendly people, the girls.. the party goes all week long. in summertime there is always a city where you can go, and the food is always stocked… so if you are thinking to travel here, let’s go. try to come in the summertime, end of spring or beginning of autumn and you will have good weather almost for sure, but if you have bad luck, don’t mind… you can come back another time. if you can’t skate because of bad weather, you will still really like basque country… for sure. - ortxustrops.

Alex Mosterin. Ollie melon grab in Armintza. Photo: Scape

Bernt Jahnel. FS Invert in Leioa. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Cosme. Backside olllie in Las Arenas. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Jaime Fernandez. One of the best big wave riders in Meñakoz. Photo: EXT

Palo riding the La Kantera Iraeta Eggpipe. Photo: †xus

Transfer to smith grind at Kampsa II.

Txus. FS air over the hip. Torrejon.

Alex Mosterin. Invert in Miranda.

Txus. Grab grind in the shallow end at La Kantera, Getxo. Photo: Alex Mosterin

Txus. Layback smith grind. Gernika.

Photos by:
Alex Mosterin (Alex Mosterin Flickr)
Txus
Kuko
Juan Lopez Gomez “Limax”

“Protec was awesome. Here are a bunch of pics.”  – Sean Manning
(video coming soon!)

Masters:

Jeff Grosso. Invert.

Salba. Boardslide rock n roll around the corner pocket.

Pros:

Rad fs ollie

Kalani David. FS corner air.

Frontside airs around the corner seemed to be the go to trick. Kalani David doing them in every corner.

Andy Mac. Frontside rock on the hip.

Pedro Barros. Backside air.

Chris Miller. Nose bonk off Steven Van Doren's head.

Andy Mac. Feeble to fakie around the corner.

Sky Selig. FS airing the corner.

360 boneless over the hip

Sky Selig. Boneless over the corner.

Tom Schaar. 540.

Andy Mac. Boneless

Where's Waldo?? I mean, Pedros! Damn, way you there!! Gnarfuckingly.

Rune Glifberg blasting a tailgrab above the crowd! All photos: Sean Manning

Video / edit:  Josh Tree

Full report on Creekside coming in issue #5 of Confusion Magazine.

Name, age, and where do you live?

Zarosh Eggleston, 28, and I live in California.

You skate for Death Skateboards from the UK. How is it skating for a non-US company and living in America?

Death has done more for me than a U.S. company could ever do- we go on trips every year, they flew me out to Japan and Sweden this year, and the boss Nick Zorlac met me out there to skate and film for the new video. The thing about Death is that they’re always going to be there, they might be small compared to some of the companies that advertise more regularly in the big magazines, but the money goes back into the team and they’re out there ripping 24/7 in like 4 different countries.

Indy nosepick. Indoor Pool. Photo: Brian Fick

What’s your relationship with Consolidated Skateboards?

Well I got on Death right when Consolidated started distributing them, so they’re kind of like my surrogate parents over here. As a kid growing up south of Santa Cruz i really liked Consolidated, the Cube just represented the nor cal vibe so good, and as a teenager I made some awkward trips up to the factory and was so stoked to see a real skate business. People were hanging out, they had a ramp, Birdo was playing with fire, it was a big part of me wanting to get a job in the industry, which i ended up doing for 7 years in San Diego, but when i came back up here and was reintroduced to everyone it was a relief to see them still running solid in the small town. A lot of companies out there want to grow their bussiness up and just get it the same as all the other shit out there so they can sell their name to some kook with a bunch of money and still manage the bussiness and front like its still the same grass roots bussiness it started as. Con is owned by the same people, and their company is run the same way its been since 1992, they just love running their own skate company.

Zarosh. Nosegrind at Cachagualand. Photo: Pete Koff

And you run Platipuss Skateboards? What is your motivation for running your own skateboard company when you already are pro for another one?

It’s not a skate company like you might think, it’s more of a screen printing business. Skate graphics are so pixelated these days and there are billions of options, I just want to put some stuff out there that’s easy on the eyes; thick line art, bold and bright colors, simple characters, stuff that makes me happy. I just love screenprinting skateboards, and I think that skateboarding needs screenprinting, the art is such a huge part of it all for me because I love skateboards just as much as skateboarding. I actually have the chance to set up the skateboard printshop inside of Bro Prints, wich is the same building as Consolidated, it’s the Consolidated version of a print shop, they bbq, have fun at work, but when I ran into bro I remembered that he had accused me of smoking acid when I was a teenager, kinda sketchy.

Zarosh. Drop in. Photo: Ian Pasmore.

Can you explain to the readers who don’t know who David Lynch or about his foundation and what your involvement is with that?

I think that most people would know who he is, he’s made some really amazing films, but he also started a foundation to teach a million kids to meditate, they sponsor these schools to have the students and entire staff learn to meditate. Its a great thing because hopefully the kids will get the benefits of it and take that back home to their communities.The foundation got a hold of me and wanted to do a short feature on what i was doing with my life, and they flew out here and hung out with me for a couple days. It’s been a positive thing, and they’ve invited me up to some of the schools they sponsor up here in S.F., and hang out with their kids, its rad, they all have after school skate programs, launch ramps and mini ramps in the basement. [Zarosh's interview with David Lynch Foundation click here]

Tell us about the latest developments of Cachagua land since we left of last time?

The last time you or anybody saw much of Cachagua land was 2008 [editors note: this interview is a few years old from issue #2 of Confusion], and it was just that upper section, and we were still mixing bags by hand. We got real lucky and have had Red and his crew volunteering, and we’ve stepped it up to having cement trucks come out part way, and climb the mud up the hill with a small tractor. We’re almost ready to complete the rest of the deep end, and I’ve been using the slow pace to throw in as much rad shit as I can, wiring in speakers inside the bowl, have a pump in the drain wired up to fill a future fish pond or hot tub and hopefully a garden soon; it’s becoming more than just a skate-spot.

Crailslide at Buena Vista. Photo: Tadashi Yamaoda

You like to do griptape art. How did that start, how many boards have you done, and what’s your favorites?

In the early 90′s when I got really into skateboarding, everything was black griptape, and the colored shit they had at the shop was way grittier, and that was my way to customize my board. I’ve done a lot of pretty intricate griptape jobs, but I’m way more into the bottom graphics, because why would you want to put something on your wall that’s covered in coffee stains and dirt? my favorite grip job was the jim phillips screaming hand wave, it took a couple days and a quite a few x-acto blades.

Zaroshs collection of griptape art at his dads house. Photo: J. Hay

About 10 years ago you were more into rails and steer than you are now. Why the change to more transition skateboarding? Or did you always do it all?

Before I could ollie I just tried to skate down all the hills in town, when i got better i was really into handrails, and i wanted to grind every one I saw even if it wasn’t really possible. Transition skating was just always so much more of a session, it was more available and really easy/ fun to progress, and I’ve paid the price trying to skate handrails on the spur of the moment. Recently I tried to skate a lot of gnarly rails in San Diego, but you’re really only skating it if you ride away, which is only one out of ten tries maybe, and if you slam hard you cant skate anything for a week, or a month. transition is just great to be surrounded by, you can skate all day and go really fast like you’re bombing a hill.

Nose pick ledge drop. Santa Cruz, USA. Photo: J. Hay

You’re not like the normal skater, smoking weed, getting wasted on alcohol, and I’ve even seen you go meditate before a session or a party. What’s the story behind that?

There’s just so much more that i want to do with my life than just be a skateboarder. I see a lot of people that are good at one thing or are just into one thing, and that’s great, but i want to go way beyond that and show people how much you can do with your time here. I feel that meditation is what can give me the advantage to get ahead and be where i want to be. i keep my mind sharp, and i meditate every day, I don’t have time to hang out and just drink because my day’s are full of art and skateboarding, family, getting my business going, building and raising money for Cachagua, when i’m done skating for the day I can drive home and get something else going, or I can get some rest and do it all again tomorrow- you won’t find me marinating while im alive and kicking. I might not keep up with how gnarly skateboarding is getting, especially with the new handrail explosion, but you won’t find me throwing my board around frustrated, there’s plenty of fun to be had, and that’s where you’ll find me skating.

Derby. The other gap. Photo: Jonathan Hay

Would you recommend meditation to other skaters or is it only for certain people? Is it difficult? I know for me personally I have trouble focusing on NOT thinking about something. What’s the trick, or are there no tricks?

Meditation is great, I everybody can benefit from it, but in no way am I trying to tell other skaters that they should meditate, I seldom talk about it unless someone asks. My mom introduced us to trancendental meditation, and I my brother use it to really excel in what he was doing, he got a full scholarship to Berklee school of music in Boston and I knew that I wanted to learn and see what I could do with life, and I’m giving it my best shot.

Do you consider yourself a hippy, or a punk, or a hippy-punk, or are these all just labels that merge associated thinking groups of people together and strip them of their individuality?

What about you Jonathan? Are you a hippy?

Zarosh. Nose pick over the loveseat in the corner of Rote Flora DIY bowl in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Jonathan Hay

Is skateboarding a drug for you?

When I was younger, yes it was, I tried to lick the crusty paint under my trucks.

Are you an addict?

I’m trying to take it in moderation, my body might not be able to skate all day every day right now, but i do enjoy a good slam to wake up and start the day

Wallride. Monterey, USA. Photo: Bruce Rodela

Who do you like to skateboard with (in USA and outside of USA)?

Malmo was really fun seeing all those old school vert riders, the Mag’s and Pulpanek and Andy Scott and N. Guerrero, and Japan was a blast last year thanks to Kenji and Maru.

What music gets you hyped to skate or do does the smell of salt water and pine trees get you psyched?

nine times out of ten its the Odd Numbers

First punk band you listened to?

Probably Operation Ivy from this is not the new H-street video

Worst band you’ve ever liked that you are embarrassed to admit?

If I listened to them I probably still like them so I don’t know.

Wallride to bodyjar. Photo: Brian Fick

Favorite place you’ve traveled in the last 5 years?

Bombay, India for sure. I hope to go back sometime soon with my mom so she can see the rest of her family one last time.

What advice do you have for anyone building their own skate spot anywhere in the world?

Really think about what it is that you want to skate and make it happen, and if you’ve never skated something that you worked on yourself you have’nt experienced all of skateboarding yet

Do you need any help with Cachagua Land or is it self-sufficient?

i would say that i need help untill it can be self-sufficient, it’s being built to last forever, so whatever it takes to keep it going im going to make it happen. really stoked to have had so much support from the local community, especially dreamland and bills wheels

Crail. Santa Cruz, USA. Photo: Bruce Rodela

If you had to make a political statement, what would it be?

I don’t know… grow your own organic fruits and vegetables.

Tell us a little about how you learned to build skate parks/structures?

I didn’t. I just know the basics and I’m trying to make it the best that I can.

What’s your stance on large corporations taking over skateboarding, and how do you feel about hardcore underground skaters that are riding for these companies. Just take the money when it’s there and fuck the morals or do you think that’s selling out?

I know that the big corporations just want to be involved with whatever hot and going to make them the most money, but there’s no passion left, there’s just the capitalist drive and its sad because skateboarding is such a special thing. i wish that people would have listened to Birdo, but they’ll learn the hardway in a couple years, and hopefully the small business’s can make a come back. I don’t think that skateboarding could ever die on the inside, but it definitely gets sold on the outside. I’ll still be doing the same thing when the suits pack up and move on to the next craze.

What’s your goal with skateboarding. Have you achieved it or are you still working towards something?

There are always small goals, right now I want to finish this phase of Cachagua and work on my part in the next Death video. Looking forward to printing more skateboards for awesome artists!

Who or what inspires you as a skateboarder? In life in general?

I get stoked on some old school vhs slo mo, looking at some old skate graphics, setting up a new or old board, and grinding down a set of trucks.

Over the door at Steppenside in Malmö, Sweden with Pontus Alv background props. Photo: Jonathan Hay

What question do you wish someone asked you in an interview and what would you answer be?

Are you trying to be a cool guy?
No, I’m not. I’m just going to be me.

Quote to live by?

Don’t live by words.

Any final thoughts or shout outs.

Big thanks to everyone who’s contributed to Cachagua land, it’s going to be worth everything that’s gone into it. Especially Dan Robinson, Peter Gunn, all the shops that have been selling Cachagu Land stuff and keeping it real; dlxsf and Quinn bros, Birdbro, Mark Scott, Nick Zorlac, Kenji Tanaka, and Brooke.

Sequences:

Follow cam. WSVT. San Diego, California. Photo: Brian Fick

baldy drop. Santa Cruz, USA. Photo: Brian Fick

Flip drop slide. Santa Cruz, USA. Photo: Jonathan Hay

Wheelless 50-50 at a Hubba in Monterey. Sequence: J. Hay

Lip slide. Cachagua Land. Photo: Bruce Rodela

Fence drop. Santa Cruz. Photo: Jonathan Hay

Slide roll in to frontside disaster to slam. Photos: Brian Fick

Interview by Jonathan Hay

Photos by:Brian Fick (brianfick.com)
Bruce Rodela (Bruce Rodela interview)
Jonathan Hay (Haywire Photo blog)
Ian Pasmore
Tadashi Yamaoda (kobrahmagazine.com)

Custom screened skateboards by Zarosh – Platipus Skateboards
(www.platipusskateboards.com)

Zarosh – Interview with Confusion on building DIY project “Cachagua Land” (from Confusion)

Zarosh showing his skatedecks and griptape art (from Santa Cruz Skateboards)

Except for this contest.

Billy Runaway set up a contest in Palmdale, CA called the GREAT DESERT POOL DUEL. This contest was invite only and featured a real backyard pool over ten feet deep and a bunch of underground and not so underground rippers. Add to the mix free beer from Black Star and with Lance Mountain and Dave Hackett as guest judges, this contest was worth getting up at 5 am to drive four 1/2 hours to get there. So the bottom line was: backyard pool and beer and no city officials. This is what skateboard contests should look like. – Jamie Camp

Al Brunelle. FS Ollie.

Jeff Wright.

Steven Reeves - crail

Ryan Johnson. FS ollie in the deep. He did a backside ollie over the huge set of shallow stairs to win best trick over the stairs

Tristan Rennie - 13 year old with first place

Jake Reuter. Lein to tail.

Kevin Kowalski. FS invert.

Ben Raybourn. Invert revert.

Al Brunelle - just before doing a sweeper disaster hangup to head slam. He was taken to the hospital, hear he is doing ok now. He was ripping all day.

Palmdale local. Backflip off the roof to the ground. It's a make.

Peacock filming the Illusion. Nice mesh cap!

When all was said and done the results looked like this:

Tristan Rennie – $400
Kevin Kowalski – $300
Ben Raybourn – $200
Jake Reuter – $100

Best trick of the day contest:

DEFECT MAG best trick over shallow stairs: Ryan Johnson backside ollie – $200
Black Star Beer best trick over stairs/death: Kevin Kowalski backside smith – $200
Black Leather Racing best line of the day: Kevin Kowalski – $200

Sponsors for this event were: Confusion Mag, Bones Wheels, Black Leather Racing, Black Star Beer, DEFECT Magazine, Independent Trucks, DEKLINE Footwear, Lifeblood Skateboards, Gross Graphics, and Lowcard Mag.

As word, photos, and video of this inaugural event get out, I am sure next year will be bigger and better. Thanks to Billy Runaway and all of the Palmdale pool project for putting on a fun event!

Words & Photos: Jamie Camp
(www.poolskating.blogspot.com)

Video “courtesy” of RadBalls (radballs.wordpress.com)

Every year, the Projet45 guys try to find fun ideas to raise money for their DIY project and it’s not really easy to keep people interested. Most of the skateboarders out there are often multi-talented; when they are not on wheels, they are playing music, drawing, painting etc.

Then came the idea to use the talent of our great concrete soldiers’ by doing an Art Show in Montreal, which could be an excuse to raise money, and have fun with the bros in the meantime.

Everything started pretty small and ended up having skaters/artists from the U.S. & Europe, and some of them even bought a plane ticket to cheers some beers with us.

The Wallride of Fame

On April the 5^th,  Projet45 presented 20 different artists (all skaters) like Gershon Mosley, Pontus Alv, Tilt, Nils Innes, Julien Deniau and many more.

The theme was obviously skateboarding and DIY, but the medium of expression were really varied, with painting, drawing, photography, video, and even skateboarding itself.

As concrete soldiers we weren’t completely satisfied with only showing some art in the gallery, and having a boring 30 minute visit to offer the people. That’s why we built a wallride made of concrete straight into the gallery, made with some old school parking blocks and a launch ramp, to make people skate during the exhibition.

It was a lot of fun. People were very surprised of that kind of set up, pretty impossible to do in a standard gallery. Around 400 people came that night, and it’s still going on each day during this month of April.   - Babas

Connor Neeson. Wallride to Fakie.

Art from Oliviero Fontana (Quebec). This installation is called "Bike it, Paint it, Skate it". The cameras on the top are made of pieces from bikes, paint cans & skateboards. They are matching with the pictures below. Oliviero is not a 'real artist', he's an OG skater from Montréal and manager at Underworld shop, he had his knee fucked twice in a year, and can't skate since two years. Since then he tried to get his interest in different stuff like photography & building stuff... He's really creative, even if he does that just for fun.

Art from Sonia Khenfech (from France but living in Quebec). A girl skater from Toulouse in France, who has been a creative artist for a long time. She has a good background in art, which actually is her job.

Art from Gershon Mosley, ex famous pro, still skating hard, but just for the love, not for the cash anymore

Art from Julien Deniau. (From France but lives in Barcelona), Julien has been a photographer for almost 20 years. He has a solid career in Europe, and since a few years has developed his artistic side with theses drawing and paintings.

Artwork from Pontus Alv (Malmö, Sweden). Pontus is a pro-skater, DIY concrete builder, film maker, and more recently, skateboard company owner of Polar Skateboards.

Art by Jacob Ovgren (Sweden) who drew this for Polar, he's also on the team, but it was included in the Pontus wall section

Art by Pontus Alv

Art from Joel Marleau (Quebec), he's a tatoo artist from Montréal

Art by Hugues Lauzier

Art from Alban Bachan (Quebec), same as Joel, and solid transition shredder

Art from Nils Inne (France). Nils is a really good skater from south of France, and a really creative artist with his painting and recycled boards constructions. He has developed a strong visual art.

Art from Greg Ogden. (From France but lives in Montréal)

Gershon Mosley & Sonia Khenfech (the girl who organized everything & made this art show possible - she's also a P45 concrete soldier, and skater)

Project 45 in construction phase

Project 45 photo gallery. Sneak Peak of article in next issue of Confusion! Photography by Babas

Art by Julien Deniau

The wallride

Skate Session in the gallery

Jonathan Michaud. Frontside Wallride.

For more info or to donate to Project 45 go to: projet45mtl.blogspot.com

All photography by Babas: mtlmediagroup.com/babas/

Subscribe to Confusion Magazine and receive issue #5 with a full article on PROJECT 45! (to be released the end of May!)

The Minus crew did a great job in the renovation of the skate park and there is more space left to recreate the area. The Lankow Locals build their own speed bumps, quarters and other totally funky obstacles.

Visit Schwerin! It’s worth the journey, always….” - Jubbi

“For more Concrete“, that was the slogan for the party last year.

The plan was to build a mini with Pudi‘s pool coping and have a  party for more concrete.

After the party we kept the door open and had the ramp in the bunker and had a place to skate for the winter and we organized some parties and concerts. A skateboard cafe was open one day in the week. Over the winter, after some sessions, we switched some things at the mini for more really high speed lines and more fun!

Thanx to everyone who helped and a special thanks to Carhartt.

Skate and Create,

Baum

Editors note: this is old text, and video footage from over a year ago I just now edited, with photos from the party session and others that Baum sent. The ramp no longer exists, things didn’t work out at the Autonomes Zentrum (basically a community squat) location and it’s over. It was nice while it lasted. Thanks to Baum for building something for the German (and Belgium) skateboarders so they have a place to skate in the winter and for currently building concrete parks for everyone to enjoy the rest of the year.

Barna. Frontside air transfer.

Martin Huppertz. Backsmith over the mini death box cut into the plywood.

Oh no, what a disaster!! He broke his board.

Barna. Crailslide on the extension sliding across Pudis Pool coping

Backside disaster. Martin Huppertz

Lennart Kiepe. Ollie to fakie.

Blunt to fakie.

Phillip. Frontside pivot to fakie.

Tim Hachen. Tailslide on the plywood lip.

Brusk Crew: Mike, Stephan and friend.

All photos above: J. Hay
All b&w photos below: Torde

Baum. Pivot to Fakie. Photo: Torde

Baum. Photo: Torde

As you can see, the ramp was custom modified after the skate party session, for more speed!

Winter indoor skate ramp benefit party for summer concrete outside fun!

Concrete corner quarter pipe with bottle cap tiles

Our gracious host and More Concrete organizer: BAUM

Although it always looked like rain would dampen the mood, the event went on until dark without a single drop falling. The parting of the rain clouds around Ballina made for some beautiful rainbows and dramatic lighting as can be seen in some of the photos. Ballina locals were joined by shred heads from nearby towns, some of which had never skated the obstacle before. Groms and old dogs alike, they all focused their aggression on the barrier and made the afternoon memorable, all demonstrating their different styles and abilities… from kickflips to nosepicks to slasher grinds, it all went down. Beers and sausages followed the setting sun as the judges unleashed their findings.  - Roadie

Highlights of the awards were as follows:

Ankle Wrankle: Jaden

Kids with Lids: Jasper O’Maly

Like a Virgin: Bram

Energy Drink Sponsor Pending: Jakob Robinson

Kindergarten Cop: Dylan McNamara

Pippi Longstockings: Tony Chavez

Slap the Barryer Ladies Man Award: Barry Robinson

Trick Daddy: Scott Standley

Go get an X-ray: Joey

Repeat Offender: Luke

Barger who went Larger: Blake Harris

And of course a huge thanks to all sponsors of the event who made this possible: Skullcandy, Truck Stop Skate Shop, Webster Surfboards, Confusion Magazine, Brett Jones Plumbing, Hoax Clothing, and Paradise Dent Removal.

Scott Standley. Backside Nose Blunt slide on the pot of gold. Photo: Christoph Maderer

Tony Chavez. Smithgrind. Photo: Christoph Maderer

Blake Harris. FS Blunt. Photo: Roadie

Scott Standley. BS Tailslide. Photo: Roadie

Tony Chavez. FS Nosepick. Photo: Roadie

Jakob Robinson. Backside Smith. Photo: Roadie

Tony Chavez. Layback smith. Photo: Christoph Maderer

Luke. Barrier Plant.

Tony Chavez. FS Ollie. Photo: Christoph Maderer

Photos Roadie and Christoph Maderer
Video footage: Josh Hamilton & Roadie
Video edit: Josh Hamilton

Confusion Magazine’s POOL NEST t-shirt.

€15 + shipping

Available here: http://confusionmagazine.bigcartel.com/product/confusion-pool-nest-t-shirt-grey

Artwork by Hirotton.
Check out more from by Hiroyuki “Hirotton” Uemura at Paradox.

See Part 1 of 2 of the Confuzed Bird Series: TWO HEADED CROW