Cruise and Booze – Area 51 – Netherlands – 2016

“Loads of booze, and even gnarlier skating… it’s a time tested formula in Eindhoven’s Area 51 skatepark by now.
It used to be around March every year but this year they moved the date to the 21st of May. It had one plus at least and that was that if you were watching you would still have a decent sized willy at the end of the evening because it wouldn’t shrink back into your body because of the cold. They originally planned it to be Daan van der Linden‘s shoe release party as he now has his own colorway with a pro 112 model. Unfortunately as Daan is blowing up, his schedule didn’t permit him to be around for Cruize and Booze in his home town, at the park where he grew up skating. That didn’t mean there weren’t any rippers around though. Locals Nick Bax, and Daan’s brother Job were tearing it up as a team and Local 100% Skateshop owner, Dutch legend, and all around nice guy Jeroen Sars were tearing it up with no less than Mark “Red” Scott who was charging like he always does.

Mark Scott. Backside invert.

Mark Scott. Backside invert.

Charging comes at a price though and Red took such a nasty spill that he had to have himself checked out at the hospital. He’ll be fine though as he was spotted wandering about Amsterdam with his Dreamlands skateparks buddy Joey Martin who took it upon himself to be one of the speakers together with “Bolletje.”

There were skaters form other parts of Europe as well. Alex Hallford and his buddy Nick Hanson from England shredded and actually doubled. They took away the win with Nick and Job coming in as runners up. 3rd place went to Pjotr Meerding and Dennis Visscher who initially didn’t want to skate but helped Piotr out. Not bad for a team of convenience.

Alex Hallford over Nick Hansen.

Alex Hallford over Nick Hansen. Team “Kill David Cameron” taking the win for England.

There were skaters from Belgium like Oldschool Jeff and Donald Huycke, as well as a couple skaters from Spain, Charlie Sebastian and Abel Segura. Unfortunately there was another hospitalization with Charlie breaking his collar bone and wrist.

As always it turned into mayhem as the combination of skating and booze is a explosive one, sometimes with five riders in the bowl at once, a lot of near misses and some (not too bad) collisions. The mood was good and it got hot in there really fast. Another success I reckon and we’ll sure be there again next year.”

Belgian ripper. Tuckknee front smith.

Donald Huycke. Tuckknee front smith. Team “Knock Out”

Photos and words by Eddie Think

Tim Bijsterveld. Disaster.

Tim Bijsterveld. Disaster. Team “Men in Black”

Alex Hallford. Crail to fakie.

Alex Hallford. Crail to fakie. Team “Kill David Cameron”.

Spanish dude. Front smith.

Charlie Sebastián. Front smith. Team “Ganita Brava”

Robian Fifield. Frontside air.

Robian Fifield. Frontside air. Team “Fuck ups”

Pjotr Meerding. Texas plant.

Pjotr Meerding. Texas plant. Team “Bier”.

Nick Bax. Front Rock

Nick Bax. Front Rock. Team “1017 Bricksquad!”

Nick Bax. Bowl to bowl transfer.

Nick Bax. Bowl to bowl transfer. Team “1017 Bricksquad”.

Lars Stout. Frontside air.

Lars Stout. Frontside air. Team “Last Minute”.

Lars Stout. Nose pick.

Lars Stout. Nose pick. Team “Last Minute”.

Job ven der Linden. Slob fast plant.

Job van der Linden. Slob fast plant. “Team 1017 Bricksquad!”

Jip Korevaar. Frontside ollie.

Jip Korevaar. Frontside ollie. Team “#Going”

Bart Buikman. Backside feeble.

Bart Buikman. Backside nose grind. Team “#Going”

Alex Hallford. Front rock.

Alex Hallford. Front rock. Team “Kill David Cameron”

Video by Thijs de Koning