Skateboarding

An opportunity arrived to take a roadtrip, so I seized it. I called up a few of the Hoax mfg crew to see who was down for a 12 day skate trip from Spain to Belgium. The rough plan was to hit up as many DIY skate spots as possible, especially some of the newer spots in southern France that none of us had ever been to. Budget was relatively non-existent so accomodation would be sleeping in concrete bowls or anywhere for free with the idea to skate as many DIY spots as possible with the local skaters, as well as any other spots worth a stop for a quick session along the way.

Euro DIY tour 2018

Edited by Johannes Hirschmann and Jonathan Hay.
Filmed by Jonathan Hay. Additional footage by Donovan Rice, Alberto Scattolin and Jonathan Sjöberg.
Music by Zounds, Sun Bather and The Fulmars.
Summertime can be a hard time to get a crew of skaters together because about half the guys I know around europe build concrete skateparks for a living and summer is high season for concrete work. Some other guys couldn’t afford to take the time off, but soon enough all the spots were full. In the van were Jonathan Sjöberg from Sweden, Donovan Rice from USA, Kupa from Slovenia, Youngo from Scotland and myself.

Donovan Rice. Tailblock in the 13 foot deep bowl in Leioa. Basque country. Photo: J. Hay

La Kantera pool and our accomodation for two nights. Five star.

Latina (canned food) dinner time at La Kantera.

Kupa and Donovan. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Woke up to this view. La Kantera.

Donovan Rice. Pivot fakie at Lasa skatepark. Photo: J. Hay

Jonathan Sjöberg. Front feeble over the stairs at Sondika in Basque country. Photo: J. Hay

Playa Zarautz. Epic spot

Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

The first few days were spent picking up the crew, driving back and forth between Bilbao Airport, La Kantera, Zarautz and Sondika. On the third trip back to Bilbao airport we found out an already broken wristed Youngo couldn’t make his flight so we would have to pick him up at the airport along the way in Biarritz, where we stopped for a quick sweaty mid day session on the roof of the Ocean & Surf museum. Finally we had the full crew and skated a few parks including the Bayonne skatepark and Vieux Boucau and headed for an evening session at the Element Called Water skate / surf hostel close to Hossegor: a sunny place for shady people. We fit in well there with a session in the bowl til dark, bbq, beers and skated the mini ramp in the bar and called it a night.

Kupa. Front rock at Cité de L’Ocean. Biarritz, France. Analog photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Kupa. Front rock. Biarritz, France. Photo: J. Hay

Jonathan Sjöberg. Backside boneless. Biarritz. Photo: J. Hay

Kupa. Backsmith in Bayonne, France. Photo: J. Hay

Bayonne skatepark. Jonathan Sjöberg, Youngo, Donovan, Sket, and Kupa.

Youngo. Fast plant to fakie. Vieux-Boucau. Photo: J. Hay

Kupa. Backside crailslide at ECW skate hostel. Photo: J. Hay

Donovan. Barefoot session at ECW. Analog photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Post session beers and BBQ at ECW

Guillaume Challet. Frontside ollie at La Digue, a spot he helped build, under the bridge in Toulouse, Spain. Photo: J. Hay

La Digue DIY. Post session photo by Marine Bouchet. Youngo, Kupa, J. Hay, Jonathan Sjöberg, and Donovan Rice.

Youngo. Post session self medication at Challet’s place. Cheers! Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Home made pizzas. Thanks Guillaume and Marine. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Bridge DIY. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Jonathan Sjöberg. Frontside wallride at Bastien Marlin’s Bridge DIY. Photo: J. Hay

Donovan Rice. Pivot to fakie at Bridge DIY. Photo: J. Hay

Kupa, J. Hay, and Youngo. Cooling off by the river at the Bridge. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

La Digue DIY. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Backside blunt over the pipe. Forgot his name. Photo: J. Hay

Too hot, too hot to skate. That’s all I need right now, too hot to skate.

Mid day in south France in August is hot! Too hot to skate in the mid day sun, but perfect for a cool riverside swim. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

Unpacking the van at Beaulieu DIY

Camping at Beaulieu. Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

We arrived late as usual around 8pm where a session and bbq were already well underway, and met up with locals Will Roux and Julien “Sanglier” Guillon and a bunch of other super welcoming rad dudes who have put in a lot of work at the spot over the last several years. Beaulieu is built on a slab in a concrete quarry with dozens of ramps and obstacles on the edge of a woodsy area full of wild pigs, whose meat a local hunter and stone worker proudly offered us, while others obliged us to try their local mushrooms, wines and regional beers.

Chez Claude DIY and Hang up crew tattoos at Beaulieu.

Donovan Rice. Front rock on the oldest obstacle at Beaulieu. Photo: J. Hay

Kupa. Frontside tuckknee at Beaulieu DIY. Photo: J. Hay

Guillaume Challet. Front smith over the door. Thanks for the night of pizzas, skating at your spot, La Digue DIY in Toulouse, and a place to stay. Photo: J. Hay

Kupa. Stand up frontside grind over the door. Beaulieu DIY. Photo: J. Hay

Marine, Youngo, Kupa, Guillaume Challet and Donovan at BBC DIY

Kupa, Marine, Will Roux, Guillaume Challet and Youngo at Beaulieu

Beaulieu locals x Hoax mfg crew

The following day was the opening of BBC DIY, on the property of a local winemaker, whose son Enzo was celebrating the opening session of their DIY on his 17th birthday. We had been in contact to try our best to bring the Hoax tour to this monumental event and we actually made it as planned. Epic spot!

Donovan Rice. Texas plant in France. Barbecue DIY. South France. Photo: J. Hay

Enzo. The main boy behind BBC DIY. Sweeper on Demand on his 17th birthday, straight to the pages of Confusion magazine issue #21. Photo: J. Hay

Donovan, Jonathan and Youngo crashing Enzo’s 17th birthday party and the opening of BBC DIY. Enzo’s dad is a wine maker, and we drank free wine all night til the cows came home. Youngo won a bottle for doing a bean plant to fakie (undocumented). Photo: Jonathan Sjöberg

The following day we stopped by CVNHole on our way up north for a session with owner Choup and his son Marius, Jojo and Sammy Idri. CVNHole was a well worth stop we hadn’t actually planned. After the session Choup sent us north on a beautiful drive through Cevennes national forest. The next days in Belgium we had some amazing sessions and great times with Koekie, Yoeri, Ratman, Josh Kotlega and the locals. We skated Mechelen one of the biggest and greatest DIY spots in europe that keeps growing and the Knock-Out Pool in Kwinten’s backyard, where he organized an epic final bbq session around the pool. Thanks to everyone who helped us out along the way!