Dom Henry – backside flip over bench, Sardinia

During our trip to Sardinia in Easter 2016 I learnt Ganjwax CEO Jed Coldwell keeps his riders on a short leash, expecting only the highest standards in wax to ledge application. 

The bench that Dom is backside flipping in this photo didn’t just happen to be positioned next to the perfectly smooth marble kicker, in fact it wasn’t even close by. All the surrounding benches were screwed into the floor and rusted solid. Our friend and guide Luca found a ‘moveable’ one across the road and up at the top of about 500 steps. After dragging the solid iron bench all the way to the kicker, Dom knew that if he wanted to make a good impression on the TM he’d have to get buck. Unfortunately, the Ganjwax secret formula proved just too slippery for grinds when applied to the already slick bench. Dom decided the only way to keep his spot on the team would be to go up and over the neck high obstacle. Although difficult to tell from Jed’s poker face, the backside flip must have met with approval as Dom is still currently on the team (and not consigned to the pile of skaters who didn’t make the cut…).

Devine Calloway – backside flip, Bristol

The Primitive X Get Lesta collaboration trip lasted for a week or so I think. Due to working at a University and it being the middle of term I only got to go for one Sunday, but with the ridiculous skateboarding humans in attendance (Diego Najera, Trent McClung, Charlie Munro and Devine Calloway), it turned out one day was all we needed to get a grip of photos. The one person who had evaded my lens all day was Devine Calloway. The spots we’d hit had been a tad on the gnarly side for him, plus rain had stopped play for a a couple of hours.

Devine had expressed an interest in a ‘kicker’ spot down by the river, so as the ground dried a little and the light faded Devine got work and nailed this backside flip and a sublime backside bigspin.

Nicky Howells – noseslide to fakie nosegrind, Lloyds, Bristol

Instead of a story behind this photo, here is instead a recipe for a UK summer skate tour…

Preparation time: Varying from 6 months to 1 day (yup)

Cooking time: 10 Days

Ingredients: 1000KG of British, European and American skaters. 2 x Tour Vans. 2 x International Team Managers, 2 x Filmers, 1 x Photographer, 1 x UK Team Manager.

Method (for UK Team Manager to adhere to): Coordinate and pick up skaters arriving from multiple countries. Ensure everyone arrives at hotel. Procure substances necessary for the majority of the skaters to function. Wake up at hotel and make sure everyone gets up and gets into vans to travel to the next demo and signing. Placate everyone who hasn’t had breakfast. Stop and pay for food at extortionate motorway services. Continue driving to next demo and get stuck in endless summer holiday traffic jams. Arrive 2 hours late to demo. Assure irate shop owner that signing will take place after demo. Run off to get water for demo. Return to MC demo with broken loudhailer. Corral team into shop to facilitate signing. Finish signing and talk about heading to hotel. Listen to photographer and filmer whinging about the lack of street skating and subsequent street photos/footage on the tour. Assure photographer/filmer that against all the odds there will be time to street skate. Head to hotel. Buy everyone dinner and booze. Repeat for 10 Days.