Photos by Pob Scumtash
Words by Joxa
“No amount of anti-perspirant could have prepared us for this year’s trip. The sausage gods of Hamburg felt it was fit to slowly roast our pale British skins and make skateboarding extra difficult. Six gents sharing a small room created some very interesting smells and we were drinking more water than von raven this time round (we still drank our fair share of Von and thought it fit to sample some different beers this time!). Sometimes skateboarding seemed to fall from our thoughts. More important tasks were created such as buying hats (mission accomplished Dave!) and looking for fans, despite not knowing the German vocabulary for ‘fan’. That mission was less successful but provided us with a good laugh. On this occasion we shared our visit with the Waaken festival, so we were surrounded by dirty metallers from around the globe. As an added bonus Hamburg was hosting some sort of gay pride weekend. We totally fit in both groups as we could have easily been mistaken as homosexual grungers. But hey we were here to skate and skate we did!
This was my third visit to Hamburg as a skateboarding tourist. It really is excellent and provides everything to any discipline of skateboarding. There’s skateable street terrain everywhere from banks to blocks and if you’re into park skating preferably of the ‘pool’ style Hamburg really has you covered. There are several parks, all providing different challenges and incorporating a selection of transition, obstacles and coping. Want a chilled morning skate? Head down to the Fruchtallee bowl by the old folks home and share your slash grinds with the old folks there. Want something a bit bigger? The new park in Wilhelmsburg has a massive ultra-bowl that only has pool coping and boasts one of the most fun street plazas I have ever skated with lines for days. On this mission we spent more time skating this part than the bowl as we missed out last year. If it’s raining you can head indoors to the Ipunkt park although you must be willing to stomach terrible German techno much played at maximum volume. And of course there is the Rote Flora…
The Rote Flora is special. It has an aura surrounding it that you can feel when you enter the park. Located in the Sternschanze area of Hamburg the Rote Flora is situated behind the back of an old Theatre that is currently being used as a squat. The park itself is totally DIY and every time we head to Hamburg this park brings the best out In people. All of its transitions are different and you have to really study your lines. What might work one time will be almost useless the next! Its always good to watch the locals as they know it very well and you’ll be given an unforgettable demo, they’re also super friendly and happy to tell you about any other spots that may be around. The deep end has the gnarliest pool coping that should satisfy the most stubborn of slash dogs. If you let your guard down it will annihilate you. Its scary but it’s very rewarding when you make anything! On this trip I was stoked to see Ant and Mark make their way around the loveseat, exiting with massive grins to the sound of everybody cheering.
So yeah, goto Hamburg. Its rad. The people are rad, beer and food is pretty cheap and the skatespots are amazing. I feel that this time we didn’t skate as much as we could have but the heat was almost unbearable its lucky we could skate at all! The weather was excellent for metallers and gay festivals though! Those guys looked like they were having loads of fun!
Cheers again to Bob for sorting it out, Eva for helping us out and everybody we met over there. Prost!” – Joxa
