D.I.Y. Skateboarding
This is private bowl / diy built here in Metro Manila, Philippines. It’s called ALFSpot – named after the owner Alf. Four foot to five foot in height (1.25 – 1.5 meters) with smooth transitions. Built in 2012 by Alf himself along with local rippers Pedro Santos and Don.
Now i’m a greek-surf cynic, so when I discovered a mini ramp on the surfy beach where we planned to spend most of August I felt a genuine jolt of excitement. This was short lived however as we soon discovered it was in the kind of condition a flimsy wooden structure would be in if it had been left to endure the weathering of a beach environment for an entire year. Which it was. And it had.
“We live in a small country, we passed through another economic crisis, our politicians do not know how to spend our money. We thought the following: let us take it that nobody wants to do what we want. In Leiria there are no shortage of places to skate. We have a skatepark, a beautiful square full of marble curbs, a half dozen street spots and a mini ramp in the woods. But Ceramica is where we feel good. Far from everything and everyone, here we have the freedom and tranquility for a few beers, barbecues, creating concrete ramps without scooters, rollers and bmxers to cross our path. Do it yourself, fuck the rest.” – João Sales
“The sun rose silently behind the Sunset district of San Francisco.The fog was so thick you could grind it, the travelers were ill prepared for the inevitable onslaught. The ocean rose swallowing everything in her path. Israel Forbes was the first to spot the wall of water through the soupy fog. They struggled up the dunes narrowly escaping their ill timed fate. Zarosh Eggleston forged a quick and true path to the safety of “Neb’s Sanctuary”. There in the concrete safety of dunes they waited out the ebbing destruction. And the sun set once more.” – Mike Crabtree
Designed by concrete killer Julien Benoliel from Marseille, the bowl is being built for the “Julien Benoliel’s DIY bowl invitational contest” taking place April 26th. If you didn’t hear about it, well, I guess you weren’t invited.
Over the time, we got some experience with shaping concrete. And the first thing we learned is that we need good wooden trowels for the first contact with the concrete. Filling up holes and smoothing it roughly is the first step, waaay before you work with a metal trowel.
We found India Nick’s ramp in Assagao, Goa, but the landlord was a dick and didn’t want it to be skated. We tried to bribe him but he got more pissed, so Mathias went in the early morning before the sun rose and cleaned it up and had a morning session and refilled the bowl after…
Here it is folks the next ‘crete-raiser is set to go down Saturday, April 20th, 2013! Come shred Rocky’s bowl and help raise some extra dough to finish the BUILD.
