a brief glance skateboardmag 08 by a brief glance skateboardmag

issue / 08

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introducing the nike paul rodriguez 5 featuring lunarlon dynamic cushioning

available august 2011 nikeskateboarding.com

EDITORIAL / 08

Photo Davide Biondani. a brief glance

the summer is magic.

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ISSUE / 08

CONTENTS FRAGMENTS / photos BOOK/ a toast to the end of time / a scott bourne PLACES

/EL SABOR DE CUBA phil zwijsen

Nike SB TEXTURE TOUR / sardegna

COVER: Luca Doneddu, nollie heelflip. Photo Davide Biondani.

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book in collaboration with carhartt

n and michael mackrodt explorin the streets of havana Photo Chiara Tiso.

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EDITOR and CONCEPT Davide Biondani. (davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR Guido Bendotti. PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Antoine, Leo Sharp, Eric Mirbach, Marcel Veldman, Kévin Métallier, Friedjof Feye, Garric Ray, Alex Irvine, Fabio Montagner, Chiara Tiso, Marcello Guardigli, Alan Maag, Davide Biondani. CONTRIBUTORS Mauro Caruso, Francesco Paolo Chielli, Jonathan Levin, Anton Jandet, Ailsa Hay, Ale Martoriati,Fabiano Ferronato, Mirko Obkircher, Mark Baines. DESIGN Fake Donkey Lab.

www.abriefglance.com GET ALL THE INFOS at:

info@abriefglance.com abrief glance skateboard mag is a bulletin published by fake donkey skateboard asd. No part of this pubblication may be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. All right reserved. a brief glance

www.abriefglance.com

Photo Davide Biondani.

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www.abriefglance.com a brief glance

fake donkey lab

davide biondani photography.

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FRAGMENTS

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Dino Brandao, Rainy bs tailslide. Photo: Alan Maag. Switzerland.

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FRAGMENTS

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Romain Jorda, Switch fs 180. Photo: KĂŠvin MĂŠtallier. Bilbao. Spain. a brief glance

Pedro Day Kickflip over. Photo: Davide Biondani. Sidney. Australia.

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FRAGMENTS

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FRAGMENTS

Chris Fletcher, Bs smith grind. Photo: Marcello Guardigli. Adelaide. Australia.

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BOOKS / 08

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A Toast to The End of Time is the 3rd and final book collaboration between Scott H. Bourne and Carhartt. Each edition (Eclipse and Cheating on The Metronome were the first two) chronicles the developement of his poems from 2003 to 2010 and has a print run of 1000 copies. Scott H Bourne is a skateboarder from North Carolina, USA, who lives in Paris where he is working on books projects with Editions 19/80 and Snoeck Publishing and also has regular publications in books and magazines all across the world.

“A Toast to Te End of Time... is about a lot of things but mostly the end of an old relationship with a woman, the end of our time as in our generation, the end of things that define us, like records, or Walkmans, a world without cell phones and computers. It’s about the jump in generations that made my way with the world outdated. It’s about the death of a tangible time, it’s about the beginning of a new relationship with a woman, it’s erotic, sensual and beautiful... A rebirth, a continuation and how the new is born out of the old.” (Scott H. Bourne)

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Nike SB / TEXTURE TOUR

SARDEGNA

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Photography and words Davide Biondani. Texture art Andrea Caputo and InvernoMuto.

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SARDEGNA IS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING PLACES IN THE WORLD. ITS SEA, SANDS AND NATURE ARE SOMETHING UNIQUE AND INCREDIBLE: IN A FEW LIKE IT’S UNREAL.

ANOTHER GREAT THING ABOUT THIS REGION IS THE SMELL: THE ISLAND AIR SMEL THINK ABOUT A PLACE IT FEELS LIKE YOU CAN STILL SMELL IT. AMAZING. THE OCCASION FOR GOING BACK TO SARDEGNA IS TO VISIT LUCA DONEDDU, DEFIN AFTER AN ENTIRE NIGHT SPENT ON THE FERRY BOAT WE WERE READY TO START TH ARRIVED, TO THE SOUTH TO SKATE THE BEST SPOTS LUCA BROUGHT US TO.

KORAHN MCGAYLE WAS IN SICILY FOR A NIKE UK TOUR AND HE JOINED US DIRECTL A FUNNY TOUR, FULL OF ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES, WITH A BROKEN ARM MAURO CARUSO AND A BROKEN CAR THAT LEFT US IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE A DRIVE HIS CAR FOR 6 HOURS TO BRING US BACK TO THE NORTH SIDE SO WE COULD

BUT IN THE END I CAN SAY THE SUN WAS ALWAYS SHINING, WE SKATED A LOT OF GO AT THE BEACH FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT YEAR.

THIS WAS THE THIRD AND LAST PART OF THE NIKE SB TEXTURE TOUR 2011, IT START COAST AND ENDED IN SARDEGNA; THE PURPOSE OF THESE MISSIONS WAS TO GO VI THREE TOURS IN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS; A FUNNY AND CRAZY ADVENTURE BUT

THANK YOU MAURO, JACOPO, CREST, LAMBI, DONEDDU, SERGIO, JEROME CAMBELL, M SPENT TOGETHER AND FOR THE SICK SKATE SESSIONS. a brief glance

SPOTS THE SAND IS SO SOFT AND THE COLOR OF THE SEA SO INTENSE IT LOOKS

LLS GREAT, IT GETS STUCK IN YOUR HEAD AND WHEN YOU SEE A PHOTO AGAIN OR

NITELY MAKING ALL THE GUYS ON THE TEAM HYPED. HIS NEW GREAT ADVENTURE FROM THE NORTH SIDE OF THE ISLAND, WHERE WE

LY FROM THERE AS OUR SPECIAL GUEST. M, CRESTANI, A RECOVERY AT THE HOSPITAL FOR A SUSPECTED RIBS FRACTURE, AT 8PM, LETTING US WASTE A FULL DAY OF THE TOUR AND MAKING DONEDDU D OUR FERRY ON THE LAST DAY.

OOD SPOTS, WE LANDED A LOT OF SWEET TRICKS AND WE EVEN WENT SWIMMING

TED WITH THE MISSION IN SICILY, CONTINUED IN MILANO AND ON THE ADRIATIC ISIT EACH RIDER, HIS TOWN AND SKATE HIS SPOTS. DEFINITELY HARD AND CHALLENGING WHERE EVERYONE GAVE HIS BEST 110%

MAXIME GÉRONZI, DANI LEBRON AND KORAHN MCGAYLE FOR THE AMAZING TIME a brief glance

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LUCA DONEDDU

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Hey Luca, how are you doing? What are you up to today? All good here, thanks. I think I’m going to go out with my dog for a little walk then go skating. How is summer going there in Sardegna this year? beach, sun and a lot of people? Summer here in Sardegna is hot and it changes daily: cold windy days, crazy hot days, never rain and a lot of sun. A lot of tourists for sure but less than the past years… I think it’s because of the italian government since they raised the ferry boat prices. Sardegna is one the most beautiful places in the world, do you agree with that? Tell me the best 3 beaches around the island, I want to know the secret spots… eh eh eh. Yeah for sure, I love my island! But I think the whole world is amazing. I really like the beach of Chia, the sand there is kind of reddish and it’s backed by dunes. The beach of Nora is another great spot, it’s got little stones and the rest of a phoenician-punic-roman old town so the whole area has that unique charm! Another amazing spot that I just went to is the south west coast, the area of Calasetta: the sand there is soft and almost straight white! A pleasure for our tactile senses! Do you like to go out to the beach? On tour you were the only one still dressed up at the beach and probably the only white skin local guy on the entire island!!! Yeah, I really love going to the beach, even during winter: breathing in the sea air is the best! My skin is too white so to get a tan I would need to go there steadily. How old are you and how long have you been skating? I never asked you these questions before, but it seems you have been around forever. I’m 24 and I have skated since I was 13, I started when I was in middle school. What’s your first memory about skateboarding? How did you start? My first memory is my older brother’s board, it was a Rob Roskopp board, the one with the eye on the graphic; I remember him trying to do ollies on the balcony of our house, I was a little kid, maybe 4, and I had to wait a long time before I had my first professional set up. A few years later I saw my first skate video, Transworld Interface, I started skating and never stopped.

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Do you always have fun like the “first day” or sometime do you miss those easy days when you just started? I have seen you at least a few times getting crazy mad and destroy your board while trying a trick..eh eh eh I have more fun now then those days! Sometimes I’m impulsive and if I get mad with my board it’s probably because I’m in a bad mood for something happened before. I love my skateboard and every time I break a board like that I feel so stupid after. How is Sardegna for skating on a tour and compared to skating there every day? Sardegna is sick place for skating: there are a lot of spots. If you go around you always find new ones. Maybe for us, for the locals, it would be way easier to skate if there would have been a safe place to skate everyday all day without getting kicked out. A skatepark, or a bowl or just a good flat ground area where we could put some ledges and flat bars in would be great. Do you think that living on an island is a limit for your skateboarding? Yes, sometimes it can be a limit… there are no photographers or filmers here, and I can never go and skate with people from different areas and that is really important to me! I try to take the best out of the situation so the distance for me is also a great motivation to keep doing what I love and not just because everybody does it. It’s a motivation to push it harder and harder trying to make a better skate scene out here and I think it’s possible if there are true skateboarders that really love what they do. Have you ever thought about moving? I have been thinking a lot about it lately. I haven’t done it so far because all the important things and people in my life are here, even if sometimes I just want to escape form here! You never know maybe one day I will move out, maybe not. I am just traveling as much as I can for now. How is the skate scene in Sardegna? The skate scene is getting bigger and bigger: there are always new kids starting to skate and a lot of people that stopped years ago are getting back on a board. Nowadays it is way easier to get in contact with each other to find out where people are going to skate, if there are any events or contests and stuff like that. I really enjoy watching little kids skate. It gets me hyped.

How was the Nike tour? How was it to go skate your spots with everyone else? The tour went great but it could have been better. We got unlucky with a few things. Between injured skaters and broken cars, we still had a lot of fun though. Skating the spots with everyone else was just great because they are awesome skaters. I already missed you guys so much. For me it was the best motivation to be around people that put so much effort and them selves in to what they love to do. The trick that impressed you the most? Lambi Nollie, Mauro switch ollie, Korahn bs 360, Crest noseblunt and Carozzi fs board flip out. You have been on the team since the beginning, what do you think of this new team and what has changed from the past? who is the maddest of the crew? I love the new team! Other than being great people, they are skateboarders rich in passion and talent. Everyone impressed me for their qualities. If I can say something about their skateboarding I would say that Marco is a great skater, he can skate huge and rough spots with his unique style, pop and technique. Crest is incredible, I have seen him skating every kind of spot: ledges, pole jam, wall rides, stairs, anything! His versatile character reflects his versatile skating, he has a creative and light style and I’m always impressed by his skating. Mauro is precise even when it’s hard be like that, he has an incredible pop and a lot of different tricks, he can skate big spots with style and elegance and as I just said he can do so many tricks. Carozzi is a natural skateboarding machine, it looks like he was born on a board: he has a lot of talent and skates with a lot of style and great technique. He will never stop to impress me! The maddest? Everyone would say the craziest one is Lambi, but Mauro is right up there: when he gets mad he starts to insult handrails, handrails parents, himself, the weather and anything around him… Carozzi gets crazy when he spends the whole tour trying to imitate Lambertucci. I think Crest is the most sane and normal out of everyone. I think that if he keeps hanging out with us he will get crazy one day and will kills all of us! Actually I think he is already making a plan to murder us on the next tour.

I like to meet new people, show them my place, spend days together having fun, talking about our different cultures and trying to keep in contact with them so maybe we can meet and skate somewhere else in the future. During the 70-80s over there in Sardegna there were a lot of kidnappings, gangsterism and a strong independent movement, what’s the situation like today? Are there still “closed” areas? About the gangsterism I can tell you that it’s basically over. Of course sometimes you watch the news and things still happen but like everywhere else, you know. A lot of people want this region to be independent. In a lot of villages people live off what they have there and what do you think we have on an island where the economy is way worst than other regions in the north of Italy? We live off what we have, agriculture, cattle and a lot of farms without having a good economic sources. Sardegna, the land full of the most beautiful girls in the world and of crazy people. Legend or reality? Yes! A lot of pretty girls and a lot of mad people, but like everywhere else! Three things people must do or go see when they come to your region. Go to the beach, eat typical local food, and go visit all the archeological finds around the region like the “nuraghe” or all the old villages. Why do people call you Crazy Horse? Ah ah ah, because when I skate I try to go as fast as i can, I get wild and if I get hyped for a trick that I just landed I get crazy happy. What university do you go to? why did you choose it and what are the most interesting things? I go to a liberal art university, I choose it because it was my passion and I really like history.

A few different companies have come on tour over there recently, how is it to go and skate with all these skaters from different regions? I’m always hyped when new skaters come down here: it’s sick to see them skating the spots I go and skate everyday. a brief glance

LUCA DONEDDU / FS BIGSPIN. I bet five euros with Luca on this trick first try straight out the car with no warm up. He took 5 tries and I got a fresh beer from the bar for my efforts. Since it was almost 38 degrees celsiusâ&#x20AC;Śit was like a breath of fresh air.

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Do you actual study or it’s just an excuse to keep skating? I’m not doing any exams now but it’s not an excuse to go skating. I took a break and I don’t know if I’m going to keep attending this year. A lot of skaters would like to see your footage more often, when are you going to show us some stuff? Soon, really soon. promise! Do you think you still need to step up your skateboarding or are you happy with it? I’m happy to go and skate… I just want to go skating and

try the best I can without any limits. I want to keep skating till my legs drop off and get better every single day! What’s your programs for next months? Skating, traveling and skating! Bring my skateboarding out from this island trying to satisfy myself and my sponsors and why not, keep pushing the skate scene over here to get it bigger and bigger! Great. Thanks a lot and have a good session! See you soon and thanks! One love.

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LUCA DONEDDU / WALLRIDE. Right on top of the roof of this building there are 2 videocams, this could mean you have all your tricks filmed or you have 3 minutes to land your trick before the security comes out and kicks you away. Or maybe both. On the first attempt to get this wallride we got the boot, the very next day we had enough time to land it four times.

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MAURO CARUSO

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JACOPO CAROZZI

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MAURO CARUSO / SWITCH OLLIE. This is one of my favorite spots to shoot in Sardegna, probably due to the beautiful colors of the stage and the mountains in the backgroundâ&#x20AC;Ś the short run up did not prevent Mauro from landing this switch ollie in just a few tries. a brief glance

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JACOPO CAROZZI / OLLIE NOSEBONK. If you find a different and clever way to skate every spot you go to, you simply rule.

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JACOPO CAROZZI / KICKFLIP BS 5-0 GRIND FS OUT.

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MARCO LAMBERTUCCI

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MARCO LAMBERTUCCI / SWITCH BLUNT SLIDE TO FAKIE. During our first day in Cagliari we went to this classic spot, but got kicked out before Lambi could land his switch bluntslide. He wanted it really bad and he tried to land it with this screaming man running after him but he never made it. On our very last day leaving the city driving towards the north to catch the ferry we stopped once again at the church and Marco took the trick home third try. For the record: no sweaty t-shirt for this trick.

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MARCO LAMBERTUCCI / NOLLIE. Nuoro is a city in the middle of the island, in the 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and in the 80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it was famous for kidnappings and for being a place with a lot of bandits. Nowadays it is known in the skateboarding community for two sweet spots, one is this gap. Lambi got the pop.

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MARCO LAMBERTUCCI / FAKIE FS KICKFLIP.

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MARCO LAMBERTUCCI / FS 5-0 GRIND. We drove for one hour to get to this spot to find out there was nothing interesting to skate. Marco saved our day with this fs 5-0 grind. Thanks Lambi. a brief glance

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LUCA CRES

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A STANI

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LUCA CRESTANI / TRE FLIP TRANSFER. I spotted this hip three years ago on another trip while driving on this straight street in the middle of the countryside. I think no one else has skated this spot since then. We had to remove some rocks and dirt from the flat and we spent some hours around noon under the bridge eating while Crest ate shit as he tried to land this tre flip transfer the day after he broke his arm. a brief glance

LUCA CRESTANI / NOSEBLUNT SLIDE.

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KORAHN McGAYLE

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KORAHN McGAYLE / FAKIE KICKFLIP. Fakie kickflip down stairs or gaps is one of the coolest trick to see. Korahn pleased us with this one while Luca Doneddu landed the nollie heel of the cover on our last afternoon in Cagliari.

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KORAHN McGAYLE / FAKIE TRE FLIP. Korahn seems to know how to skate gaps doing a fakie. What can be said about a perfect fake tree flip like this one?

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KORAHN McGAYLE / SWITCH HEELFLIP. Usually people skate some stairs on the side of this spot, really few people skate this double set. You always have to wait until cars have driven through on the road and the landing is slightly downhill. Korahn wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afraid of the traffic nor of the landingâ&#x20AC;Śhe jumped straight over the street.

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Wassup Korahn? All good in Bristol? Yeah all good in Bristol man.. Just skating loads and working. All gravy. How is Bristol as a place where to live? A lot of stuff to skate? Bristol’s pretty cool, got some good spots and there is always a lot of parties and festivals in the summer. How old are you and how long have you been skating? I am 23 and I have been skating for 11 years. What you do beside skateboarding? You told me you work a personal trainer in a gym... I work in fitness first as a fitness instructor, I am qualified as a personal trainer but I don’t want to commit to it yet coz I want to skate. You are in a really good shape, what’s your daily workout? I go to the gym with my bro 3-4 times a week, do a bit of chest one day, back the next, maybe shoulders and arms another day... Not too fussed about the muscles anymore ha.. I’m doing lots of plyometric training so I can jump/ollie higher at the moment... Pretty fun! I know you like football and you are an Arsenal fan...Why Arsenal? Coz they are the shizzle!!! Come on you Gooooooners!!!! So on saturday you go down at the pub, get some beers and then you go out with your firm to kick other team fan’s asses...ah ha ha... Ha ha ha I’m not into fighting, defo up for a beer though ha! Do you play also in a team? Yeah I play loads of football, play for two teams on the weekend... Not gonna play as much this year because I wanna skate more!! Need to get oooooon it! How was this trip to Sardegna? Yeah that was an amazing trip dude! Sick crew, sick spots and dope food!!! How did it happened you joined the Nike SB italian team last minute as special guest? I know you were in Sicily with Nike UK for another trip... Yeah I was on the trip with the UK team and the italian team needed a guest so I hopped on board!! Good times! So you visited the 2 main islands of Italy in one trip...Was this your first time in Italy? Yeah first time but definitely not the last! Best food everrrrrr!!!

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KORAHN McGAYLE / BS 360. Korahn wanted to land this bs 3 as the last trick of the lineâ&#x20AC;Ś after spending 30 minutes with no luck he focused on the last trick only.

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Which spot you like the most and which have been the best trick in your opinion? I would say swimming in the blue water.. ha ha ha.. Ha ha ha defo the blue water... So nice. Three bands you are listening to at the moment? Uhhh... I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of 3... Or 1... I like Iron Maiden. Any plan for next months? Skate, skate, skaaaate!!! Before the rain comes! a brief glance

KORAHN McGAYLE / POP SHOVE-IT. Perfect catch, of the perfect trick, on a perfect spot, on a perfect day.

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Phil and Michi exploring the streets of Habana.

el sabor de Cuba.

Photography and words Eric Mirbach.

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CUBA IS ONE OF THESE DESTINATIONS EVERYBODY’S ATTRACTED TO SOMEHOW. IT HAS

SOMETHING OF A TIME-TRAVEL, WHAT WITH ALL THE OLD AMERICAN AUTOMOBILES AND COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE. OF COURSE, THIS SITUATION IS A RESULT OF THE US-EM-

BARGO AGAINST THE STATE AFTER THE REVOLUTION UNDER FIDEL AND CHÉ IN 1959 AND

ISN’T EXACTLY WHAT THE CUBANS THEMSELVES WISH TO CONTINUE TO HAVE – BUT FOR THE MEANS OF SKATEBOARDING, IT‘S A BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUND OF TIME STANDING STILL. MICHI MACKRODT AND PHIL ZWIJSEN WENT FOR IT. THIS IS HOW IT WAS TO ACCOMPANY THEM THERE.

First, there was customs. I have to admit, this whole trip to Cuba somehow just happened around me and I didn’t make time to prepare properly. Michi Mackrodt, with who I, if memory serves, only met once briefly before shot me a Facebook message saying he would go to Cuba. Would I come? Damn right I would! Booked a flight, then went back to work, didn’t bother to think about anything until the day of departure came. And now here I was, sorting through enormous heaps of luggage in the messy arrivals area of Havana airport, trying to find my bag in order to go and see the official who just took off with my passport in hand: “Find your luggage then come to see me. Somewhere over there”. Not that he actually spoke english, I just pieced that sentence together from the hand signs I thought I understood. Anyways, it was close to two hours in which they made me wait, mixed up my papers, confronted me with four different officials, tested me for explosives, then tested me for drug use, then made me explain every single item of photo equipment I brought three times in a row, then had me unpack and repack my camera bag again and again, then took a photo of everything I brought, to then conclude the procedure by sorting through my underwear. In the end they let me go. I exchanged my EUR into CUC, the special currency Cuba has for foreign travelers and went for the next cab. Second, there was darkness. Before I travelled there, all I knew about Cuba was what everyone kinda knows about it. Funny old cars, fucked up but beautiful buildings and yeah, socialism of course, whatever. I didn’t realize this could mean so few lights on the streets. The cabdriver took my 25 CUC (I still didn’t have the faintest idea if this was a fair price or not since I hadn’t done the least bit of research and didn’t know how much a damn CUC was worth) and off we went on dark bumpy streets under a dark sky with nothing to see outside, just few other cars speeding in and out of sight rather quickly. All I brought with me to hold on to was a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it. “Give this to the cabdriver, we’ll be waiting there for you”. That was all the information I flew in with and when we stopped, we were obviously in some part of Havana, but it still was pitch black on the streets, the slight silhouettes of the sorroundings buildings looking like ruins, barking dogs on the streets and things moving in the shadows everywhere. I have to admit; I was alarmed and forced the cabdriver to stay with me just in case Michi wouldn’t show up. We hadn’t hat any contact since he arrived in Cuba a couple days before me and I sent him a text to come pick me up. He did. I was there. I was grateful. Socialism isn’t for me, that’s for sure. Even though the next day presented a cloudless blue sky and the dark and scary ruins turned out to be, though fucked up, beautiful and bright colored architecture while the bumpy ghetto streets were bright and filled up with pedestrians and the most beautiful old american automobiles, the first couple days into my stay confronted me with how crazy it feels when the consumption you’re used to just isn’t happening due to missing options.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;...the next day presented a cloudless blue sky and the dark and scary ruins turned out to be, though fucked up, beautiful and bright colored architecture while the bumpy ghetto streets were bright and filled up with pedestrians and the most beautiful old american automobiles...â&#x20AC;?

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You can change all the Euros you want into CUC – there just isn’t anything to buy. Big windows giving an insight into sort of a mall right in our street and the whole thing is empty. A couple of chairs in the middle of the ground floor, two vitrines made out of glass with barely three items to purchase in them. Once Michi ordered a coffee in this little restaurant we were hanging out at. Afte 15 minutes, he asked what was up – they told him he would have to wait until the cup they had would be free again. Go figure. Another thing that’s almost impossible to bear for the first days but then turns into a kind of mind-clearing experience is the absolute non-existency of the internet. It just isn’t there. No wifi, no nothing. Time travel! Cuba would need a big cable from under the sea to have a good connection – which would have to come from the US then. Which won’t happen anytime soon. So its 65k top-speed but since nobody owns a computer anyways, it’s no biggie. Living in Cuba worked out pretty nicely. Michi’s girlfriend, Anna, who accompanied him on the journey, found the email address of this girl named Elisabeth who rented out a couple rooms in her place. These “cassias particulars”, private rooms for rent, are pretty common over there – a good alternative for everyone who doesn’t want to check into on of the quite expensive hotels in the direct city center or, even worse, into one of the all-inclusive-bunkers mostly populated by drunk and sunburnt russians. Phil Zwijsen should come meet us later, so we pitched in to get a rental and ride around town to find spots beforehand, to be prepared. The car wasn’t exactly cheap either but helped a big deal. We found quite some interesting stuff to skate and when we knew our way around, we started to go and hit the spots by (stylish oldtimer) cab. You can catch one everywhere and they’re cheap and fun to ride in. Skating indeed was really relaxed. Nobody bothered us, nobody cared. The few skatekids we met where psyched and so thankful for just being able to lend a good and new board for a change. Where theres no new cars and no internet-cables, there obviously aren’t any new boards. We even saw a kid that made his own – out of an old chair! True love! Sometimes, some random kids walked up to us, asked to lend a board and pulled proper and stylish kickflips. Phil and Michi did stay another two weeks, for a whole month in total, just to go to Peru right after… But that’s another story. Maybe you’ll have it told soon, right here. We’ll see. a brief glance

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Oh the beauty of a country not having enough money to repair the sidewalks. Again, we found this natural bum by accident and Michi re-interpreted it the most beautiful way. BS Grab up and away.

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Michi. Bs grab. a brief glance

Phil. Fakie kickflip.

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Legend has it that once, Ryan Sheckler came to Cuba, took a cab, went to these stairs and did in between 10-20 tricks down the set in a couple of minutes, all bangers, end to end. Luckily, he left out Fakie Kickflip – this way, Phil could take it home with him. You can skate this monument all day, nobody cares. It’s perfect marble, the sun’s blazing, palm trees everywhere and a crowd of super stoked locals to cheer you up. It could be worse then this.

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We saw this spot from the car on our way outside of the city to one of the more deserted beaches. Michi fell in love with the wall right away and it was obvious we would have to go back there and get a fs wallride there. What you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see in the picture is how busy the street was. Michi had to find his way through loads of stinking, honking old timers of all sorts. It was worth to inhale all these toxins though.

Michi. Fs wallride. a brief glance

Yes, damn right, he 50-50d up the ledge, then wallied out of it. Just like that.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...it was close to two hours in which they made me wait, mixed up my papers, confronted me with four different officials, tested me for explosives, then tested me for drug use, then made me explain every single item of photo equipment I brought three times in a row, then had me unpack and repack my camera bag again and again, then took a photo of everything I brought...â&#x20AC;?

Michi. 50-50 grind up to wallie.

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This flat gap is on a basketball-court with no baskets, so everybody was playing baseball (Cuba’s most beloved sport, so it seems) instead. When we arrived to use the field in a whole new way, some kids where super-hyped, others couldn’t be bothered. It’s been a little stressful to skate in between that much kids running around and most of the time, Michi couldn’t skate at all due to the fact that he had to lend out his board to one of the kids all the time. Most of them looked as if they never saw a board in their lifes – and then they kickflipped at full speed.

“...there just isn’t anything to buy. Big windows giving an insight into sort of a mall right in our street and the whole thing is empty. A couple of chairs in the middle of the ground floor, two vitrines made out of glass with barely three items to purchase in them.”

Michi. Switch bs kickflip.

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“Michi ordered a coffee in this little restaurant we were hanging out at. After 15 minutes, he asked what was up – they told him he would have to wait until the cup they had would be free again. .”

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Phil. 5-0 grind.

As far as we are informed, Sheckler didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hit the ledge though. There you go, FS 5-0! a brief glance

a brief glance

This is Havana skatepark, one rusty son of a bitch. Super sketchy to skate, rough ground and crazy obstacles. Phil couldn’t be stopped to leave one of his signature moves behind, Blunt and then down the bank again, to fakie. Gnarly!

“...there obviously aren’t any new boards. We even saw a kid that made his own – out of an old chair! True love!”

a brief glance

Phil. Blunt to fakie.

a brief glance

After a brief stop at the beach for coconuts, Michi decided to bs 180 this massive set and go coconuts. This spots belongs to a stadium nearby the ghetto-ass Havana skatepark and we found it by accident.

a brief glance

Michi. Bs ollie.

a brief glance