Thursday, April 30, 2009

Optimizing Driver Distance


Over the past few years, when it comes to maximizing distance on your drives, there's been lots of talk about launch monitors, ball spin and launch angle. Too little ball spin and/or too little launch angle will lose distance. This tool will get you in the ball park of what is optimal for your ball speed. Don't know your ball speed but do know your swing speed? Click on the Swing Speed-Ball Speed Converter at the top to get an estimate.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Spencer Hamilton


I've seen him skating around the past several months and he's definitely one of the most consistent guys out there. Check out his part in Strange Brew. I couldn't be happier that Ottawa has produced as many good skaters as it has.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New Skateboard Graphics Book


I've been sitting on the website for this book for a bit and waiting to do a post about it but skatedaily beat me to the punch. Another skateboard graphics book. Looks like it's more recent stuff. Their website also features an interview section that includes Ed Templeton, Bob K, Evan Hecox and Jamal Williams.

For older stuff, Disposable is still the benchmark but keep in mind that The Disposable Skateboard Bible is set to be released this summer.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Blind Jason Lee Burger


I had to do a post about this because of the accompanying cease and desist letter. This slick bottom Blind Jason Lee board was pretty popular when it was released. I never had one. It seemed a little wide to me at the time. When the ad was first released, lots of people thought it was a Vallely diss (shaved head, eating meat) but in Disposable, Jason Lee has stated that it was not. Pics from skateboard graphics . com.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Taking Nostalgia Old Old School


We've been blessed with lots of late 80's / early 90's skateboard nostalgia blogs such as Chrome Ball Incident, Vert is Dead and Police Informer. As of late, some of the magazines are posting full issues from their vaults. Scan through old Slaps (up to issue 9 so far) and Thrasher has issues from their first (1981), second (1982) and third (1983) years to peruse.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

PGA's Richard S. Johnson


In my generation (people that started skating in the late 80's / early 90's), it seems like a lot of kids start out cruising around their hood on their BMX's with their friends. Then one day they see some random kid skating, doing tricks and it looks super cool and fun. You and all your friends end up getting boards. Your crew starts to get more serious about it, start learning more tricks, watch all the new videos and start getting better. Your crew changes over the years, losing some between middle school and high school, losing more between high school and college/university, but also gaining some along the way. If you kept skating through all those transition years, you're probably gonna end up doing it forever.

At some point though, whether it's because of skating's impact on your old bones or a new hobby, golf seems like a natural transition. IMO they have more in common than most people think. Both require a serious amount coordination, balance and feel. It's just you versus the street/park/ramp/course. One trick/swing at a time. There's no single correct way of doing either. There's thousands of ways to get good results in both.

Turns out this guy Richard S. Johnson has gone from skate rat to pro golfer. Here's a story from a Desert Sun article.

Skateboarding was more than just a hobby for him. He competed in the Swedish national championships. But he will be the first to dispel any mythical reports about his achievements.

“The media always wants to run me in to like I won the world championship or something,” Johnson said after a second-round 7-under 65 on the Palmer Course at PGA West. “I mean, I was a decent skateboarder. I competed a little bit, but I wasn't no Swedish champion or anything.”


The golf equivalent of focusing a board.
Photo from Getty Images.

And here's another story from a pgatour.com article.
Being a PGA TOUR winner and looking forward to his first trip to the Masters this year is a long way from Johnson's days of mocking golfers as he drove past a course on his way to skateboarding practice as a youth in Sweden.

"The last time I went on a skateboard was actually for "Inside the PGA TOUR" a couple of years ago at Milwaukee," Johnson said. "I can look decent. I would probably rank myself as an 8 handicapper right now as a skateboarder."

Johnson said he's sometimes amused when people talk about his competitive skateboarding days, because he's not sure he was ever that good at skateboarding.

"The media always wants to run me into like I won the world championship or something," Johnson said. "I was a decent skateboarder, I competed a little bit, but I wasn't a Swedish champion or anything."

Last but not least, a video of his hole in one at the 2008 US Bank Championship.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Triple Bogey Update


Triple Bogey's blog has a new home. Update your bookmarks and check out their Spring 2009 line.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Santa Cruz Slasher


Santa Cruz and Powell Peralta had such distinct graphic styles in the late 80's. Jim Phillips is da man. Always liked the Slasher graphic. Maybe it's because the Meekster and I share the same first name. Unfortunately, the only pro named Keith who IMO was awesome is HUF. Graphic from Wheel Bite.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Chris Cole on a tiny board


Totally ridiculous. It would take me a year (or more) to get half that footage on a regular board.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Gino Iannucci furniture


Blasphemous use of a Gino board. boooooooooo.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Bamboo


I'd like to think I'm a pretty ethical and environmentally friendly person. With decks, I've always skated 7 plies of maple for over 20 years. I've seen boards from time to time over the past few years (Stereo, Habitat, Ebay) with 1 or 2 bamboo plies, most of which didn't get favourable reviews.

I just stumbled upon this bamboo skateboard company called Bamboo Sk8 and it looks like their boards are made with 3 or 4 plies, 100% bamboo. Pretty damn interesting! I checked out their dealer list and found Backyard Skateboards. Looks like they have deck widths ranging from 7.5" to 8.125". If anyone has tried or seen one of these, please leave a comment.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Walker Ryan UCSD edit




Pretty stoked on this guy. The fs no comply big flip off the stairs in a line was sick. The embeddable video above could get yanked. If so, it should pop up here or here in the next few days. Or just watch it in the hyperlink above.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Spitfire Soup


Stoked on the Spitfire head peddling hot pot soup. I yanked this from a Transworld Business article about Vans opening their first store in China. China's been flooded with knockoffs of everything for a while, why not Vans? Here's parts one, two, three and four.