Risk

It was during this moment that I took the shot on the opening page of this piece. It’s actually my favourite from the day because its so memorable for me. It was such a dramatic scene, reminiscent of something that Capa, Burrows, McCullin and other war photographers would (and still do) come across on an hourly basis on the frontline: the fallen soldier, his comrades trying to help, the blood, the concerned onlookers (in the photo, they’re shadows). Despite the chaos of the last 60 seconds, I’ll remember this moment as one of calm. Under control. After a few minutes, the guys get him upright and he’s helped out of the bowl by many pairs of willing hands. The paramedics arrive in pretty good time and James is escorted away to the ambulance and taken to hospital. I’m very happy to report that James got away with a few stitiches to his temple.

Skateboarding, by its very nature, is about risk. Some you win, some you lose. Sometimes you try something new, other times you stick to what you know. Sometimes you get hurt, someones you’re unscathed. In this story, you get hurt, get lucky and walk away with an awesome tale for the grandkids. And you’ve got the photos to back it up. Nice one James, glad you’re ok man. Things were a bit quiet around the bowl for a while after that, but then soon got going again. Only the hideous bloodstain at the bottom of the bowl reminding us of the earlier entertainment.

This years Ham Jam was, once again, a triumph and big thanks to Geordie for putting it together and MC’ing again – a fine job sir! In fact, I’m pretty sure he was DJ’ing too. Add that to his earlier medical exploits, and combing his hair whilst frontside carving the deep-end, the dudes got it going on. Word.

I’m not going to go into too much detail on the action, suffice to say that the youngsters (under 16′s) were sick – some amazing young bowl talent! The Masters reminded everyone how a bowl should be ridden. Standard. And the Pro’s pulled out the usual stops and had a good time. The day started off pissing down with rain and it looked like it could be called off, but we held firm under a tarp and it all blew over in an hour or so. In fact, you couldn’t have wished for a sunnier afternoon. Shout out to the Big Guy upstairs and the kids for getting busy with the squeegees.

As the sun started to set, Geordie produced a prop for, what was to become, the highlight of the day. A set of real pool steps that he’d borrowed especially for the event. We lashed them down against the railings at the back and the Skateboarding Photo magazine sponsored ‘Best Trick Over The Steps’ session went down. Congrats to Oakley Liddell, the eventual winner, with the biggest backside air you’ve ever seen – overhead for sure. I’m starting to ramble. I’ll shut up and let the pics do the talking…