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What’s with the curbs

If there is a low key trend in the Baltic skate community at the moment, it is definitively making DIY curbs.  Of course skaters have been into curbs forever; however, the ones we have in our parts are not as “cool” as the red American curbs and parking blocks. We have seen curbs in vids and heard tales of how good they grind and it was about time to bring them here. Somehow this idea got in our heads from the collective subconscious and the curb building began simultaneously all over the Baltics!

We chatted a bit with three curb builders around the Baltics and these are their mini stories.

Lukas Matusevičius / Kaunas, Lithuania

 

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What made you want to make a curb? 
What really got me in to wanting to make a curb is all these old skate videos of Californian dudes skating them, it looked magical! And I never saw these parking block curbs in Lithuania. So me and my homie Šarūnas got really hyped to skate one, we searched up online how are they made and built one for everybody!

How hard is it to build a curb?
EASY! With a couple of homies it’s more fun than hard work. The hardest part is to carry it to the spot, because that shit is heavy!

What do you like most about skating curbs?
I like that curbs are friendly to everyone! Specially for beginners, I guess most of us started skating local curb in the beginning. And also it’s friendly to older skaters, whose bodies are not in teenage years anymore and can’t hold a heavy ledge skate session, but there always be a curb for them, so I guess you are born on the curb and you are going to die on the curb!

P.s. Vilnius also got their DIY curb just recently.  

Fricis Štrauss and the kids / Riga, Latvia

How did the idea to make a curb got in your head?
I think it’s one of the easiest things to make. But the biggest reason why we made it was because you, Ed. You were talking about curbs all the time.

How did you convince skate school kids to help you? 
I just asked if they’d like to have a “bbq-and-curb-evening” and they were down to do that. I thought it was a good opportunity for them to see how the concrete works and what kind of materials that’s necessary to use when making curbs if they’d want to make one in the future.

What do you like about curbs?
It’s the best way of learning new stuff.

How did you choose the spot?
There was two spots in my mind where we could put them, but we decided continue with Ļermontova parks since we’d already made a DIY box there some weeks earlier.

Kevin Laastau / Parnu, Estonia

What gave you the idea to build a curb?  
Well, it all started when the corona hit Estonia and everything went lockdown. I couldn’t skate and I worked for a farm and I needed to kill some spare time, so I decided to do something that helps the skating community in Pärnu. @skatediy mainly gave me the inspiration because the #coronacurbs trend started.

How did you choose the spot where to place it?
I didn’t have any plans where to put it, but Valev gave me a spot and it worked out perfectly. It’s behind Pärnus Vanalinna Põhikool. When I brought the curb to the spot with my dad I was paranoid that someone will call the police but now I’m calm because no one has made it a problem that it’s sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.

Did you have any troubles with people? Anybody tried to destroy it etc?
Yes, scooterkids ride it and it kinda destroys it. That affects me because I made it for the skating community, but whatever. At least I see some edits that have my curb in it and that makes me happy. All in all it was very cool to make it and I can’t wait to make more DIYs if we find a place to start making quarterpipes and so on.

Thanks for tuning in. Go make and skate some curbs!

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RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 3 – ROUND 3/ GAME 28

We finally made it till the last game. This game was supposed to be between Arturs Bogdanovičs and Linards Viksniņš, but unfortunately Arturs got hurt and had to give his place to Fricis Štrauss. Fricis got a second chance! Will he take it or not? Watch the game and find out.

The semi finals and finals are set on 22nd of August! More info is coming next week!

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#RAJONTOP10 – JULY 2020

This month we have an inclination on the Latvian side. Spot wise the situation is the standard: we have Barax, LNB, Lermantova parks (the new hot spot though with a new approaches), , Kudirka and Freedom square in Tallinn. Among new spots we have one “secret” spot in Saldus and a real USA hydrant spot. 

Now it is August, the last month of summer, so go out in the streets get those last summer street clips! Have fun and mess around like seen in the first clip!

Original clips
Intro Edijs Plume
10. Dovydas Jucys – Insta clip Vilnius
9. Kaspars Polis – insta clip Saldus
8. Martiņš Reitups – insta clip Barax
7. Tomass Vilks – insta clip LNB
6. Kristofers Ozols – insta clip Lermantova
5. Fricis Štrauss – insta clip Lermantova
4. Rudolfs Rorbahs – insta clip Barax
3. Allan Raudsepp – insta clip Tallinn
2. Meelis Erm – Night part Tallinn
1. Madars Apse (pro) – DC DOMINO PART – U S A !!!!
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Electric Eye

Another summer month has passed and it is time to conclude what the Baltics were up to. Well, you can watch what we were up to in our trashy July report video above. Still working on those iMovie skills. Compared to previous month, we have a lot more Riga heads in this report as well as friends from Fully Ghetto gang on their visit to Riga. Read on to see what got into our radar in July 2020.

Rudolfs Rorbahs noseblunt/ Shot by Nauris Dollins

July has started with a worrying rumor that our beloved #baraxdiy is about to get destroyed. So the first weeks of July were strictly Barax oriented: every session was like the last one. Everyone got their cams out and filmed. Luckily for us the rumor was fake and the spot is still standing despite the odds. At least for now.

We are always happy to see locals take the effort to make full length videos. With that in mind, one of the most exciting news this month is the teaser for Viss Taisni—the upcoming Straight Forward Skateboards movie. Shot entirely on Hi8 by Armands Baumanis, the video promises to double, if not tripple, all of the Pis Taisni best qualities: heavy skating, hijinx and great music choices. The premiere is set on December 7. Stay Tuned for more.

On a similar note, Tallinn based filmer and photographer Rainer Kaur released the second teaser for his video dubbed “Unity”. As Rainier told us, Meelis Erm and Jakob Aruvald are the two who are going for full parts in the video. Can’t wait to watch the final result.

Shortly after the teaser Rainer put out an edit of Meelis’ recently filmed night clips. This can also give you an idea of what to expect from Unity.

Meelis Erm/ Shot by Rainer Kaur

Boards.lv been making shop decks for a while and they have released their new collection. They never miss an opportunity to make woke messages in their graphics. This time the message is support, appreciation and solidarity.

Ex Boards.lv rider, now crazy pro skater, Madars Apse got his latest part discussed on the Nine Club.

Somebody started an insta page dedicated to heelfips in the Baltics. If you are from the Baltics send them your heels.

Another Insta page that can be useful is Mind Work Ramps’ new page called Spoti.lv. The page has a map of skate parks around Latvia.

And the last new insta page we want to mention is Kuldiga Skatepark’s page. Yeah there’s a bunch of scooting there but it is nice to see trick or two from the local styler Ugis Ķepuls.

On 10th of July our friends from Tartu Skate School celebrated Shuvit Cancer Day in memory of Elaine Shallcross.

Quote from their insta:
“Elaine Shallcross inspired whole world to be better via the #ShuvitCancer movement. To raise funds for cancer research, Elaine—inspired by her son-in-law Steven’s love for skating—set off to learn a shuvit, uploading continual updates to the #ShuvitCancer Instagram. She pledged 100% of donated funds to the University of Aberdeen Development Trust, and as of today the campaign has reached 376% of that goal.”

Learn more about Elaine and Shuvit Cancer movement over at Free.

Estonian SurfHouse skate shop went on a filming mission to Vilnius. The video is coming in September on an VLND Burger event in Tallinn. More info coming.

Mihkel Vahermaa Drop in Vilnius / Shot by Kris Suld

Also if you are looking for events etc. consider visiting Tartu on 8th of August for VLND Burger skate Jam. Skate a picnic table and get 100 for best trick. More info in their facebook event.

Fricis Štrauss, the cool dad, got his doe in the Dynamit online video contest with a trippy submission. Proving that his vision goes beyond skating, but also in the video production realm.

Ventspils skate park is turning 20 years old early August and Madars is throwing an event there this weekend. Some Finish folks are coming and it is promising to be a hectic event.

Hope you guys are having fun! See you soon.

Cover photo stolen from Arturs Nesaules’ insta. Happy Graduation! Stay smart!

Stay tuned for RAJONTV top 10! Coming tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

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RAJONTV GAME OF SKATE CHAMPIONSHIP 3 – ROUND 3/ GAME 27

You probably have already forgotten what is going on in the Championship. It has been a while since the last game was up. But we are back to finish this  . . .

We have two game left before the finals. Arturs Paugurs vs Aleksis Sokolovs, and Linards Viksniņš vs Fricis Štrauss. Fricis is replacing Mr. Boga who got injured and couldn’t carry on.

More info about the finals is coming next week. We plan to have a full event with all the festivities. Stay tuned and come support!

The game you are about to watch, between the engineer Arturs Paugurs and the athlete  Aleksis Sokolovs, is kinda dramatic. It is has all the ingredients of a traditional RajonTV GoS Championship game: tears of anguish and joy, corruption and greed, injustice and good times.

Enjoy the game and see you soon.

Fricis vs Linards game is coming in a couple of days! 

 

 

 

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Lost Ditch Spots

We all have seen ditch spots in American videos. You know these spots in the deserts somewhere in Arizona or Los Angeles with huge banks?  Well, we also have those! Only Baltics style. Our version of the ditch spot is represented by soviet fire water ponds, which are water reservoirs for fire extinguishing. They were placed next to hospitals and other important buildings. The idea was that in case of a fire you would have quick access to water. From what we have seen, these ponds are made out of concrete and often have inclined surfaces—perfect for our needs. Such banked ponds are still scattered around Latvian soil. But since there are more advanced ways how to fight fire, this USSR infrastructure is out of use, and in some places it is buried underground.

Probably it is not safe to have big empty pools around the city, but whatever the reason is for their destruction, we loose spots. Here is a little memorial to 3 bank/ ditch spots it Riga that are gone.

Preses Nams small banks

Max – Blunt Fakie and Spank – Bs Flip | Both Clips from RajonTV – DOBRE (2011)

One of such deceased spots was located next to the newly refurbished Presses Nams bank. That pond was the size of school gym with steep banks across three sides of its perimeter. It was around two meters deep and had a curb on the top which was perfect for stalls. That spot had the potential to become an awesome DIY but was pretty underrated. Out of the whole huge territory only one corner was cleaned and skated.

Kaspars Gobiņš – Pivot Fakie | RajonTV – Mikropolis (2014)

The ground was rough and covered with some rust dust. It wasn’t easy to skate but still it was a bank and those are not lying around too much. The spot was last skated around 2015 and became buried underground ever since.

Barona street Banks

Similar faith has faced the banks at Barona street. This spot, found via Google maps, was one of the best places to take travelers to in 2016 or so. It had bigger banks and small steps that you could make stalls on or hop over. There was also a guard rail going around which was spotted as a tail drop obstacle. That idea has put one unlucky skater in a cast.

Toms Berziņš – taildrop Photo: Arturs Pavlovs
Armands Baumanis – Kickflip+Ss Fs Shove from Zero Motivation (2015) | Niklavs Vetra – Late Shove from Clockwise – Get Shit Done (2016)

Typical for spots of this type, it wasn’t easy to skate. The flat part was short and as you dropped in you were immediately hit by the opposite bank. All that pumping required stamina. Mostly people would through flip tricks there. Fricis found a way how to ollie into it from a side which was pretty gnarly.

Fricis Štrauss – Ollie | Clockwise – Get Shit Done (2016)

Recently a photo of the spot has dropped on facebook which raised a conversation among peers. Apparently the spot was buried already last summer.

Barona’s banks as of today. Photo: Arturs Pavlovs. You could still taildrop of the guard rail though.

Teika’s pool

Kaspars Gobiņš – Fs Board | photo Davis Šenbergs

Another pool was hidden in Teika in Biķernieku forest. It was probably the most accessible out of the three presented here. Anybody could skate it. There was plenty of run up and the banks were long and mellow. The wall across the whole perimeter was great for stalls and small wallrides.  There was also a gap in the middle of the banks—a transfer for big dudes.

Fricis Štrauss – fs flip Niklavs Vetra bs flip | Clockwise – Get Shit Done 

The forest territory where this spot resides was acquired by Zemessardze (Latvian army) and now the 13. Battalion is stationed there. In other words, there’s a fence around the forest. At least this is what trusted people have told us.

Spots come and go. You never know when the last session is. But the good thing is that new things appear as fast as the old ones disappear. Have you seen that bank in Saldus?

So go explore the streets and all of the city corners to find some new unseen ditches, maybe you’ll get lucky!

 

 

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Madars Apse DC Domino

Whenever Madars drops a new part, we obviously examine it under a microscope. Not only it is enjoyable to watch our homeland hero skate around the world, but it is also exciting to see our local spots appear in real American skate videos :). You pass this spot every other day and here it is, on Thrasher. Special shout out to Madars for always including home turf in his parts. This DC part is special in that sense, as it has the kickflip into Uzvara bank that we have been waiting to see for a while now.

Madars has filmed 9 parts (according to our calculations), so we decided to ask a few quick questions about his approach to filming this part for DC. Enjoy! 

How long did this part take to film?
About a year, but there’s a bunch of old footy and leftovers from Element Peace video.

How much did you travel for the part?
A couple of trips to Spain and corona virus in the states.

Did you have any say in the editing process or song choice?
Yeah, Chris Ray was super awesome and we were working tightly together!

How involved are you in these kind of projects?
Well, I send Chris Ray what songs I like and he sends me his options, but in the end we ended up using a song recommended by Jimmy Astleford, the DC team manager, because he knows the singer of the band and it was cool to get the copyrights. And about the tricks to be used I sent Chris a couple of e-mails after he sends me his rough drafts, so it goes forth and back until perfection is reached! Looking forward to film another part!

How do go about filming for parts? Do you make a trick list or a spot list?
The best way to it is just to cruise I think, skate a spot and if something feels good, go with it, maybe try a couple more tries, maybe end up trying for hours, maybe come back two or three times to really get it good. So for this part I kind of did that, sometimes it works quick, sometimes longer and at the end I had a list of three tricks I wanted to do or do better. Thankfully the corona virus happened and I could clear the list easy, because I stayed in California for 3 months.

Is filming a part for you a stressful process or do you try to take it easy?
I try to take it easy, but it can get on my nerves sometimes when I am going to a spot to try something I have already planned. It’s truly a battle between me & myself, trying to fool myself sometimes, but I have learned that it’s better to be at peace, it is just skateboarding after all! Learned that from the best!

Where do you prefer to skate and film USA or Europe?Is there any difference?
No preference, I like to skate and that’s it. But of course, whenever I go out to the US it feels like a bigger deal, I guess every thing in America is bigger. I’m just saying that because there are a lot of good filmers and photographers and magazines and most importantly skateboarders in California. It’s awesome, but Europe and Latvia is awesome too. It all comes down to motivation.

According to our calculations you have 9 parts, including this one. Do you have a favorite part of yours or a part you are most proud of?
Not really, I’m not doing no favorites, likes or dislikes, that is all the past, FORGET ABOUT IT!!!

 

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Let’s talk love

Hope you all had a blast during the first month of summer. We are lucky to have all restrictions removed and to be outside enjoying skate life! Here is a glimpse of Riga in June with some skating from Deda, Reinis Rorbahs, Fricis, Karlis Bogustovs, Kristofers Ozols, Graņa and Marks Voronenko.

In other news . . .

drop in
Kristofers Ozols

Riga has seen the most intense Go Skateboarding day in recent years. The crowd was huge and the energy levels high. People were thirsty for events after the lockdown, as a lot of people showed up! Big shout out to Fricis Štrauss who did an amazing job of building DIY spots which played the main role behind the success of the event.  Now we have new spots to skate and a great day to remember! 

Our GSD recap made it to Live Skateboard Media where our friend Aymeric Nocus put some nice words on paper about Riga. Thank you!!!

We have a photo album from the GSD event on our Facebook page. All photos by Nauris Dollins!

Armands Baumanis made a new episode of Straigh Forward Podcast with Janis Milzarajs. In early 2000s Janis brought boards from USA and sold them to skaters near Kongresu nams. A good history lesson right here, only in Latvian.

Vilnius friends held their GSD in a fresh reincarnated White Bridge (WB) skatepark. Everybody remembers the old WB park through the edits of Arturas Jendovickis. Some of the best Lithuanian skaters grew up in WB park, and  now the updated version will bring up more talent to scene.

Give a follow to SkateHub Vilnius insta page. It is a main base of core Vilnius skate organizations. Also, since 14 Skate Shop is out of business, SkateHub Vilnius plays a role of a store as well.

Estonian approach to GSD was more Covid-19 cautious. The event took place through out the weekend and was hosted on instagram with #gsdtln2020.

Our homie Aleksandr Hlabov from Tallinn started an insta account about Estonian skateboarding. It is called Rula Peal which means “On a skateboard” or “On the Board”. It looks awesome and we strongly recommend you checking it out and giving it a follow.

Also, guys from Loigu Park made decks which are dubbed Loigu Decks. Is it going to be a board brand? We’ll see 🙂

Have a tight July everybody see you in the streets!

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#RAJONTOP10 – June 2020

This month we have predominantly Estonian clips in Top 10. Also we went against our not so strong principles and included park clips in the mix. There’s one really long back tail (uncharacteristic for the Baltics) and a perfectly flicked kickflip (uncharacteristic for the Baltics, again).

Hope everyone is having a good time and your stoke for skating is the same as in the first clip.

Original clips
10. Vlad – insta clip Riga
9. Jaagup Mägi Küttim – insta clip Tallin
8. Mamia Kurshubadze – Insta clip Tallinn
7. Valev – Insta clip Parnu
6. Inguna Skujiņa – Youtube video Berlin
5. Romario Siimer – Insta clip Parnu
4. Allan Raudsepp – Insta clip Tallinn
3. Niklavs Vetra – Insta clip Riga
2. Domantas Antanavicius – Insta clip Vilnius
1. Tomass Vilks – Insta part Adaži

 

 

 

 

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Go Skateboarding Day 2020

Getting older it seems like the best days have already passed. It seems that go skateboarding days will never be the same: Emerica Wild in the Streets 2007 will never be matched. But, on the contrary, it only gets better. Go Skate Day in 2018 was a good one and the results of that can be seen in 2020. The number of participants doubled, if not tripled, compared to previous years. Most probably half of newcomers started skating in 2018.

The noise made this year’s event will certainly attract new skate devotees and maybe they will grow into lifers like Fricis and co., who put hard sweat into the craft. Fricis was the chief enthusiast in DIY building this year, which undoubtedly led to the success of the event. Much love to everyone who showed up and made the day what it was.

(p.s. the video covers the half of the day only the part that Clockwise Skateshop was hosting. Boards.lv hosted the first part of the event and National Museum which was really cool, we just didn’t film anything there on the VX)

Cover Photo by Nauris Dolins