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Skoone Bastion: a new DIY in Tallinn

Tallinn just got a new DIY built at Skoone Bastion with the help of RedBull. Some of our mates including Fricis, Kristaps Judris and Zimis were there to help out with the building. To find out a bit more about Skoone, we had a quick chat with our homie and the project manager of the DIY construction, Siim Sild. 

All photos by Lauri Taht

 

You battled for Metsakooli DIY last year now you have Skoone Bastion, is it a good substitute for Metsakooli?
Luckily, the fight for Metsakooli was worth it, the park is pretty much redone now and will be open shortly I guess. Yeah, it won’t be 100% DIY anymore but all the main obstacles remain the same, so I’d still say it’s definitely pretty DIYish, just with new asphalt and a few added elements. So Skoone won’t be a substitute but rather another option for DIY lovers. Skoone Bastion is really centrally located, just next to the Old Town and the port. So it’s a great meetup spot to warm up before hitting the streets and the opposite as well. Go there after a heavy street sesh, have a few beers and grind a couple of rainbows, classic.

You had the box at Skoone for some time. How did that start?
The whole Skoone thing began about 15 years ago when they put new asphalt up there. Skaters have a pretty good nose for these kinds of things, so soon after that the first plywood box was taken up there and over the years different wooden & metal skateable elements started showing up there. In 2012 the first DIY project was carried out and a few concrete obstacles were poured in place. I wasn’t personally involved with the planning of all that but I’d say because of inexperience these didn’t turn out to be too great. When the concrete truck showed up there, some of the forms weren’t even ready, the driver was in a hurry, there weren’t enough people to properly shape all the obstacles etc. So yeah, it was hectic and you could see it from the end result. About 3 years ago (I was in New Zealand at that time), some of the guys decided to build a ledge up there from granite curb blocks. That kind of sparked the interest in that place again for a short period but within a few years the blocks ended up kind of misaligned.

How did the expansion ideas of Skoone came about?
I received a call from Red Bull in November last year and they said they have a budget to execute these kinds of projects but they need a place for that and someone to manage it. I realised pretty quickly that Skoone would be the perfect place but I was pretty skeptical if the city would allow it. At first, they said they’ll only allow us to fix the old obstacles but we still decided to present them with our “dream plan” that wouldn’t be too over the top for them to agree with. About the obstacles that we decided to put in there – we had thought about building a quarter to get more speed for the ledge already for a while, so that was easy. I also really enjoyed skating taco looking obstacles in New Zealand, so I knew I’d want to go there as well. Slappies are fun too, so we had to put in a slappy curb. Anyways, I presented my ideas of the park to Mihkel and Pärtel, we made a few additions here and there and that was about it. Luckily the city was really chill with our plans, it went way smoother than I expected. It sure helped a lot that Red Bull is such a known brand.

How did Fricis & co. got involved in the project and how was it working with them?
It seemed fitting for this project to include a bit of an international crowd and I also think that Mind Works is doing a great job overall with the parks they build, so that’s why I decided to involve them. When the time started to get closer, I found out that Fricis is also coming, which was great with him being a pretty renowned DIY enthusiast and all. The guys put in crazy hours but were always really cheerful and positive. Kristaps even stayed up there for one night to finish some of the obstacles. Working with Fricis was definitely fun, unfortunately, I had to cut some of the crazy ideas he had but I think we struck a pretty good balance in the end haha.

How did the scene receive the new DIY? How do you like it?
The DIY was definitely well received, people couldn’t wait to skate it. I guess it was also the first time that some of the younger guys were involved in building a DIY skatepark. It feels different when you skate something that you yourself have created, so they’ll get the hang of it now. We somehow ended up with a rainbow themed park in the end which is pretty cool I think. I love it actually. We had a few rainbow looking obstacles planned from the start but as we started building, we somehow ended up adding 2 more. So there are 5 rainbow’ish obstacles all together now + an amazingly good looking ledge carved out by Aigars (Zimis) [editors note].

Do you think a DIY spot is better than a proper skatepark?
Parents don’t drop off their kids at a DIY skatepark generally, so it will most likely be less crowded most of the time, less scooters. Also, when designing a skatepark they have to ask for everyone’s opinion etc. With a DIY skatepark you don’t have to make some of those compromises. We were lucky that we had this freedom to change things up at the last minute while building something right next to the Old Town, crazy. I think skating DIYs sets you up better for street skating as well. Well okay, the skateparks in Estonia aren’t actually that perfect anyways, haha, but I think you get what I mean. And the vibe… you don’t get that in regular skateparks.

Video by Rainer Kaur

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“Swing” by Fully Ghetto

In the 80s and 90s there was a subgenre of famous cartoons where they’d age down characters. So there was Tom & Jerry kids and Scooby Doo kids which were basically the same thing only with main characters as kids. Not saying that the new breed of Vilnius skaters are the same as the og Fully Ghetto squad, but there’s certainly a healthy dose guidance. Nice watch, More please!

Edited by:
DJ GREEN @kitty4pan

Skaters:
Tautvydas Makarevicius @twizzy8888
Lukas Vaskelaitis @guccilukas
Gintaras Kadziliauskas @bigboygince
Dominykas Apanavicius @kitty4pan
Lukas Nojus Kyro @chillafnojus
Martynas Kairevicius @martinelis
Tomas Baublys @tomas.baublys
Elius Kenstavicius @elijus.ken
Rokas Giedraitis @rokis1000

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RAJONTV presents: SVĒTAVOTS 3

Not every 16 year old wants to call his skate video in the name of a culturally significant location next to his home town, and, most importantly, do it unironically. Svētavots (rougly translated as Holy Stream) is a small nature park Cīrulīši, which is a district of Cēsis, Ralfs’s home town. You can chill there and do some rituals involving holy water from the underground stream. Also, Svētavots is a video series by Ralfs and his friends. The first one is a phone video, the second was so bad it is not online, and the third is done with the help of RajonTV and we present it today. Enjoy! 

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GSD 2023 Info

Last couple of years Riga’s older heads took care of Go Skateboarding Day organization. This year it’s all going to take a different turn as the young crowd (mainly the World Takeover collective) take the responsibility to make GSD happen. So what is it going to be? We already had some Maxlas meet ups with World Takeover crew, so we know they can make stuff rolling. GSD 2023 is going to be a mix of classic, modern and new spots. So far the program looks like this: 

14:00 Meet up at Barax Ledges Roberta Hirša iela (pin) 
16:00 Kongresu Nams (pin)
18:00 Olimpija rail (pin)
20:00 Bridge to Nowhere aka GTA bridge 😀 (pin)

Keep in mind: Improvisation is possible.

GSD invitation 👇

 

See you all soon!
Peace

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Cesis Skate Jam

Kristaps Horns was a skateboarder from Cēsis who loved and valued his scene. He skated hard and always supported his fellow skaters and community. Kristaps sadly passed away in 2020, but his drive for skateboarding is remembered by his peers and friends. So, on 17th of May we headed to Cēsis to celebrate a day of skating in the name of Kristaps Horns and also celebrate the official opening of Kristaps Horns memorial that was developed by Karlis Bogustovs. The event was organized by Jurijs Lupančuks a friend of Kristaps. Thank you everyone who made it to Cēsis.

Photos by Nauris Dollins

Memorial.

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RajonTV Awards Photo Recap

For the second year in a row, RajonTV Awards presented trophies to the most active skaters in our scene. On the one hand, it might seem a bit cheesy to hand out awards in a small scene like ours, but on the other, it is a great tool how to reencourage locals and shows that their work is appreciated. The main goal of the awards is to reinforces the idea that everything, even the smallest step a skater make, pushes the big rusty wheel of Latvian skateboarding forward. We celebrated the awards at Lokal house in a small cosy setting. Our friend Edward Sulja made the some heavy trophies for the awardees, so they know this is serious.

Photos by Nauris Dollins

Organization of The Year 2022: LSK

Movement of the Year 2022: Puss8 Grab

Local Hero 2022: Edgars Kalns

Edgars didn’t make it though, but the trophy will travel to Liepaja soon.

Crew of the Year 2022: Trank Boys

Slam of The Year 2022: Big Mac

Filmer of the Year 2022: Roberts Krums

Cesinieks of the Year: Ralfs Sermukslis

Rookie of the Year: Ruta Grinerte

Skater of the Year 2022: Rudolfs Rorbahs

Thank you for coming! Thank you for supporting! See you in the streets! 

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Chat with Roberts Krums about his new full length vid: RIGA CITY THE EXPERIMENT

This year is already quite intense for Latvian skatescene. We are only couple months in the new season and there’s already a second  proper video premiere. RajonTV’s crucial staff member Roberts Krums (@mobilafilms) is releasing his new video project called Riga City The Experiment on the big screen next Saturday, 13th of May. We talked to Rob about the vid, Riga streets, and his vision. Make sure to come by!   

Hey Rob, congratulation on getting Filmer of The Year 2022 award last Saturday!  How do you feel about that?
Yeah thanks man! How I feel about it? I don’t know, man. I think it was rigged. Feeling good that I’m able to do these things and it’s cool that someone appreciates it in one way or another. You know how it is. Your work is your greatest award.

Well deserved man! I was happy to give you that award. Can’t wait to see the video on 13th of May. The teaser looks sick. Can you takes us through the process of making this vid. How did all began?
Thanks man. As I remember it all started when my old camera broke down, and I was recovering from another surgery. I was talking some camera stuff with Rudzītis… and we got to a point where he sorted me out with a camera from his work which was in a mint condition. The words he said when he gave it to me I remember to this day “use it. if you fuck it up, it’s ok. just don’t lose it”. Thank you Rudolf. I didn’t have a plan to stack so much footy and to make a full length. The idea was just to film some street stuff and get out of a routine of skating at the BARAX every day. Slowly it grew into an obsession, and it didn’t end till the last clips we filmed with Armands last year. Through out this period of time I kept having problems with my knees and I wasn’t able to skate but in a weird way it kind of pushed me to film more. It’s crazy now when I look back at it. I was possessed. I was just stacking tapes and wasn’t even capturing them straight away. I didn’t make a timeline for the video until last summer. That’s when I realized that it’s gonna be a proper mission to edit all of it.

How is this video going to be different from your previous projects?
It’s gonna be longer than any video I made haha. But yeah I guess this time I tried to put more attention into each individual. I tried to create my perspective of the subject. it’s definitely not to be taken too seriously. As things how I see them are not always how it is in reality.

I’m pleased with how it turned out. It all makes sense now.

We went filming with you a couple of times. I remember some sessions in November haha. Fricis was crazy killing it then. Is he going to have a part?
Yeah man I really like skating and filming in early winter time. I feel that it’s more productive and you kind of appreciate every dry day and every session a lot more. And it’s less of torčīšāna at a chill spot. And Fricis, well man you know how it is filming with Fricis. I really like his approach to skating. I like that he doesn’t really doubt himself about “oh is this worth filming or is this worth skating?”. He has a vision of his own and I really respect that. And yea he’s gonna have a part hehe.

Fricis got a trick at Maxima stairs on his birthday. November 15th 2020.

I know you like to put some subliminal messages in your edits. How about this one?
Yeah man that’s what it’s all about haha. You know you always have a story that not everyone knows or you share a joke with your friends and to some people it wouldn’t resonate. It’s like a puzzle the more you get to know the subject the more things unfold and piece by piece you can put it all together. Not everything has to be black or white. I guess it just makes it a bit more interesting. As you get to know something or someone for the first time it can be misleading . But if you pay attention to it sometimes you can get a lot deeper in the thing of interest and it all starts to make sense after some time.

You worked on editing for a long time. Are you stocked with the results and what was the hardest part about editing?
The hardest part was to get it all together in one piece, so it would make sense in my head, and getting the right sound for the video. Before I started editing, I had a clear vision of how I wanted it to look and I had some sort of expectations towards this project. But yeah in reality, I wasn’t able to create that vision. I was missing some important tools, so I procrastinated on this project a lot. To a point of flipping the scenario and going a different route. I would say that I’m pleased with how it turned out. It all makes sense now.

Why is the video called the experiment?
It’s kinda funny I guess. I don’t know but I think that skateboarding in general is an experiment. You have to deal with your mind and your physical abilities, put it all together and do certain things. The experiment is what each individual can find in the city. In a way it shows your mindset, your creativity. I can bet that most people have heard these words, “Oh, there is nothing to skate here” or “I’m bored and have nothing to do”. Well, I guess that’s the mindset I’m going against with this project. I want to show that there are spots here in Riga, and you can always figure out something new if you’re willing to put some time and effort into it. Create something out of nothing kind of thing, and also the experiment because I’ve never done such a big project and I’m playing with different things to get it all together. It’s basically my little study of Riga’s architecture and the humans that are located here.

Alright. Sounds sick and I can’t wait to see the video. Tell about the night of the premiere. There are some surprises planned?
Well the plan is to watch the movie at K.Suns. And after that everyone is welcomed to come to Tikari Skateshop. Can’t really give out too much information on what’s gonna be happening there. But one thing I can say there  gonna be some visual surprises from Rajon. 

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May is Here. Let’s skate and film.

Skaters want to see themselves skate. Good, bad or in-between (where most of us reside), you just want to see how you look on the board. I remember my first clip, a line with a kickflip, a couple of pushes and fs 5-0 bonk on ankle high flat bar we’d taken out for a sesh. Although only my legs were captured and my skating looked so much worse than I had imagined, it was the closest to being a real skater I had ever been at that moment. I am on video, I do what skaters do—I film clips!

Since then video has always been a big part of what skateboarding is to me.

Now, it’s May outside. It is also the time a lot of skaters (myself included) start to have strong aspirations for the upcoming summer. “This year I am going to film that video I have been wanting to film forever” we tell ourselves. Some of us even indulge in claiming stuff that never gets realized. Like the video below called “Private Party” that me and my mates were “working on”. The video had a trailer. A trailer for nothing.

We didn’t film our video and maybe you and your crew didn’t too, and it is not only because we all are lazy or have a great deal of real life responsibilities, but also because we doubt ourselves, we run out of motivation, we don’t have anyone to film with, and after all—when everyone is so good, who am I to claim a part in this?! But whatever is the thing that holds you back from filming, rest assured that all of us at some point (or many, many points) have the same inner struggles.

Do I know how to overcome anxiety or self-doubt? No. If I did, I would probably organise some sort of a New Age-infused mindfulness retreat for skaters and travel the world as a motivational speaker. But no, I have no idea why most of us even after years of skating and wanting to film have the same bad results.

But it is okay to not know how to fix it. Sometimes the only way is to—yes I am going to quote Nike—just do it. Having clips of your skating is better than not having them. Even if you can’t skate good that day,(it is highly unlikely that you are pro and need to hold to certain standards + you don’t even need to show it to anyone if you don’t feel like it) film it anyway. Stack some clips. Make a phone edit with a tripod or your water bottle. Do it and enjoy being a skater.

I am always stocked to see more videos. Like last year we saw the Trank Boys video. They talked about making a video for some time and finally made one. Was it perfect? I am sure the Trank Boys themselves see a lot of room for improvement, but I liked it a lot. I am happy that I can go back and rewatch what Trank Boys were up to in 2022. Having that vid is much better than having nothing and just talk about making a vid at night out in the bar. Linda Lindenberga’s  “The Baltic Connection” is another example of that—it is so much safer to plan, dream and brag than to actually film it and share it with others. BigMac’s videos are also there. The kid is figuring out how to film, but already made so many sick vids. Meelis Erm’s “Ou, lähme streeti!i” and Fully Ghetto vids are also examples of skaters going out and doing it. There’s obviously more examples like that. The point I am trying to make is that it is May, the sick skate season is ahead. Let’s film.

P.s. – I wish I still had that first clip of mine.

P.s.s. See you all at Vef and Lokal house at Saturday 06.05. For Tikari skateshop’s season opener and RajonTV awards.

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#maxlasreport

We are only two month in the new season and the World Takeover boys have already managed to organize two meet up sessions at Maxlas. For each meet up they brought new obstacles to skate. The first meet up had a manny pad (money pad) that survived for around two weeks. For the second meet up, they went a bit further and constructed a mini skatepark. The set up included a kicker, box, rail, and a barrier. If the manny pad was not missing, Maxlas could have been a miniature version of G-Tiim. The second meet also had a best trick format with gear prizes from Tikari. Let’s see what’s next.

Session 1. 

Session 2. 

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Spookie 2 by Fully Ghetto

Our Vilnius counterparts over at always-expanding Fully Ghetto gang are skating and chilling at their classic local spots. Plus the crew hits that big circular planter thing which looks fun and impossible to skate. Enjoy the vid!

Filmed and edited: Tadas Gustaitis