We’ve been wanting to throw a Wheelbase event for a very long time now, and have had this dope spot in San Pedro all sussed out for when the time was right—it was just a matter of picking the ideal moment when everybody would be in town and up for a day’s session. The recent Agenda tradeshow, held in Long Beach, CA on January 5 & 6, provided the perfect window of opportunity to make this particular event a reality. We seized the day, and called up our closest allies from around the industry and pitched our idea of having an event that was focused on a slide jam, included a session at the legendary Channel Street skatepark, and an after-event BBQ. Everybody was stoked on the concept so, just two weeks before it was all slotted to go down, we launched the San Pedro Shred! What is so radical about the whole deal is that even though it was kind of an unproven location and organized at such short notice, we received some serious support and everything ended up running as smoothly as a pair of silky-pink-panties.
Tyler Howell with a lofty 360º grabber at Channel Street. Photo: Bandy.
A pre slide jam pep-talk at Channel Street. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
Landyatchz’s, Dillon Stevens, with some slippery smoothness. Photo: Bandy.
Without dwelling too heavily on the whole “Yeah bro, this event was so sick!” rant, let’s just say that we had a funky-fresh blaster of a good time! The attendance for The Pedro Shred! was larger than any local slide jam we’ve seen thus far, and being there to witness—as well as to skate—with the likes of Kevin Reimer, Kyle Chin, Zak Maytum, Kody Noble, Dillon Stevens, Miles Essert, Louis Pilloni, Pete Eubank, The Skate Invaders, The Sunset Sliders, Duke Degen, James Kelly, Dane Webber, Dustin Hampton, Amanda Powell, Andrew Mercado, Jeff Budro, and a host of many other known rippers was, let’s just say, a very cool experience indeed.
James Kelly, crouching tiger driftage. Photo: Bandy.
Louis and Jimmy and Dillon, and some dude back there pointing his camera at the camera. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
Kyle Chin, showing the crowd how to surf it, with style. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
The day began on Saturday the 7th at the legendary, DIY Channel Street Skatepark in San Pedro, CA. We spent the morning sessioning the park, catching up with homies and homettes, and just generally lurking in the surrounding parking lot waiting for everyone to arrive.
Canada’s Cindy Zhou shredding it majorly. Photo: Bandy.
Adam Winston, kicking out a fast one. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
Once everybody was there, we gathered around the Sector 9 van and made clear the utter importance of respecting the locals—their community in general, and their spots specifically. We then headed up to the undisclosed slide jam location in caravan-like intervals.
The Local Boys: Niko Kroha, Nathan Marton, and Andrew Schumaker.
Nathan gettin’ busy. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
We arrived at the slide jam hill only minutes later and commenced to get our shred on in a fashion that was huge. The goal for the San Pedro Shred! was to offer an event that promoted both serious shredding as well as good times for all the skaters in attendance. The day’s open-session format with only a short, ten-man final at the end, seemed to keep the flow going and provide for plenty of shredtime for all skaters on the hill. Everybody was ripping the rad—no doupt about that.
Ari skates on his own twisted frequency. We like that. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
The Goob and The Bagel, bro style. Photo: Rando.
Peck, Lauren, Dane, and Cindy holding it down. Photo: Bandy.
Some seriously fast skating went down at the Shred! and a multitude of slide variations of both size and magnitude were thrown into the mix. “Oh yeah!” Although we consider everyone that had a good time and left with a smile on their faces to be winners of The San Pedro Shred!, we’d agreed in advance to pick a couple of skaters out of the pack and celebrate them for slaying the hill to the maximum. These raddog rippers were as follows:
Best Style: Adam Winston. (Consistent double-dipped octo-slide checks.)
Best Trick: Chance Gaul. (120 MPH slide shuvits.)
Ripper of the Day: Tyler Howell. (Everything. All day. Nonstop ripping.)
Amplitude Award: Louis Pilloni. (Speed, style, finesse.)
Dillon Stevens, toeside rider. Photo: Bandy.
Ultimately, we are sovery grateful that The San Pedro Shred! had such a large turnout and that so many skaters were able to get together and ride all-day without interruption. We are definitely planning on making this an annual event and hope to see you in attendance at The San Pedro Shred 2013!
Daniel Fissmer, in the midst of some 360º action. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
Dude’s be watchin’ the Shred! yo. Photo: Aaron Hollebeke.
Chance Gaul has the fastest toe shuvits this side of the Milky Way. Just sayin’. Photo: Balls.
It has been written. Jeff Budro and the boys sorting out the finals situation. Photo: Bandy.
We’d like to close this article by dropping a big thank you to all the skaters and friends that traveled from all over the galaxy to make it out to the event, we’d also like to thank the local skaters for their support and hospitality, as well as Andrew Mercado and Jeff Budro for helping out as judges. Most importantly, we’d like to give a huge thanks and some wet kisses to the brands that made it all possible:
Comet Skateboards, Sector 9, Divine Wheels, Gullwing Trucks, Muir Skate, Unmodern Industries, and Skate House Media.
Make sure to also keep your eyes peeled over at Skate House Media for their soon-to-be released San Pedro Shred! video. Boom!
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