Concrete waves of Basque (part 8): Irun megapark

There is a little city, called Irun, right at the border between France and Spain. No big deal… if they would not have the greatest skatepark in the whole Basque!

This thing is amazing. It consists of the street part, which is really well rounded, lines flow nicely and it has something for every type of skateboarders.

But the real deal is the pool part. Trannies of all shapes and sizes, from bowls, spines, boobs, walls, extensions… you cannot really imagine until you see it!

And it is not all!!! They also have a legit pool, meaning real concrete coping, blue tiles at the vert part of the tranny and 2.5m big. Yes, that is legit!

Concrete waves of Basque (part 7): Labenne

Katja and I have left Hossegor when the WCT surf competition ended and headed for Spain. Before we made a short stop in Labenne, France.

Our friends recommeded checking the beach, while there is a little skatepark with a brand new bowl. Its is simply amazing. Two depths and a thick spine in between make this tranny really shreddable. Some quick lines and relaxed session with the local kids was a good break and a nice motivation before we went on with the trip…

Concrete waves of Basque (part 4): Vertroof museum

 

Ujusansa surf camp has finished with the end of September and my work there is done, yet photographer Katja Pokorn and I are staying in the “area” for few more weeks on a skate/surf trip.

First stop was Biarritz, France.

We found this new age architectures museum, Cite de la Ocean, which has a vert ramp shaped roof. The grounds are rough as hell, but the tranny looks pretty easy thou.

It is waiting… for someone with big wheels and even bigger balls, haha!

Concrete waves of Basque (part 3): Tarnos

Five or six years ago I went on a surprise skate trip with some Swiss guys I met in surf camp in France. They told me we will hit some cool skatepark in Tarnos with lots of pools which they seem really into…

Well, they sure knew what they were talking about, because the place is a paradise! It is the smallest park imaginable but it has two pools that connect with a spine, a miniramp with an extension and a curved bowl end and another mini which has one curved side and the other with a hip break. To make things even better they built a short snakerun last year that can be ridden both ways if you know the right lines.

We had a blast, skated for at least four hours, since you just could not get enough of the trannies. The locals are a bunch of mellow guys and totally shredding, so go check the place if you are passing by…

First in series of Ujuclips

As you know I take care of video stuff at Ujusansa. In summer my work consists of mainly filming everything that goes down in the camp and putting together clips for every group.

One clip per group consists of waves they surfed, so they can show their moms, grandmas and friends whats up and maybe brag a little, haha.

The second one, called Ujuclip, is more all around vibe type. It is pretty standardized as far as “story” goes, yet I tried to play around with timelapses and night shots a lot, while I am totally fascinated by the power of DSLRs and remote controllers.

Here is the first in the series of Ujuclips, they are coming up until the end of September, but I will not be posting them all. You can see them on Ujusansa’s Vimeo site.

Concrete waves of Basque (part 1): Orio gem

It has been a very busy month at Ujusansa surf camp for me… filming, searching, surfing on daily basis! There is always something going on, so you quickly forget about internet, TV and shaving, haha.

But skateboarding is something that never goes off my mind, especially in a land where every single beach is hiding at least some sort of miniramp, if not a proper bowl or skateplaza.

This gem of a miniramp is in nearby Orio, a small pirate-looking town, circa 15 minutes away. At first it looks like it is hardly rideable as it is steep as hell, yet once you drop in is like riding on a wave. Sick!

Short film “Surfing Basque Country”

This is my first sort of scripted short film that I filmed past summer in Spain, where I work for Ujusansa surf camp.

“Surfing Basque Country” is a three month filming project and I mainly tried to show you the vibes of Basque Country and the way we spent our summer. At first I wanted to do a documentary type of thing, with the voiceover and all, but when I looked at the bigger picture, it would be way over the top. I think its a fun little video that says it all and should be taken with ease, just like in true Basque spirit, haha.

Hope you like it!