the quiver - well part of it . .

i am not much on regrets, but one is this: i wish to god i'd have held onto every skatedeck i ever owned. an original fibreglas z-flex, my powell/peralta beamer. . .etc etc worst part is i dunno what even happened to most of them. . . damn.

anyway, nicky and i am getting ready to head off for one of favorites weeks of the summer - CAMP !! i think i briefly mentioned the place in the early months of the blog. we have been going for around 8 years. i am camp nurse with one other poor sucker ( 250 gymnsatics and skaters killing it 8-10 hours will lead to a lot of injury ). we do it because we love these young people. we often sleep like 3-4 hrs a nite on average. we deal with all the usual camp stuff like bee stings, swimmers itch, hoemsickness, puking from eating nerd-ropes all day . . . . . but with the added trauma that comes from 13 foot vert ramps, and national ( and even olympic )-level gymastics, which quite frankly have to be seen up close to be believed. also. we deal with comple wack-job parents that leave us and the hosp staff astounded in their ( near lack of ) parenting approach to their young "protoges". the camp itself is beyond professional. it is an amazingly smooth and positive environment - staffed largely by younger college age kids that give me great hope for the future and are great fun to be around, headed by the most can-do adults i have ever worked with. tho i am very near dead when we leave, i still miss the place and its energy.

but i digress - and more importantly i do get to skate and the skating is very very good indeed. here we see my quiver, in various states of readiness. this is not a trifling quiver of decks my friends, no indeed. in cycling terms any one of these sticks could hold its own with a pegoretti. so then: left-to-right:

1. duane peters model from beer city, his best ever ( yes, in milw ). duane's nickname is the Master of Disaster. he was and is the baddest ass skater who ever lived. tho his era was a bit past mine, his influence and energy and attitude are undeniable in popular culture even today in so many area's, for which he receives nothing. without duane peters, freestyle motocross would have ended with evel kneivel, for example

2. original santa monica airlines longboard, from the man skip engblom himself. you are not gonna find one these, anyplace. if ya don't know who engblom is, go watch the z-boys movies, skip was the founder and soul of the youthful z-boys, who invented action sports. it is the coolest longboard ever made and ever will be. perfect for cruising camp - gotta get the big 70mm 78 duro krypto' wheels on there.

3. later alva pool deck - after TA obtained his company back for himself. if ya look careful, you can see he signed if for me. it really belongs on a wall.

4. my custom designed and built factory 13. this thing kicks ass. it is everthing - long old-scool wheelbase, narrow thin light chassis, takes modern low/fast-turning trucks . . . . it'll go anyplace. plus, do yourself a huge internet favor and go bump around the facory 13 website, this guy is one of us. if it is not the coolest websites you see this week i'll buy ya cup of coffee at the cup. or, i may decide to have nicky kick you shins for being such an idiot and/or liar - we would be doing you favour either way, so you are welcome.